Rashid Yassin

Rashid Yassin Abbas Al-Rabaie (Arabic: رشيد ياسين) (July 1, 1931 – April 30, 2012) was an Iraqi journalist, poet, literary critic and university professor. He was born in Baghdad under Mandatory Iraq where he completed his primary and secondary education. He then pursued a bachelor's degree in theatre science at Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Bulgaria, and later obtained a postgraduate degree in philosophy and aesthetics from Sofia University.

He engaged in national politics from the beginning of the 1950s and lived in Syria as a political refugee from 1955 to 1958. He worked in the Baghari press and then in the literary posture magazine and Syrian soldier and dramatic consultation, and then as an art adviser in the cinema and theatre department in Iraq. Then a consultant for the Arabic Horizon magazine.

He began publishing his poems since the mid-1940s and was one of the first to renew the rhythm and structure of Arabic poetry. His poetry included Neglected Papers (1972), Death in the Desert (1986) and The Sad Doll.

He left for Iraq for Yemen in 1997 to become a professor at Sana'a University. In 2004, he moved to the United States to become a professor of Arabic at the University of Michigan–Dearborn until retirement. In 2007, he moved to in Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri where he died, and was buried in Park Lone Cemetery, Lemay, Missouri.

Early life
Rashid Yassin Abbas was born in Baghdad, the eldest of six children. His exact date of birth is unknown: reported dates include 1 July 1931 or 7 January 1929.

His father was a Shia, a member of the Rabi'a clan and a good digger who pursued many businesses, including importing household goods.

Rashid Yassin completed his primary and secondary school in Baghdad. A distant relative of his was a government minister, and his family encouraged him to attend law school and get a government job. But he knew from high school that he had a knack for poetry and withdrew from law school in his second year. During this period, he began his political activity and joined demonstrations opposing the British occupation of Iraq.

In 1955, Rashid Yassin then went to Syria as a political refugee, where he worked in literary and political journalism. He met there with Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahiri. He also met his first wife. He returned home after Iraq's 14 July Revolution in 1958, which overthrew the Hashemite monarchy. He left Iraq in 1961. Two years later, the Ba'ath Party seized government with the Ramadan Revolution of February 1963.

He continued his education in Bulgaria, completed his higher studies at the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia in 1969 and was awarded the equivalent of a master's degree in 1971, but was harassed by the Bulgarian Communist Party.

He moved to Syria, where he and his first wife were divorced, and then to Beirut. He left Lebanon in 1976 when the civil war erupted. He then returned to Iraq and remarried. He later returned to Bulgaria to finish his doctorate in philosophical sciences from Sofia University after the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria.

Career
He began his media career from Baghdad's Popular Front newspaper in 1950 and became responsible for the literary page of al-Naba 'al-Baghdadi daily newspaper the following year. He worked in the Syrian Soldier magazine from 1956 until the revolution of July 14, 1958. He worked as a translator and broadcaster on Radio Bulgaria in Sofia during 1963–1969. He was editor of the Literary Attitude Magazine of the Arab Writers' Union of Damascus during 1972–1973. He was a literary critic of the Lebanese newspaper The Editor during 1973–1976. He served as Chairman of the Cultural Section of the Beirut Newspaper from 1974 until 1976. He served as Head of the Cultural Section of the University Newspaper of the Ministry of Higher Education in 1989.

In the Cultural and Artistic Department, Rashid Yassin served as Chief of the Research and Theatre Documentation Section of the State Foundation for Cinema and Theatre in Baghdad from 1976 to 1980, then as the Foundation's dramatic consultation became until 1983. He became technical adviser to the Film and Theatre Foundation until 1985. He was an adviser to the Public Foundation for Cultural Affairs from 1985 to 1988.

He then left Iraq for Yemen and was appointed Professor of Arab Literature at Sana'a university from 1997 to 2004. He worked as a professor of Arabic at the University of Michigan–Dearborn in 2005 until he retired.

He was a member of the Union of Iraqi Writers and an honorary member of the Union of Lebanese Literature, attended a number of literary conferences held in the country, and had debates in the literary press on the theory of art and theatre.

Death
Rachid Abbas Yassin died on 30 April 2012 at his home in Central West End, St. Louis, and was buried in Park Lone Cemetery, Lemay, Missouri. His son, Dr. Nabil Yassin of St. Louis, said that in 2009 he had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy.

His work
He translated literary works and studies from English and Bulgarian into Arabic. He published his poetry and studies in Iraqi and Arab newspapers and magazines, as well as translations, theoretical studies and critical articles in literature, theatre and aesthetics. Some of his works are:


 * Discarded Papers, poetry collection, Arab Writers' Union of Damascus, 1972.
 * Death in the desert, poetry collection, about the House of Cultural Affairs in Baghdad, 1986.
 * From Ulysses Papers in the Journey of Loss, poetry collection, Lebanese Khayal House in Beirut, 2002.
 * Invitation to Self-Awareness, Critical Studies and Articles in Theatre, Arab Writers' Union in Damascus, 2000
 * Knight of Death (criticism of Saddam Hussein), Poetry Group, Ayadi Center for Studies and Publishing in Sana'a, 2004.
 * Fox that lost its tail, critical studies in poetry and poetry, Abadi Center for Studies and Publishing in Sana 'a, 2004.