Rafik Schami

Schami, Rafik (1946– ), Syrian‐born German satirist and storyteller. Schami, born Suheil Fadél, emigrated from Syria to Germany in 1971. There he shared the fate of German guest workers before taking a doctorate in chemistry at Heidelberg. In 1982 he left his job at a German chemical company to devote himself full‐time to storytelling and writing. Around that time, Schami co‐founded two literary organizations for guest workers, Südwind and PoLiKunst, which allowed him to publish some of his stories. His genre of choice is the modern fairy tale or fantastic tale whose style he has perfected since he began writing in German in 1978. The stories he tells are indebted to the oral storytelling tradition he grew up with and keeps alive during extensive lecture tours in Germany. His tales are only committed to print after they have withstood the test of many public performances.

Schami tells stories about everyday people and everyday courage. Some stories could be called trickster tales, in which a powerless person outwits the high and mighty, while others end in failure and disappointment. Lodged between modern‐day reality and fantasy land, between Orient and Occident, between adult and children's literature, his story collections, such as Der erste Ritt durchs Nadelöhr (The First Ride Through the Eye of a Needle, 1985) and Eine Hand voller Sterne (A Hand Full of Stars, 1990), reflect Schami's childhood years in Damascus in their setting and flavour, and his adopted homeland and culture in literary style. His tales are pared down to the bare essentials and told matter‐of‐factly with humour, irony, and a hint of cynicism.

Bibliography

• Deeken, Annette, ‘Der listige Hakawati’, Deutschunterricht, 48 (1995).

— Eva‐Marie Metcalf