8vo. Arabic text, 417 pp., b/w photographs, publisher’s original wrappers, index, biblio, copy in mint condition, New, Kutub, Beirut, 2021.

Synopsis

Antoun Saadeh (1904-1949), left Syria in 1938 as the leader of an organized political movement, an embodiment of Syria’s salvation and future. His trip to the Syrian communities overseas had clear strategic and tactical goals: to secure the implements, financial and political, for the national liberation movement. This mission will court disaster and triumphs, hardship and achievements, and will become an obligatory dark exile dotted with one luminous exceptions: Juliette al-Mir Saadeh will describe his stay in South America as the most odious prison sentence he had ever experienced.
The period of exile was a period of great personal loss and great personal triumph. He suffered deprivation, insult and injury; he endured calumny, betrayal and deceit. Nonetheless, within his great heart triumphed a great love -Juliette al-Mir- a luminous presence whose affection, devotion and steadfastness, who sacrifice, caring and companionship soothed his heart and spirit and presaged her own greatness in the years to come. In these years of exile, he endured with great dignity, he built an intellectual edifice of depth and novelty, and, aside from his love for Syria, he had found the great love of his life.”