The story of this émigré is the breathings of a spirit and the sway of poetry, flowing forth in a flood of longing for the soil of the homeland!

To this overflow of sensuous delight the author of the book "Arabic Poetry in the American Mahjar," Mr. Wadih Deeb, carries you, bringing forth on his open palms the pearls the poets have cast up along the far shores, spreading them before the reader and surveying what is new and original in them!

The author speaks of the merits of this modern shade of literature, which grew up on the other shore of the world, pointing to the conditions that worked to nourish it; nor does he forget to note the motives that spurred the poets to abandon what their souls clung to most, to soar across the vastness of frontiers!

Among the poets there arose various bonds, with a single aim — poetry and letters — and all of these the author recounts, so that the reader seems to accompany the life of these folk, or rather to live it in the excerpts of their poetry, to feel with them all they felt, and to savor the perfumes of their verse.

It is a new weave in our literature, a radiant touch that we would do well to become acquainted with. Of the qualities of this poetry the writer has said:

"The poetry of the Mahjar is easy to commit to memory, for the sweetness of its music, the softness of its words, and the gentleness of its meanings; it discloses to you the sincere feeling in its author's soul..."

Yes — and such was the author in his analysis and his study: sincere through and through, faithful to the trust of the message placed in his hands!

The Mission of the Arab Thinker

"The most comprehensive, the frankest, and the deepest analysis of the Arab situation today..." — with such a description the press introduced the book of Dr. Fayez Sayegh. The mission of the Arab thinker is a responsibility borne by everyone who has become aware, or who has risen up to call for sound and upright guidance.

The author has put the dots on the letters of our present position, social and political; and in his analysis of the current situation he has pointed to the corners of weakness, and to the flaws capable of shaking this society that stands upon the shoulders of those who believe in the message of truth and of giving!

The reader cannot but stand astonished when he finds himself before the mirror of his own self: he is responsible toward society, toward himself; responsible for cooperation and solidarity to raise the level of his surroundings! The author

shakes out his pen to waken this thinking citizen, and to warn him of the dangers surrounding him, through which all that his hands have built may be torn down.

Diagnosing the disease does not avail to cure the sick man; and so the author points to the practical, efficacious remedy. He aims at practical, effective guidance and at realistic thinking, of the kind that works upon souls, upon texts, and upon deeds! He feels his way into the problem, lives the perplexity in which Arab thought is now floundering, and then stretches out his hand toward the renaissance, toward a new dawn!

It is worth mentioning that this book is adorned with realism: the writer set out boldly and frankly what he wanted, then plunged into the heart of the subject with the confidence of one who believes in his own capacities and in the capacities of the sons of his society! For the nation's problem is the problem of every one of its sons; and in this book is an exposition, and a solution, of the fundamental problem rooted deep in the souls of the nation's sons.