Veteran Syrian critic, translator and mythographer Hanna Abboud passed away on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, at the age of 89 years. Born in the village of Qalatiyya in the district of Tal Kalakh in the Homs governorate in 1937, Abboud was educated in Homs, graduated from Damascus University with a degree in Arabic Language and Literature.
He worked as a teacher, in addition to his work in editing the magazine “Foreign Literature” and “The Literary Attitude” magazine issued by the Arab Writers Union in Damascus. As a member of the Literary Criticism Society of the Arab Writers Union, Abboud was considered one of the critics of poetry in the second half of the 20th century. He authored numerous books on criticism of philosophical and political thought, literary economics, translation of criticism and literary theory.
Abboud authored 14 books on theatre, poetry, literary theory, including “Literary Economics”, “The Poem and the Body”, and “From the Discourse of Tragedy”. In literary translations, he translated 25 books exploring world literature and mythology, including “Prophecy in Literature”, “The Pillars of the Novel and The Divine Comedy”.
In philosophical, social and political translations, Abboud published 16 books discussing fictional socialism, historical materialism and the struggle of ideas, including “A Brief History of Philosophy”, the Holy Family and Social Sciences.
Among Abboud’s most notable works:
