Once Upon a Time

Mikhail Naimy

These stories, from "The Barren" to "Her New Year" and "Sa'adat al-Beik" and others, all take place either in the homeland or in emigration. They revolve around the scourges, problems, and issues that emerge from life, which are endured, confronted, and struggled with by local individuals who embody their local identity from head to toe. However, Naimy, armed with that Russian realism with a psychological-humanistic orientation, is careful not to be a photographic chronicler in his art. Life only operates through the living being, and it always operates from the inside out. On the other hand, he does not remain, nor does he allow us to remain, mere spectators. Rather, he draws us into the intimate inner world of his characters, so we see through their eyes, feel their emotions, share their suffering, and perceive how each of them is ultimately a captive of their own inner constitution, struggling with problems they deem external, while they originate from within and the key to their solution lies in their own hands. Dr. Nadim Naimy, American University of Beirut