They Write... about "al-Nasamat" — Gibran's Letter

"Al-Nasamat," the first fruit of Salma Sayegh's literary work, appeared in 1923, the result of an individual effort undertaken by "the Champion of Woman," Mr. Georges Baz...

It was a distinguished literary conquest in the world of the Arab woman, and there remained no newspaper or magazine that did not treat this tender woman's book with expressions of admiration and esteem.

We content ourselves, in what follows, with presenting the opinions of a company of our great men of letters on "al-Nasamat" and on the author of al-Nasamat.

My dear lady,

Peace upon your good soul. I had been absent two whole months from this city, and when I returned I found the book "al-Nasamat," and it gladdened me through and through; then I read it from beginning to end — read it between midnight and the forenoon.

And there is no word between my lips to say of your book. Only that I loved it — loved it as you would want me to love it; rather, through it I loved what remained hovering in your heart after each of its chapters was set down. Then I felt a longing for what lies far from me; then the star rose.

We write only something of the outward face of our selves. And we read books so that each of us may know the other. Whoever reads your book knows you, and whoever knows you today feels himself calmer than he was yesterday. Whoever knows you, madam, feels himself calmer, even while he senses in his heart a wanderer: "Go far, O you who stir wonder in the hearts of strangers and madmen and singers — wanderers who find no corner along the road on which to rest the head."

Be pleased to accept my respect, joined with my admiration, and may God keep you.