In'am al-Saghir in Beirut

After an absence of nine months in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Miss In'am al-Saghir returned during the past month to Lebanon to spend a short holiday among her family — one that did not exceed two weeks. Our friend In'am occupies a high administrative post there: she is an adviser on educational affairs in Dhahran. And the country over there, contrary to what we had imagined, is a piece of America: all the manifestations of modern civilization are to be found in Dhahran — the gardens, the hotels, the swimming pools, the roads, and the promenades are no less splendid and beautiful than those of Europe and America... We saw this with our own eyes in a color motion-picture film that In'am showed us at her home; and we understood, indirectly — despite In'am's denials — that she is not wholly removed from the literary life in which we once knew her to be so active, but is rather engaged in writing personal literary memoirs with which she will surprise us soon...