Mikhail Naimy: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Na'ima completed his secondary education in the [[Baskinta]] school, studied at the Russian Teachers' Institute in [[Nazareth]] and the Theological [[Seminary]] in [[Poltava]], Ukraine. He moved to the United States where he received degrees in Law and Liberal Arts at the [[University of Washington]] and began his writing career in [[Walla Walla, Washington]] in 1919. After graduation he moved to New York, where along with [[Khalil Gibran]] and eight other writers he formed a movement for the rebirth of Arabic literature, the [[New York Pen League]]. He was the Vice President and [[Khalil Gibran]] was President. In 1932, having lived in the States for 21 years, he returned to Baskinta, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died of pneumonia at the age of 98 on March 1, 1988 in East [[Beirut]]. |
Na'ima completed his secondary education in the [[Baskinta]] school, studied at the Russian Teachers' Institute in [[Nazareth]] and the Theological [[Seminary]] in [[Poltava]], Ukraine. He moved to the United States where he received degrees in Law and Liberal Arts at the [[University of Washington]] and began his writing career in [[Walla Walla, Washington]] in 1919. |
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After graduation he moved to New York, where along with [[Khalil Gibran]] and eight other writers he formed a movement for the rebirth of Arabic literature, the [[New York Pen League]]. He was the Vice President and [[Khalil Gibran]] was President. In 1932, having lived in the States for 21 years, he returned to Baskinta, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died of pneumonia at the age of 98 on March 1, 1988 in East [[Beirut]]. |
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He wrote 99 books, including drama, essays, poetry, criticism, short stories and biography. |
He wrote 99 books, including drama, essays, poetry, criticism, short stories and biography. |
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Revision as of 12:56, 19 May 2010
Mikha'il Na'ima | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | author |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Genre | poetry |
| Literary movement | Mahjar, New York Pen League |
| Notable works | Book of Mirdad (1948, trans. 1962) |
Mikha'il Na'ima (also spelled Mikhail Naimy; Arabic: ميخائيل نعيمة) (b.1889 in Mount Sannine in modern day Lebanon, d. 1988) was a Lebanese author and poet of the New York Pen League.
Biography
Na'ima completed his secondary education in the Baskinta school, studied at the Russian Teachers' Institute in Nazareth and the Theological Seminary in Poltava, Ukraine. He moved to the United States where he received degrees in Law and Liberal Arts at the University of Washington and began his writing career in Walla Walla, Washington in 1919.
After graduation he moved to New York, where along with Khalil Gibran and eight other writers he formed a movement for the rebirth of Arabic literature, the New York Pen League. He was the Vice President and Khalil Gibran was President. In 1932, having lived in the States for 21 years, he returned to Baskinta, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died of pneumonia at the age of 98 on March 1, 1988 in East Beirut.
He wrote 99 books, including drama, essays, poetry, criticism, short stories and biography.
Literary output
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
Among his best known books is the Book of Mirdad, a mystical text first published in Lebanon in 1948, which was translated into English and published in London in 1962.
The mystic Osho had this to say about The Book of Mirdad. He said, "There are millions of books in the world, but 'The Book of Mirdad' stands out far above any book in existence." The book is a parable about a monastery that stood where Noah's ark came to rest after the flood subsided. It describes the very nature of human existence and Man's relation to the God within. It is told through the eyes of the monks as their lives change when a mystical stranger, Mirdad, enters the monastery. Osho says, "It is a small book, but the man who gave birth to this book - and mind my words, I am not saying 'the man who wrote this book', nobody wrote this book - was an unknown, a nobody. And because he was not a novelist, he never wrote again; just that single book contains his whole experience. The name of the man was Mikhail Naimy." While it is not factually accurate that Naimy never wrote again, one finds it hard to imagine that there could be more to mysticism or to life than what has been described in 'The Book of Mirdad'.
Mr. Naimy was a biographer and longtime associate of Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese writer, artist, poet, and philosopher and he penned the first Biography about him (first published in Arabic) in 1934. The biography was later translated into English and reprinted in 1950.
He was fluent in three languages: English, Russian and Arabic.
Selected Works
A'hadith ma al Sihafah أحاديث مع الصحافة A'kabar أكابر Ab'ad Min Moscow.. ابعد من موسكو و من واشنطن Aba' wa al Bnun الآباء والبنون Abu Bata أبو بطة Al 'Authan الأوثان Al Bayader البيادر Al Ghirbal الغربال Al Marahel المراحل Al Nur wa al Dijur النور و الديجور Al Youm al 'Akheer اليوم الأخير Ayoub ايوب Book of Mirdad مرداد Doroob دروب Fi Maheb Al Rih في مهب الريح Gibran Khalil Gibran جبران خليل جبران Hams Al Jufon همس الجفون Hawamish هوامش Kan Ma Kan كان ما كان Karem Ala Dareb كرم على درب Liqae لقاء Ma Qall wa Dall Min wahi Al Massih من وحي المسيح Muzkrat Al Arqash مذكرات الأرقش Najwa Al Ghuroub نجوى الغروب Sab'aoon (Seventy) سبعون Sawat al 'Alam صوت العالم Wamadat ومضات Ya Ibn Adam يا ابن آدم Zaad al M'aad
Critical essays on Na'ima
(from the MLA database, March 2008)
- Abbe, Susan. "Word Length Distribution in Arabic Letters." Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 2000 Aug; 7 (2): 121-27.
- Bell, Gregory J. Theosophy, Romanticism and Love in the Poetry of Mikhail Naimy. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2002 May; 62 (11): 3804. U of Pennsylvania, 2001.
- Boullata, Issa J. "Mikhail Naimy: Poet of Meditative Vision." Journal of Arabic Literature 1993 July; 24 (2): 173-84.
- El-Barouki, Foazi. "How Arab Émigré Writers in America Kept Their Cultural Roots." Dialog on Language Instruction 1997; 12 (1-2): 31-36.
- Najjar, Nada. "Mikhael Naimy (1889-1988)." Aljadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts 2000 Summer; 6 (32): 27.
- Nijland, Cornelis. "Religious Motifs and Themes in North American Mahjar Poetry." Representations of the Divine in Arabic Poetry. Ed. Gert Borg and Ed De Moor. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi; 2001. pp. 161-81