Category: Eye on the East

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Pablo Neruda: Poetry (and Fiction) and the ‘Products of Mankind’

Since the Nobel Prize has been in the news lately, here is a related story that’s worth revisiting.

In his acceptance speech upon being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, Chilean poet, writer, and diplomat Pablo Neruda transformed his dramatic ordeal through the treacherous Andes Mountains to Argentina escaping political prosecution, into a testament to the fundamentality of poetry – and subsequently art itself – in making us human and making our lives matter.

Continue reading “Pablo Neruda: Poetry (and Fiction) and the ‘Products of Mankind’”
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Beirut never asks…

The good thing when writing about Beirut – on its quintessence, not the daily abundance of superficial cosmetic changes mistaken for reform and progress – is that once you do, you’ll probably won’t have anything better to say in a long time, if ever. What makes Beirut what it is is deeply engrained – part of which isn’t necessarily for the better – and takes time to change, if ever.

Continue reading “Beirut never asks…”
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“Between Amnesty and Amnesia”: Remembering the 50th Anniversary of Lebanon’s Civil War

How much more is there left for us, not the history books, to say about the Lebanese civil war? Quite a lot, apparently.

Earlier this year, Lebanon-based “Agenda Culturel” launched its “Between Amnesty and Amnesia, where is the Memory of the Civil War?” series, gathering testimonies through seven questions centered on personal experiences and how memories of the war are still reflected in our lives, identity, traumas and aspirations for this country’s future. I really did not think I had more to say about the war, any more than I already have, nor even wanted to. But these questions made me realize that there were still things I wanted to share. So long as we, as a country – as we are far from being a nation – fail to remember in order to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, we will all still have much to say about what erupted on April 13, 1975.

Continue reading ““Between Amnesty and Amnesia”: Remembering the 50th Anniversary of Lebanon’s Civil War”
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The Good Old Days – أيام الزمن الجميل

“This living room used to be wider; this balcony used to be more spacious. Of course your love, ya habibi, was as big as the whole wide world.” – Fairuz, “It Wasn’t Like This.”

In one of many songs written and composed by her son Ziad, Fairuz laments how different things around her once were. The living room, the lemons, the olives…even the soap was different! ‘Different’ undoubtedly implying ‘better’, and applying to everything from inanimate objects to the love of a dear one. Apparently, that someone’s love ended up as sour as the lemons…

Continue reading “The Good Old Days – أيام الزمن الجميل”
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Stories in the Times of Corona

These are no ordinary times. I doubt anybody in their wildest dreams (even those behind movies that told a similar story to what is happening today) imagined that, a day would come when the world, would suddenly, stop. That our lives would be turned completely upside down; that nothing could remain like it used to be beyond the confines of our homes; and that very little would stay the same when life slowly comes back to how we used to know it. Continue reading “Stories in the Times of Corona”

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Ungrateful, Beirut

Beirut never asks you to come back to it. It entices you to and makes you come back out of your own volition. If Beirut were a person, it would be irresistibly charming, more than anybody you would ever meet. Someone you would keep falling hopelessly in love with, even though you’d always know it would be a tumultuous, love and hate relationship with no future whatsoever. If Beirut were a force of nature, it would be a glorious sunset after a furious storm, though you’d always be left guessing when the next storm will hit, because it always does and stronger than the one before. Continue reading “Ungrateful, Beirut”

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“Godless in the Land of Gods”

Note: This is the last in a series of four thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first three posts (on politics and the parliamentary elections, the economy and the environment) were published last year.  

Eye on the East (EOTE): Happy Easter.

Lebanese Citizen (LC): Thanks, I guess.

EOTE: Not much of an Easter person yourself? Continue reading ““Godless in the Land of Gods””

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In Just Six Words…

There are few other things that bring me as much happiness and fulfillment than as writing. The happiness it brings is both from how it allows me to express myself in all elegance, freedom and simplicity, as well as from the joy it brings to others readers and the bond that it invariably cements between us, writer and reader. No matter what the topic, no matter when and how and for who, writing is a mission, a cause, a means and an end in and of itself. Make of it what you want, interpret it as you wish, but never underestimate its power. Continue reading “In Just Six Words…”

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“Land of the Cedar”

Note: This is the third in a series of four thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first post was on politics and the parliamentary elections and the second on the economy.

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Eye on the East (EOTE): I never thought it would take so much time to reconvene.

Lebanese Citizen (LC): Well, you know that I’ve been here. You’re the one that’s always so busy. I hope you’re not going to end up like one of those people who is always soooo busy, but you really wonder what they’re soooo busy with. Continue reading ““Land of the Cedar””