In My Library

How I would have wished for the opportunity to speak of the collection "The Flask of Perfume" by the poet Youssef Ghoussoub at greater length than I shall in this rapid survey. I would then have tried to give the poet his due — that poet who was the first to grace modern Lebanese poetry with two rows of jasmine necklaces, as the poet Said Akl put it. I would have treated, as far as I could, his influence in directing poetry in Lebanon, and pointed out the turning point in it, which came with the publication of the poet's first two collections, "The Abandoned Cage" and "The Burning Bramble," and I would have shown that our poet understands what poetry is, and builds his verse in the light of his theoretical understanding of it. I would have demonstrated this from what appears in his lecture "The Time Has Come for Poetry to Be Freed," in his poem "In the Unseen There Is a Joyous Lyre," and in his other poem "Poetry," and seen how poetry, in Ghoussoub's view, is the echo of a soul — no wisdom in it and no sermon, no oratorical breath; its two elements are the heart and the mind — and how the poet, in his eyes, is a seeker after longings on the crest of dreams, pressing ever upward, bound to the imaginative, spiritual world; among his qualities are innocence, purity, and sensitivity; he will not be content with matter; he is wretched for the very abundance of his gifts; in him is the distillation of the peoples' hopes; mysteries are unveiled to him; and at his death he becomes a spark shining among the lights. I would have sought, after this, to see how the effect of his view of poetry and of the poet shows in his verse, bringing out the elements of his poetic school and what it holds of thought, images, and ideals, just as I would consider the meaning of the word in his lines and the meaning of the line in his poem. I would have brought out what is in his collections, and especially the earlier ones, of flashes of pain, of anxiety, of sensitivity, of innocence and purity, and of luminousness — all of them qualities of the poet, as I said before. I would have seen the safe refuge he reached at last, after minute searching, as the outcome of pain and anxiety. I would have compared the two earlier collections with the new one, and shown the beauty that pervades "The Flask of Perfume," and let my reader breathe in with me these abundant perfumes with which all the poems are anointed. I would have told her of the collection's poems — all of them love and courtship, description of the beloved and his body, confidences and longing — in which thought and art come together, and perfumes, dreams, songs, and colors are joined; so marvel with me at a poet of ripe years who gives us feelings that many a young poet is unable to give. I would have analyzed the elements mentioned above, of whose sum the collection is composed, speaking of each one by itself and showing its merits and its beauty. And I would at least have quoted a few lines, so that you might read poetry, not prose, and so forgive me my hasty treatment of it. My one consolation in this is that "The Woman's Voice" has already published two pieces from it in its two previous issues, and I hope you will not be content with them alone. Indeed, I would have hinted at the author's elegance, whose manifestation is not confined to the poetic matter alone, but extends to the form of the book, its paper, its cover, its type, and its arrangement. I would have done much besides this, and ended my article by encouraging my reader to read the book, to savor the poetry in it, to acquire it and set it on the shelf of her library beside the bed.

Among the books that adorn my library is one of more than three hundred pages: "The Art of Beauty" by Ahmad al-Orfali, holder of a diploma in medical massage and beauty culture from Chicago. I cannot exaggerate in praising this book or in showing the extent of the benefit that woman and girl alike can reap from it. One glance at its contents gives the reader an idea of its subject: it contains studies on beauty, attractiveness, health, food and its relation to beauty; on the body and the functions of its various organs; on sleep, walking, massage, exercise, constipation, thinness and stoutness; on the care of the hair, the face, the eyes, the mouth and teeth, the arm and elbows, the hands, the chest, the breasts, the abdomen, the legs, and the feet; as well as studies and instructions on the posture of the body while walking and while sitting, and studies on makeup, on bathing in its various kinds, on clothes and jewelry, and on perfumes, and advice on the care of the body during pregnancy and after childbirth. The book contains the practical side in addition to the theoretical, and so the author fills it with practical exercises, explaining them with dozens of figures and pictures of the different positions. "There is no such thing as an ugly woman; there is only a woman who does not know how to show her beauty," says the author, and he proceeds to teach woman how to show her beauty and display it to man.

Among the books I have chosen for you this month is a small volume, "The Story of Scripts," the first installment written by Professors Georges Shahla and Chafic Juha in the series "Yesterday and Today." It was prefaced by

Dr. Nabih Faris with a word in which he showed the importance of producing such a book in the Arabic language, which still lacks simplified historical works — works that do not confine their interest in history to war and politics, but take up civilization and material progress. He also praised the two authors' concern to bring out the share the Arabs contributed to raising the edifice of modern civilization. The book examines the development of writing from the earliest ages until it took its present form in the various languages; it explains the pictographic, symbolic, syllabic, and alphabetic kinds of writing, and speaks of the Phoenician and Aramaic alphabets; it also contains chapters on the history of the deciphering of ancient writing, and on the kinds of Arabic scripts. And in the book are pictures and stories that will delight the student.

The last book I present to you is "A Murderous Mankind and a Wretched Humanity" by Murad al-Khoury. It takes the form of an unrealistic story, and treats the evils of wars and the woes and crimes they drag in their train. In it the author has tried to give his views on war and peace, making the characters of his story utter opinions on society and civilization and putting speeches in their mouths to show the stabs that the body of humanity suffers because of wars; he also has them draw up plans for the building of a new, ideal world. The author has drawn a distinction — and I do not know how he permitted himself to do so — between the meaning of "mankind" and "humanity," making the first word a symbol of evil and aggression, and the second a symbol of goodness and justice. The book contains many exaggerated incidents, and descriptions whose reading — like the reading of the story as a whole — makes me wish the author, in his coming books, a fuller measure of excellence and success than he attained in his present one.