In My Library

In my library, Madam, are books of many kinds. Allow me, then, to set some of them before you; perhaps they will find favor in your eyes, and you will acquire them for your own well-stocked library.

It is a page from the modern history of the Arabs, by Mr. Sati' al-Husri. Published by the Kashshaf Bookshop and its press in Beirut. It runs to some 375 pages, large format.

There is no doubt that this book is of great importance and usefulness. It recounts, with the fidelity of the devoted historian and the exactness of the impartial witness, the events of a momentous era among the eras of this country's history. It begins with the factors and preludes that came before "the day of Maysalun," and ends with a description of the events that took place before it and after it, closing with an important appendix of the documents and information relating to it.

Arabic letters may be proud to add to their store this noble volume, which preserves between its two covers a truthful historical record of the hopes of a people crushed beneath the feet of the brute force of colonialism, just as it carries within its folds a lofty spirit, and a lesson of great profit for the generations to come.

It is a collection of poems and speeches by that departed man of learning and medicine, of immortal memory, the late Dr. Rizq Haddad. Printed at the press of the daily newspaper "Mir'at al-Gharb" in New York, at the expense of the deceased's widow, Mrs. Shafiqa Ghabriel Haddad. The gathering of the poems, speeches, and elegies in it was undertaken by the deceased's literary sister, Miss Kahla Haddad, with the help of her brother, Mr. Benjamin Haddad. The book runs to 500 pages, large format.

Whoever reads this collection perceives what eminence of station and loftiness of rank the great departed held in the world of learning and letters. And no wonder: Dr. Rizq Haddad, God rest his soul, was one of the earliest pillars of the renaissance, who contributed an ample share to the building of the scientific and literary awakening in the homeland and in the lands of exile. He has, likewise, praiseworthy deeds in the service of humanity that will not be forgotten. And there is no doubt that in gathering what his genius bestowed, his virtuous widow and his literary sister have rendered a great service.

It is a collection of talks delivered by Sheikh Henri al-Jalil over Radio Lebanon. It runs to 85 pages, small format. Printed at the Zincograph Naddar presses in 1947.

In this book Sheikh Henri al-Jalil speaks of Lebanon in its two halves, the emigrant and the resident. He pays tribute to the noble works which the Lebanese are performing in the lands of their exile, and he points to the firm bonds that unite the residents among them with the emigrants — all of it in a sweet style, overflowing with faith, warmth, and sincerity.

It is a set of scattered glimpses written by Mr. Sami al-Kayyali, proprietor of the distinguished magazine "al-Hadith," on various occasions, "about these shadows that reflect the natures of woman and her qualities, with a faint portrayal of her exalted position in society, and of her influence upon the life of letters and men of letters..." It runs to 138 pages, small format.

In this book the author treats various subjects, all of them touching upon woman... that eternal riddle — and this in a sweet style and with that lightness of literary spirit for which Mr. Kayyali is known, and upon whose wings he has taken his distinguished place in the world of modern Arabic letters.

It is a long and masterly poem by the great poet Boulos Salama. It runs to 21 pages. Its publication was undertaken by Mr. Elias Salama, a kinsman of the poet.

This poem is, of all the arts of poetry, the nearest to the epics. And there is no doubt that those whom God has endowed with the gift of savoring lofty verse will find in "Ali and Husayn," as they find in the poetry of Boulos Salama, an overflowing poetic genius that places him in the front rank of the standard-bearers of the modern poetic renaissance.

And this is a collection of new Lebanese stories by Mr. Suhayl Idris, published by Dar al-Ilm lil-Malayin, in 132 pages, medium format.

This collection contains ten stories which are perhaps among the finest additions to our meager output of fiction. The pleasure of reading them is abundant, and so is the profit, in harmony with what the art of the story demands of skill and craft. What they suffer from, however, more than anything else, is want of depth. But that is not to be expected of a writer still in the prime of youth. And in his future, God willing, we place our hope and expectation.