Mayy's Letters

Pages and lessons from Mayy's immortal literature

Author Name: Mayy Ziadah

The name Mayy immediately comes to mind whenever the women's renaissance in the Arab East is mentioned. Mayy, the struggling author, lived what she wrote, and her full life was the best legacy she left behind. She was keenly observant, an amiable companion, and of pleasant character; she loved amusement, laughter, and activity. But she was a strange soul, with a lonely heart, prone to isolation, withdrawing into herself to sigh, complain, write, and envy the birds fluttering around her; chirping freely as they pleased. She did not merely read Gibran, but diligently sought to understand his life and circumstances, as if she wished to discover the original source that sparked his work. She felt compelled to write to him, but how could she when she didn't know him? After long hesitation, she picked up her pen and wrote her first letter to Gibran. That was on March 29, 1912. Mayy's letters must be preserved because they represent a beautiful genre of epistolary literature in Arabic. In French literature, there are letters from figures like Flaubert and Voltaire, and through these letters, one can study the author more deeply than through their other works. She had extensive knowledge and broad horizons, and her personality emerged independently through her thoughts and writings. She neither imitated any writer nor emulated any author, but rather translated the stirrings of her soul, the inspiration of her conscience, and the secret of her feelings.