GeorgeNicolasEl-Hage.com
email
  • Professional Profile
    • Who is George Nicolas El-Hage
  • Publications
    • "Aqlam Muhajirah" The voice of the New Pen League (NPL)
    • Literary Criticism >
      • Books (English) >
        • A Labor of Love: Our Lebanon Family Home Renovation Project
        • Gibran Kahlil Gibran: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
        • Eliya Abu Madi: The Distinguished Poet of al-Rabita al-Qalamiya
        • A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Volume One: Pre-Islamic to the Abbaasid Age
        • A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Volume Two: Andalusia to the Modern Age
        • William Blake and Kahlil Gibran: Poets of Prophetic Vision
        • Gibran Kahlil Gibran: The Man Versus the Legend
        • Essays on Literature and Language
        • Ibn al-Farid's "Khamriyya" ("Ode on Wine")
        • Nizar Qabbani: Women in My Poetry and in My Life
        • Nizar Qabbani: My Story with Poetry - "An Autobiography"
        • Nizar Qabbani: Journal of An Indifferent Woman
        • Ghada al-Samman's Beirut '75: An Autobiographical Interpretation
        • English Translation of Selected Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab
        • Khalil Hawi: Letters of Love and Life
        • Immortal Quotes from Ameen al-Rihani’s Masterpiece The Book of Khalid
        • Ameen al-Rihani: Eastern and Western Figures
        • Ameen al-Rihani’s The Register of Repentance: Four Short Stories and a Play
        • Selected Letters of Ameen al-Rihani: Translated with an Introduction and Notes
        • Ameen al-Rihani: You...The Poets
        • Ameen al-Rihani: My Story with May
        • Ameen al-Rihani: The Muleteer and the Priest
      • Books (Arabic) >
        • al-Zajal al-Lubnani wa Zaghloul al-Damour fi Beit Meri: (Lebanese Zajal and Zaghloul al-Damour in Beit Meri)
        • Madkhal ila-l-'alam al-shi 'ri 'inda Khalil Hawi usluban wa madmunan: (An Introduction to the Poetic Universe of Khalil Hawi)
        • al-Nabi bayna 'adu al-Masih wa al-Insan al-Ilah
        • Sahifat "al-Risala" al-Lubnaniya al-Mahjariya: (The "al-Risala" Newspaper and the Lebanese Press in Diaspora)
        • Gibran Kahlil Gibran wa William Blake: Sha'ira al-Ru'ya: (Gibran Kahlil Gibran and William Blake: Poets of Prophetic Vision)
        • The Trilogy of Heroism, Redemption, and Triumph: The Press in Diaspora, Khalil Hawi, Zaghloul al-Damour
    • Textbooks & Articles on Teaching & Learning Arabic >
      • marHaba III: A Course in Levantine & Modern Standard Arabic (LMSA) >
        • marHaba III: PART ONE Audio Files
        • marHaba III: PART TWO Audio Files
        • marHaba III: PART FOUR Audio Files
      • marHaba II: A Course in Levantine Arabic - Lebanese Dialect - Intermediate Level >
        • A Companion Book to marHaba II: English Translation & Transliteration of All Lessons in marHaba II
      • marHaba: A Course in Levantine Arabic - Lebanese Dialect >
        • marHaba: Practice Workbooks
      • MABROUK: A Course in Modern Standard Arabic (Elementary & Intermediate Levels) >
        • Study Guide: MABROUK
      • The Story of Sami and Warda
    • Lebanese Nursery Rhymes
    • Books (Poetry in English/Arabic) >
      • Love Surpassed: A Book of Poetry
      • Letters to My Son: An Immigrant's Saga
      • Lebanese Hymns of Love and War
    • Books (Poetry in Arabic) >
      • Love Poems from Beirut
      • Awdat al-Faris wa Qiyamat al-Madina
      • al-Ghurba wa Mawasim al-Dhalam
      • Law Kunti Li
      • Qasa’id Bila Tarikh (Undated Poems) >
        • Mikhail Naimy: Fathers and Sons - A Play in Four Acts
      • Maw’id wa-liqa’
      • anti wal atfaalu fi Beirut: You and the Children in Beirut
      • You and the Children in Beirut
    • Poems (English) >
      • Birth of a Princess
      • Forty Years of Bliss
      • Thinking of You
      • You are My Christmas
      • A Poem for Mother's Day
      • To Mary Ann on Her Birthday
    • Poems (Arabic) >
      • Arabic Poems in MSA >
        • Beirut Speaks - song
        • A Tribute to Beirut
        • Lubnaniyat
        • The Garden of Visions
        • Najwa
        • Kunna ibtada’na
      • Arabic Poems in Lebanese Dialect >
        • Hilwit libnan
    • My Poetry (Translated from Arabic to English) >
      • Beirut Speaks
      • The Book of Death, #28
      • Journey of Illusion
      • Letter to a Country With No Frontier
      • A Letter to the Children of Qana
      • My People
      • You, Beirut and the Children
      • Introduction to If You Were Mine
      • Sufiya: A Mystical Poem
      • Surprise Attack
      • Exile
      • Chariot of Light
    • My Translations of Other Poets'/Writers' Works >
      • Ameen Albert Rihani: A Train and No Station
      • Mikhail Naimy: Once Upon A Time
      • Mikhail Naimy: Abu Batta and Other Stories
      • Mikhail Naimy: Fathers and Sons - A Play in Four Acts
