The Threshing Floors

Mikhail Naimy

This book is a collection of radio broadcasts written during World War II, most of which revolve around the phenomenon of war. The war that Naimy evokes here is not only the one that flares up between armies, nations, and international blocs, but also, and more importantly, the one that rages between the higher and lower selves within the human soul, leading humanity from war within oneself first to war with one's fellow human. If a person knew how to ascend to the heights within themselves to reach the summit, they would realize from there, in the light of the sublimity within, how degraded, base, and far from their true nature they are when they fight their brother at the foot of the mountain. Mikhail Naimy's "The Threshing Floors" is a unique example in creative literature, not only in Arabic but also in other world literatures. It is rare for a writer to achieve such a remarkable balance between the ultimate intellectual, spiritual, and human dimensions, and the utmost precision in expression, fluidity in language, ease of delivery, and power of influence.