The Social Trends in the Fictional Literature in the View of Mikhail Naimy’s “liqa” & “Mirdad”

الاتجاه الاجتماعي في الأدب القصصي المهجري "لقاء" و"مرداد" لميخائيل نعيمة أنموذجاً

Abstract

In multiple respects, Mikhail Naimy is a unique Arab writer. Because of his education in Russian schools in Lebanon and Palestine, and later in Tsarist Russia he became so familiar with Russian language and literature that he began to write poetry in Russian language. After immigrating to the United States, he graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in Arts and Law.  He lived in the United States for more than twenty years. There he developed an interest in Anglo-Saxon Literature.  His poems in English were published in several American periodicals and newspapers, including The New York Times.

In his writings, Naimy critiques the western civilization's materialistic attitude towards life. His ideas, which stem from observations regarding spirituality and faith influenced a large number of young people in the Arab world. His early education and later academic endeavors allowed him to become equally familiar with Eastern and Western civilizations and his thought processes developed as a result of this amalgamation. Modern Arabic literature academics widely recognise that Naimy's views on the meanings and aims of literature account for a revolution in literary thinking in the Arab world.

The characteristic features of Naimy's fiction include the dominant socio-cultural inclinations of his time, realism and striking humanism, and love and compassion of the human soul. In vividly portraying the everyday life of people, their troubles and needs, and the injustice of social hierarchies, he created a persuasive archetype of the Arab laborer.

In doing so his literary ideas revolved around concerns such as morals in human relationships and the psychology of common people in relation to the social worlds they inhabit.

His most successful Arabic works in the various literary genres are as follows: Novel: Mudhakkirat al Arqash; Short story: Kan ma Kan, Akabir, Sanatuha al-jadidah; Abu Batta; Criticism and biography: Al-Ghirbal, Jibran Khalil Jibran; Poetry: Hams al-jufun; Drama: Al-aaba wal-Banun; Autobiography: Sab unhikayatumr; English work: The Book of Mirdad.