A Victorian gothic novel and an Ottoman-Arabic context – could such a peculiar combination be the ultimate manifestation of early Nahda production? Sa’iba, Alis al-Bustani’s first and only novel, is a product of Arab modernity, born from the introduction of European literature to the Arab intellectual during the renaissance of the nineteenth century, a context very familiar to the author.
This story originally appeared in Maroun Abboud’s أقزام جبابرة. Abboud (1886-1962) was a Lebanese poet and writer who lived and worked among the Druze and wrote about village life in Mount Lebanon. Abboud studied various languages, initially pursued priesthood, and later worked as a newspaper editor while writing poetry.
The 2023 Khayrallah Prize is open for submissions until September 29, 2023:
“In the ‘Narrating Conflicts’ course, we think a lot about calls to empathy and how different experiments with form are trying to engage their readers / viewers / players.”
The excellent indie press Archipelago sent out a note yesterday saying that, to celebrate “the 70th anniversary of Lebanon’s liberation from colonial rule, Archipelago Books is happy to announce that all of Elias Khoury’s books will be on sale for 60% off the original cover price, including e-books.” You just need to check out with the code “khoury70.” Where should you start with Khoury? Where should you go from there? Well.
