Presented bilingually, this first US publication of Jawdat
Fakhreddine--one of the major Lebanese names in modern Arabic
poetry--establishes a revolutionary dialogue between international,
modernist values and the Arabic tradition. Fakhreddine's unique voice is
a breakthrough for the poetic language of his generation--an approach
that presents poetry as a beacon, a lighthouse that both opposes and
penetrates all forms of darkness.
Stars:
Stars of ours
that did not shine in the shroud of night,
but we took joy in them
when the night was a gloom all around us.
To our children, we write:
We are not your lighthouse.
Do not follow the path we light,
but be your own secrets.
Jawdat Fakhreddine was born in 1953 in a small village in southern
Lebanon. A professor of Arabic literature at the Lebanese University in
Beirut, he is one of the major Lebanese names in Modern Arabic Poetry,
and is considered one of the second generation poets of the modernist
movement in the Arab world. He earned an MA in Physics and taught at the
high school level for more than 10 years. During this time he published
a number of poetry collections and was encouraged by Adonis to work on a
PhD in Arabic literature. Fakhreddine intermittently publishes articles
and new poems in al-Hayat newspaper, which is an Arab newspaper
published in London and distributed worldwide, and in as-Safir, one of
the two major Lebanese Newspapers. He writes a weekly article in
al-Khaleej newspaper, a widely distributed gulf daily newspaper. He
currently lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
