II
Fouad Khoury 2 “My friend Gibran was a ‘Don Juan’, and complained of being disturbed by the phone.”
It is a story of defiance between Fouad Khoury and time. As if he forgot, or feigns to forget, that 84 years lie upon his shoulders; those shoulders which are not burdened with time and the years which have passed. Before I came to New York, Fares Estephan, owner of Al-Hoda, told me that the editor, Fouad Khoury, “is a contemporary of Gibran, Naimy and the Pen Bond.” He talked about him with deep respect, which encouraged me to meet with him as soon as I arrived in New York in 1985. His name was among the first names on my agenda. Once I entered the office at Al-Hoda, I recognised him instantly. I knew him from the grey hair that crowned his head and the creases etched on his face. 2 Fouad Khoury died in Brooklyn in 1988, three years after this meeting.
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