Recently Published Books

1 – Lines and Shadows — a collection of stories issued by Dar al-Rihani for Printing and Publishing, by Miss Rose Ghorayeb. The book is the eighth link in the "Masterpieces" series which Dar al-Rihani issues monthly.

Among Rose Ghorayeb's stories are some "that portray a side of the life of the modern woman, wavering between the old and the new, and some that show us glimpses of the life of the village, which still turns wholly or mostly upon instinctive needs. But the distinction of this story collection is that it shows us varied pictures and manifold aspects of the milieu — or the milieus — from which it draws its inspiration."

Rose Ghorayeb stands in the front rank of our women of letters and of thought, those who have given generously and in silence; and she is, moreover, an "unknown soldier" in this country.

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2 – Prisoners of Time — a volume of verse in English, lately published by Miss Thurayya Malhas. It is poetry of detachment and mysticism, in which the poetess draws her inspiration from her own self, chafes at her society and at people, and seeks solitude and union with God...

With the appearance of Prisoners of Time, Thurayya Malhas has entered the company of those who have composed poetry in both Arabic and English; and there are those who say that in English she is more successful at expressing her thought than in Arabic.

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3 – Al-Qawmiyyat — published in two parts by Dar al-Rihani for Printing and Publishing — by Ameen Rihani. Al-Qawmiyyat gathers what the philosopher of Freike wrote on the national renaissance and on political affairs, most of it never before published. The publisher says in the introduction: "The reader, by going over the articles in their historical sequence, can form an idea not only of the country's political development, but also of the development of the Arab consciousness which Amin embraced early, and to whose growth he contributed as thinker, worker, writer, and orator."

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4 – Thirsting Clouds: a new volume of verse by Mr. Wadih Deeb — poetic experiments and images which the poet has offered:

"To the souls that thirst for beauty, that hunger for knowledge,

crying out in the temples of light:

Blessed art Thou, O most exalted Good!"

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5 – It is a laborious and meritorious work, this that our man of letters Mr. Mikhail Naimy has accomplished in translating The Prophet into Arabic — that book which raised Gibran Khalil Gibran, among readers of English, to the ranks of the immortals...

The careful reader cannot but bear witness to the translator's fidelity and truthfulness in the arduous task for which he volunteered; he has thereby rendered a double service — the first to his friend Gibran, and the second to the readers of Arabic, who for a quarter of a century have been burning to read Gibran's "summit" in English...

The translation of The Prophet has appeared in a simple and elegant dress.