Gibran and His Contemporaries

PAGE EIGHT

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT. NOVEMBER 2. 1972

Id ul Fitr

Gibran and His Contemporaries A New Course at AUB

On the auspicious occasion of Id ul Fitr the BULLETIN wishes its readers all happiness and prosperity.

Id ul Fitr will probably begin on Monday, November 6 or Tuesday, November 7, 1972. The first day of the Feast will be a holiday for Non-Academic Personnel.

Gibran (1883-1931)

Rihani (1876-1940)

The works by three Lebanese menof-letters known to the English speaking world are the subject of a course which the English Department of the American University of Beirut is offering this year.

The course, entitled "Kahlil Gibran and his contemporaries,'" includes Gibran's The Madman, The Prophet, Jesus the Son of Man and Spirits Rebellious, Mikhail Naimy's The Book of

both America and the Arab W orid."

Prof. Bushrui, who stressed the nature and value of the contact between creative writing and the social, political iind intellectual movements in the Arab world and in both America and Europe, explained that this course will illustrate and define the distinctive characteristics of Arab-American literature in the late 19th and early 20th century and will center on the English works of Gibran (1883-193'1), Naimy (1889-) and Rihani (1876-1940).

Mirdad, Kahlil Gibran, Memoirs of A Vagrant Soul, and Till We Meet, and Ameen Rihani's The Book of Khalid, The Chant of the Mystics, The Luzumiyat of Abut 'Aid, and The Path of Vision.

This course, introduced for the first time in Lebanon and the Middle East, will be taught by the Chairman of the English Department, Prof. Suheil Bushrui who is an authority on these works, and who has told the BULLETIN that the texts assigned will be studied as "works in their own right and also as documents reflecting the authors' responses to the immediate artistic and cultural problems they faced in

RUB

1L1

Director of Information and

Naimy (1889-)

To:

VIJl'''',,..; editor:

Redwan Mawlawi.

Editor: George Salhab.

Over 25 students and five auditors are already registered for this course which will emphasize the three writers' Lebanese heritage and to what extent it has contributed to their artistic personality. The course will also consider the contribution each has made to American literature and their influence on other writers at home and abroad, and will also show how each has absorbed his European experience into his Arab inheritance and how each has used this to enrich his writing.

The Gibran course will be conducted in a variety of lectures (by guest speakers and specialists) seminars, and discussion groups.

Address

BUllETin

Any Employee or Worker who is required to be on duty by reason of regular shift work or for performing essential services on that day will be so advised by his/her supervisor and will be granted a compensatory day off within a period of 45 days from the holiday. In case it is not possible to grant a compensatory day off within a period of 45 days from the holiday, the employee or worker will be paid at the regular pay rate for working on this day.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT, APRIL 5, 1973

PAGE SIX

AUB In The Press Difficulties Will Be Overcome

Preeminence

Ras- Beirut

College Hall (1873)

View of Bliss St. and the Medical Gate as it looked in the late 1920's.

The local press has been devoting much space to reports and interviews on the decisions taken last month :n New York by the Board of Trustees.

President Samuel B. Kirkwood was quoted late last month as saying he was optimistic the University would overcome its present financial difficulties, and stressing that all faculty, staff, students and alumni should do their utmost to assist AUB.

New Course on Gibran, Naimy and Rihani The New York Heritage reported that the Department of English at AUB has launched a new course on Gibran Kahlil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy and Amin Rihani.. The paper pointed out that this is the first time that such a course is introduced in both Lebanon and the Middle East. Heritage quoted Prof. Suheil Bushrui as saying that the texts assigned will be studied as works in their own right and as documents reflecting the responses of the authors to the immediate artistic and cultural pr0blems they faced in both America and the Arab World.

The Higher Education Supplement of The TIMES, London, published last month a 3-column story by Professor John Munro, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences who reo viewed the history and academic pro, grams of the Lebanon's four majm." universities and seven other institu· tions of higher learning. He described AUB as preeminent in the country's higher education system. A picture of College Hall topped the story which was headed: Lebanon - Pluralistic system begins to change.

Tobacco Smoking The press conference held last month, at Parliament House downtown and attended by Doctors Philip Salem and Fuad Jubran of AUH to discuss the dangers of tobacco smoking, was covered by the major papers. Botn doctors based their talks on information already contained in papers prepared by them.

Mass Communications The open seminar held last month by three leading journalists - Mr. Robert Stevens of the Observer, Mr. Jean Lacouture of Le Monde, and Mr. Igor Belyaev of Pravda-with AUB and Lebanese University mass communications students, were reported, with pictures.

Trombone The English language weekly Mon, day Morning reviewed last month the trombone recital given recently in the Assembly Hall.

The three weekly supplements of An-Nahar appeared last month in one supplement devoted in its entirety to reports on the progress of Hamr:.l and Ras-Beirut. A 2-page article reviewed the role AUB played in the progress of Ras-Beirut.

Popular The Wall Street Journal has published a two column article headed: American University in Beirut Still Popular With Arab Students Despite Area Tension.

The writer, Mr. Ray Vicker, who visited AUB early this year, quot~d President S.B. Kirkwood, as well as the deans -Pf the faculties of Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Architecture and Medical Scie~ces in describing the role of AUB and its various functions.

Prof. Taylor on Forgery

Oilman Was Here For Two Years

A 10rig article headed: «The Gentle Art of _Forgery - In the Mediterranean Area it is nearly as old as Coinage,» by Prof. George Taylor of the Department of English was reprinted in The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y., with permission, from Aramco World magazine.

In a story, headed: "After Years in Oil Fields, Geologist Turns to Orchards,» the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Mr. Richard Shaheen who spent many years in the oil fields of West Texas working with his father and brother in Shaheen and Sons oil firm before starting apple orchards, had studied for two years at AUB.