Kahlil Hawi: Letters of Love and Life
For the first time in English this important book on Khalil Hawi is now available with an introduction and notes. In addition to the translator’s introduction and the English translation of the original thirty-one letters, this book includes (in Arabic) a poem dedicated to the memory of Hawi and a two-part article (in Arabic) that explains Hawi’s poetic universe. There is also a personal biography of Hawi, the only such account dictated by Khalil Hawi himself. Hawi was a very private man. He guarded his privacy with extreme secrecy. What he chose to reveal of himself publicly was a very different persona from the real man behind the mask that he displayed to the outside world. The image that he presented was of a happy and content man whose laughter was unmistakably loud and reverberated like the sound of bells on the tower of the ancient church in Duhur al-Shuweir. He was also the important, well respected, yet humble professor at the American University of Beirut. He was the avant-garde pioneer poet of Modern Arabic Poetry whose reputation and fame reached the widest audience in the Arab world. He was also the well-attired, elegant and sociable man who was always surrounded by friends, admirers, students and followers. In contrast, these pages reveal some of the most intimate and private moments in his life that he probably would have liked to keep undisclosed. Here, Hawi is vulnerable, sentimental, sometimes meek and emotional, sometimes overwhelmed and burdened, sick, conflicted, extremely lonely, irritable, judgmental and concerned with his reputation and his status as a major pioneer poet in the Arab world. In spite of all this, it is also clearly evident that what we know of Khalil, the man and the human being, and what we admire about Hawi, the poet, is unmistakably manifested throughout these letters. Furthermore, like most of his contemporaries, the illustrious intellectuals, poets and thinkers of his time, Hawi was politically involved, doctrinally engaged and actively committed. His passionate beliefs ultimately led to his personal demise.
