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Francis Fathallah Marrash al-Halabi (1836-1873) was a Syrian writer and poet of the Nahda movement (the Arabic renaissance). In 1865 he published his novel Ghabat al-haqq, considered as the first modern novel of Arabic literature.

[edit] Biography

Francis Marrash was born in 1836 in Aleppo, Syria, in an old and respected Melkite family, known for its literary interests. His father, Fathallah Marrash, had created an immense private library, which helped in the education of his three children Francis, Abdallah and Maryana (all three of them became writers). Francis learned the Arabic language and literature alone. Then he was taught medicine privately by an English physician during four years.

[edit] Bibliography

• Ghabat al-haqq fi tafsil al-akhlaq al-fadila wa-addadiha (1865)
• Rihlat Baris (1867)
• Durr al-sadaf fi ghara'ib al-sudaf (1872)
• Mir-at al hasna (1872)
• Mashhad al-ahwal (1881)