Mikha'il Nu'ayma ( ar, ميخائيل نعيمة, ; US legal name: Michael Joseph Naimy), better known in English by his pen name Mikhail Naimy (October 17, 1889 – February 28, 1988), was a Lebanese poet, novelist, and philosopher, famous for his spiritual writings, notably '' The Book of Mirdad''. He is widely recognized as one of the most important figures in

modern Arabic literature The instance that marked the shift in the whole of Arabic literature towards modern Arabic literature can be attributed to the Arab World-West contact during the 19th and early 20th century. This contact resulted in the gradual replacement of Clas ...

and one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century. In 1920, Naimy re-formed the

New York Pen League The Mahjar ( ar, المهجر, translit=al-mahjar, one of its more literal meanings being "the Arab diaspora") was a literary movement started by Arabic-speaking writers who had emigrated to America from Ottoman-ruled Lebanon, Syria and Palestine ...

, along with its original founders

Nasib Arida Nasib Arida ( ar, نسيب عريضة, ; 1887–1946) was a Syrian-born poet and writer of the Mahjar movement and a founding member of the New York Pen League. Life Arida was born in Homs to a Syrian Greek Orthodox family where he receive ...

and

Abd al-Masih Haddad Abd al-Masih Haddad ( ar, عبد المسيح حداد, ; 1890–1963) was a Syrian writer of the Mahjar movement and journalist.. His magazine '' As-Sayeh'' (''The Traveler''), started in 1912 and continued until 1957, presented the works of pr ...

, and other

Mahjar The Mahjar ( ar, المهجر, translit=al-mahjar, one of its more literal meanings being "the Arab diaspora") was a literary movement started by Arabic-speaking writers who had emigrated to America from Ottoman-ruled Lebanon, Syria and Palestine ...

i literary figures such as

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...

Biography

Naimy was born into a

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

family and completed his elementary education at the

Baskinta Baskinta ( ar, بسكنتا) is a Lebanese village situated at an altitude ranging from 1250 metres above sea level and climbs up to approximately 1800 meters of height at Qanat Bakish, making it one of the highest villages of Lebanon. It is loca ...

school. He then studied at the Russian Teachers' Institute in

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

and the Theological

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Poltava Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administrativel ...

. He moved to the United States in 1911, joining his two older brothers in

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...

, where they owned a furniture store. He then moved to Seattle to study at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

, earning degrees in law and liberal arts. After his graduation in 1916 he moved to New York City, and in 1918 he was drafted in the U. S. Army. Algunos miembros de Al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya

Algunos miembros de Al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya

After the war, Naimy returned for a time to Walla Walla, where he began his writing career in 1919. He wrote poetry in Russian, Arabic and English. He then moved back to New York, where he joined with Khalil Gibran and eight other writers to form a movement for the rebirth of Arabic literature, the

. Gibran was its president and Naimy its secretary. In 1932, having lived in the States for 21 years, Naimy returned to Baskinta, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died of pneumonia at the age of 98 on February 28, 1988 in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. The mystic Osho had this to say about ''The Book of Mirdad'': "There are millions of books in the world but ''The Book of Mirdad'' stands out far above any book in existence".

Selected works

Arabic works

Poetry

* ''Hams al-jufūn'', 1928.

Drama

* ''Al-ʾābāʾ wa-l-banūn'', 1918.

Short stories

* ''Kān mā Kān'', 1932; * ''ʾAkābir'', 1953; * ''ʾAbū Baṭṭa'', 1957.

Novels

*', 1948 (author's trans. ''The Memoirs of a Vagrant Soul; or, the Pitted Face'', 1952).

Autobiography

* ''Sabʿūn: ḥikāyat ʿumr'', 1959-1960.

Criticism and biography

*''Al-Ghirbal'', 1923; * ''Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān'', 1936 (author's trans. ''Kahlil Gibran: A Biography'',1950).

English works

* ''The Book of Mirdad'', Beirut, 1948.

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 Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

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. #''Poeti arabi a New York. Il circolo di Gibran'', introduzione e traduzione di F. Medici, prefazione di A. Salem, Palomar, Bari 2009. # 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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naima, Mikhail Lebanese writers American writers of Lebanese descent Lebanese Christians 1889 births 1988 deaths People from Walla Walla, Washington American poets 20th-century Lebanese poets 20th-century American poets University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Lebanese emigrants to the United States Lebanese male poets 20th-century American male writers Mahjar University of Washington School of Law alumni