Abd al-Mu'in Mallouhi (Arabic: عبد المعين الملوحي; 1917 – 21 March 2006) was a Syrian poet and journalist who wrote under the pen name "chronic communist."[1][2] He is best known for his poem "Fate and Crime" (Arabic: قدر وجريمة), which was printed but subsequently withdrawn from distribution.[3] The complete version has never been published and the poem is circulated through handwritten copies.[3] The poem is a eulogy to his wife, Buheira, who died of cancer.[3]
Early life
Mallouhi was born in Homs, Syria, in 1917.[1] His first poem was published in 1936. The first book he translated was Fragments from My Diary by Maxim Gorky in 1944. He started working as a teacher in 1945 in Homs, Latakia and Hama.[2][4]
He was one of the founders of the Syrian Writers’ Association and a member of the Arab Writers Union in Syria. He worked as a director of antiquities at the Ministry of Culture.[1][3] He also worked as a director of cultural centre and later became a cultural advisor at the Presidential Palace.[2] He retired in 1976. Mallouhi once visited Syrian president Hafez al-Assad,[5] who used to be his student. When asked of his requests, he asked for permission to print a translation of Vietnamese poetry, for which he received the Vietnamese Friendship Order.[2][5] He received other awards, including one from Bologna.[4]Peking University named him an honorary professor.[4] He was a member of the Arab Academy of Damascus. He wrote many newspaper articles, particularly for Sawt al-Shaab newspaper, which was issued in Damascus. He signed his articles with his name followed by the title "chronic communist."[2]
Abd al-Mu'in Mallouhi's Own Obituary (Arabic: عبد المعين الملوحي يرثي نفسه)[3]
His best known work, "Fate and Crime" (Arabic: قدر وجريمة) is a eulogy composed of 186 verses.[6] It was written in 1949 but withdrawn from distribution soon after it was to be printed.[3] It is an elegiac, philosophical and atheistic poem.[6]
