8vo. 208 pp., Arabic text, introduction by William Katisflis, publisher’s original wrappers, Unopened, copy clean and in very good condition, Tobia Press, New York, 1941.

Synopsis

Nadra Haddad (1881-1950), was a leading poet in the Syrian community in New York.
The literature of Arab immigrants in the U.S.A. was written mostly between the two World Wars, and is an indispensable phenomenon in the study of modern Arabic literature. Written in a crucial period of the development of Arabic literature, it was to a certain extent marked by the time in which it was written, as well as by the influence of Western literature and culture. This generation of immigrant Arab writers was well-acquainted with their own literary tradition, but they also knew European and American literature. Being educated immigrants, they gained knowledge in America of certain fundamental differences between the Oriental and Western mentality in a homogenous group of Arab immigrants, drawn closer together by the feeling of dislocation in a foreign environment. With their similar attitude to art, they formed the literary association al-Rābita al-qalamiyya in New York City in 1920, which influenced very strongly literature in the Arab countries in the course of its 10-year long activity. Two members of the association became especially prominent – Mikhail Nuayma and Gubran Khalil Gubran who influenced other members of the association a great deal. Haddad was one of the well-known scholars in the Syrian community in New York City.