Professor Izz Ad-Din Ismail

Izz Ad-Din Ismail received his BA from Fuad Al-Awal University in 1951, and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Ain Shams University in 1959. His academic journey at Ain Shams University started in 1951 and extended for nearly 50 years, during which he became Professor of Arabic Literature in 1972, Dean of the College of Arts in 1980. He also served as Director of the Arab Cultural Center in Bonn (Germany) in 1964, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Culture in 1984, President of the Egyptian Academy of Arts in 1985, Chairman of the Egyptian Book Organization in 1982, and professor or visiting professor at different universities throughout the Arab World.

Professor Ismail’s books (totaling 20) and numerous seminal articles bear witness to his prominence as an intellectual and literary critic. He insightfully associated modern literary concepts with classical views, and was characterized in his writings by profundity and vision, as well as moderation. This allowed him to make significant contributions to both contemporary and traditional schools of Arabic literary criticism. His impact as a literary critic and thinker is best exemplified by his pioneering research embodied in his book: The Aesthetic Foundations of Arabic Literary Criticism. His other literary texts include: Abbasid Poetry; Contemporary Arabic Poetry; Psychology of Literature and Literary and Linguistic Sources of Arabic Heritage. He translated several novels from world literature, including Forster’s 1924 novel: A Passage to India.

Professor Ismail was the founder of the Egyptian Association of Literary Criticism in 1988, the Mobile Library and four literary journals. He was an avid participant in the Egyptian cultural life, and was widely known and respected in academic and cultural circles throughout the Arab world. His contributions were recognized – in addition to the King Faisal International Prize for Arabic Literature – by the Egyptian State Prize for Literature in 1985, and the Order of Sciences and Arts (First Class) in 1990.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.