Anxiety and the Glorification of Life A Tribute to Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

Description

Friends brought a bouquet of roses to Jabra Ibrahim Jabra on the occasion of his approaching seventy-fiveth birthday. The wish was for these friends to gather around him on this occasion, to express their heartfelt and sincere affection. However, the prevailing circumstances in the Arab world at that time made such a celebration difficult, if not impossible. Therefore, the celebration was replaced by writing, some from behind barbed wire, others from distant yet near exiles, affirming the bonds of artistic friendship and acknowledging the pioneering role played by this literary giant. Jabra’s friends, who rallied to compile this book, focused primarily on “Jabra the novelist,” either by writing about his entire body of work or by examining a single novel. This approach obscured certain aspects of Jabra’s multifaceted and creative personality. To address some of these omissions, the novelist Abdul Rahman limited his contribution to this book to highlighting two aspects of Jabra’s work that he felt deserved attention: Jabra’s role in the modern poetry revolution and his significant contributions to literature. His inspiration in the visual arts, especially since these two aspects have generally not received the study and attention they deserve.