Flashes - New Edition

Hachette Antoine, under the Naufal imprint, is proud to present the towering works of Mikhail Naimy, one of the most prominent contemporary Arab writers and a leading figure among Lebanese diaspora writers. His writing is distinguished by its attempts to purify Arabic literature of embellishment and superfluous language, striving instead for a more realistic portrayal of things and events. His style is characterized by simplicity, clarity, and directness, and by its avoidance of excessive expression, particularly in description, narration, and imagery. His language sometimes borders on colloquial Arabic, further attracting readers from all walks of life. This collection of proverbs, sayings, and aphorisms, published in the late 1980s, represents the culmination of Naimy's entire body of work before he laid down his pen and, at the age of 99, turned his attention to expressing what lies beyond the surface of life and death—matters that defy description and words. Therefore, this collection did not originate as a work of composition in the conventional sense, where the writer lays bare his thoughts and then proceeds to produce a finished piece. Rather, as its name suggests, it is a series of flashes or glimmers that appear in the mind like lightning, suddenly and unexpectedly. They barely flicker before they vanish, leaving their source unknown, and at that moment, they may be far removed from pen or paper. How so? They bear the weight of a single flash, a weight that extends to nine decades, as is the case with its accompanying light, including the potential impact it might have on him. This is due to the widespread nature of its counterpart, lightning, which, no sooner does it flash and disappear than it unleashes a torrent of rain.
• Your enemy is a friend disguised as an enemy.
• The jailer is a prisoner of his prisoner.
• How can a contemporary with filth in his guts grow or be mended? A collection of articles and short stories in which Naimi, with his distinctive writing style and bright contemplative spirit, addresses existential and social human issues in his relationship with himself and with life, in a context of bright thought and deep contemplation, with a distinctive language, and a unique and interesting style, and therefore he is considered one of the pioneers of thought and influential people globally.