Al Adab

Al Adab (Arabic: مجلة الأداب; Majalla al ʾādāb; "literary magazine") was an Arabic avant-garde existentialist literary print magazine published in Beirut, Lebanon, in the period 1953–2012. It was restarted in 2015 as an online-only publication. Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as one of the leading publications founded in the Arab countries in the latter half of the 20th century. Although the magazine was headquartered in Beirut, it was distributed all over the Arabic-speaking regions. Al Adab was launched by Suhayl Idris, Mahij Uthman and Munir Al Baalbecki in Beirut in 1953. The publisher was Dar Al Adab which was also established by Suhayl Idris who was the editor-in-chief of the magazine from 1956 to 1992. Al Adab was inspired from Les Temps modernes and has a pan-Arab political stance. The influence and popularity of Al Adab continued until the beginning of the civil war in Lebanon in 1975. The frequency of the magazine changed over time. It was started as a monthly and published on a monthly basis until 1980. Between 1980 and 2011 Al Adab appeared five times per year. The magazine was published four times in 2012 when it ceased its print version in Autumn 2012 after producing 60 volumes. Al Adab was relaunched as an online literary magazine in 2015. The issues of Al Adab were archived by the American University of Beirut. Al Adab was under the influence of Jean-Paul Sartre and existentialism adhering to the concept of commitment literature (al-adab al-multazim) which is also termed as the literary commitment (iltizam al-adab). The commitment of the magazine was the encouragement of literary outcomes focusing on the Arab world-related politics and social causes. Therefore, it argued that the literary work produced in Arabic should function as a medium for the liberation of Arabs, particularly of Palestinians and Algerians. The magazine was also a follower of the free verse approach in poetry. Al Adab featured articles on politics, poetry, short stories, film criticism, theater, and culture with a special reference to the Arab world.