      • Mikhail Naimy: Inspired by Christ
      • Mikhail Naimy: Sab‘un (Seventy) An Autobiography
      • Mikhail Naimy: al-Ghirbal (The Sieve): Selections Translated into English with an Introduction
      • Tawfiq Yusuf Awwad: A Loaf of Bread (al-Raghif)
      • Tawfiq Yusuf Awwad: The Lame Boy and Other Stories
      • Maroun Abboud: Faces and Stories
      • Maroun Abboud: The Red Prince - A Lebanese Tale
      • Maroun Abboud: Tales from the Village
      • al-Rihaniyyat
      • Munajayat Al-Sab‘in
      • Mahmud Darwish’s poem, “Antithesis”
      • ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati’s: The Byzantine Poems of Abu Firas
      • Gibran’s Unpublished Letters to Archbishop Antonious Bashir
    • Personal Reflections >
      • First Impressions of Lebanon in June 2013
      • The Collapse of a Tradition
  • Professional Activities
    • Lectures
    • Poetry Readings
    • Interviews
    • Conferences
    • Memberships/Committees
    • Management Enrichment
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Contact Information

Mikhail Naimy: al-Ghirbal (The Sieve):
Selections Translated into English with an Introduction

When The members of the Pen Bond Association (al-Rabita al-Qalamiya), a distinguished group of “like-minded” authors to borrow Naimy’s phrase, were busy writing and publishing in New York City and striving to modernize and change the course of Arabic Literature, there was another group in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt (The Diwan Group) trying, within the limitations imposed on them by their closed environment, to do the same but with much less success. Perhaps it is not fair to compare the achievements and impact of these two separate groups on the modernization of Arabic literature and poetry at the turn of the twentieth century and the three decades that followed because al-Akkad, al-Mazini, and to some extent Shoukry, although they were open-minded and wanted to be tolerant of new ideas and literary theories, they still lived in a very conservative and extremely traditional society that worshiped the past and adhered to ancient rules of grammar, linguistics, morphology, and prosody. In al-Akkad, Naimy found a partner, a “like-minded” counterpart across the seas, who shared with him some basic understanding of the role of literature, poetry, the poet, and the critic. These two prominent authors had more in common even if al-Akkad insisted on putting language above the poet, thus disagreeing with Naimy who believed that language is but an instrument and a means to an end. Nevertheless, it was befitting that al-Akkad was chosen to write the introduction to the first edition of Naimy’s influential book of literary criticism, al-Ghirbal, because the Egyptian Scholar was also in his own way trying to innovate in an environment shackled with a heavy inheritance of outworn traditions and forced to still wear the outmoded garments of a bygone world. As a critic, Naimy ignited a revolution that set new standards for literary criticism in modern Arabic literature. Al-Ghirbal is a decisive and definitive statement which rejects the years of stagnation that plagued Arabic literature and offers new rules and guidance to replace the archaic ones. The book bravely admits that thanks to Western literature and theories of literary criticism, we started to witness a noticeable change in Arabic literature. It introduces and legitimizes the theater, acting, the role of the actor, the play writer, and novelist as well as the important act of translating and the vital role of the translator. Placing the book in its proper historical timeframe, we realize that many of the revolutionary ideas and concepts advanced in al-Ghirbal were at the time of its publication considered avant-garde, radical, and almost heretical. The amazing fact is that the message of this book is as relevant today as it was valid and pertinent then, and if Naimy returned to life, he would not change a word in the book. Al-Ghirbal’s message was strong and clear. It was certainly meant to awaken the sleepy and “lazy” minds and souls and to shock, anger, and even hurt the sensitivity of its readers and the hosts of versifiers and pretenders who thought they were poets and drive them to rethink, reconsider, and reevaluate. All said, al-Ghirbal remains one the most powerful documents on literary criticism in modern Arabic literature since the turn of the twentieth century. It abounds with sarcasm that bites but also with wisdom that enlightens and guides. It also summarizes the position of the Pen Bond Association (al-Rabita al-Qalamiya) regarding poetry and the role of the poet and of literature as they viewed it and strongly advocated to popularize and modernize it.
Picture
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON AMAZON.COM
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.