Somekh, Sasson

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SOMEKH, SASSON

SOMEKH, SASSON (1933– ), professor emeritus of Arabic literature at Tel Aviv University. Born in Baghdad, he immigrated to Israel and specialized in modern Arabic literature and Semitic philology. Research, editing, and translating characterized his academic career, along with lecturing in Israeli, Swedish, and U.S. universities. Among his books are The Changing Rhythm (1973), a monograph on the Egyptian novelist Naguib Maḥfūẓ; Genre and Language in Modern Arabic Literature (1991); three books (in Arabic) on the novelist Yūsuf Idrīs; four anthologies of modern Arabic poetry, translated into Hebrew; and an autobiography (in Hebrew), Baghdad Yesterday (2004). He was awarded the Israel Prize in Oriental Studies in 2005.