1. - Mikhail Naimy -
His Life
His Work
His Culture

2. Objectives
 Life
- biography
 Work
- literary group
- Author / Critic
 Lebanon
- Map
- Interesting Facts Found by Students

3. Life
 Biography
- Born in May 1889 (Mount Sannine, Lebanon)
Died in May 1988 (Beirut, Lebanon)
- Mikha'il Na'ima
- Childhood education in Lebanon, Israel, and
Ukraine
- Studied at University of Washington, USA
- degrees in Law / Liberal Arts

4. Work (literary group)
 1919 – began writing career
 1920 - established New York Pen League (Al-Rābiṭah
al-Qalamiyah) / Khalil Gibran (President)
"To lift Arabic literature from the quagmire of stagnation
and imitation, and to infuse a new life into its veins so
as to make of it an active force in the building up of the
Arab nations.” – Naimy

5. Work
(Author/Critic)
 Author of 99 books
- drama, poetry, short stories, criticism, biography
 Influenced by Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
- Lebanese Philosopher & Poet
 http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html

6. From The Prophet
“Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and
thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark
caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead
waters.” – Kahlil Gibran

7. Lebanon

8. “One interesting fact that I found about Lebanon is that it in ancient
times its cities were major ports and outposts for both the Roman
and Phoenician empires. I think that this historical information is
important because in order to understand a culture and country it
is important to understand it's past. I got this fact from
http://www.lebanon-tourism.gov.lb/Default.aspx.”
Adam
“When I researched interesting facts about Lebanon, I came
across something that I thought was pretty cool. The ancient
Lebanese, who were known as the Phoenicians, were the first to
develop the alphabet in 1100 B.C. Even though they did it just to
make it easier to trade with other nations, it ended up turning into
the alphabet that is still used by many nations today. I did know
the Phoenicians created the alphabet but I did not know that they
were from Lebanon.”
http://www.berro.com/lebaneseindex/lebanon_interesting_facts.ht
m
Matt

9.  “One piece of information that I found to be interesting
about Mikhail Naimy was that he served in the United States army
and participated in World War one. This surprised me because he
only lived in the United States for 20 years but he was still
dedicated enough to the U.S. To enlist and fight for the country. It
just surprised me that someone from another country could be so
dedicated to ours.”
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8051592.html
Alanna
 “I found that Lebanon declared its independence on November 26,
1941 after being occupied by the French and British. I find that
interesting because 1941 was not that long ago. In 1944, France
gave all power to the Lebanese government. So much history has
unfolded only a short time ago.”
http://www.lebanonembassyus.org/Kids/History.htm
Jeannette

10. Interesting Facts About
Lebanon …
“Israel and Lebanon have had conflicts: one in 1948
[Palestine Vs Israel] and then in 2006. I decided to
share this information because it relates to the literature
we read in the beginning with the Jewish people and
them fighting for their land.”
Howard

11. “I found some interesting information about Lebanon on
the CIA website:
Lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the
boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are
unclear with several sections in dispute; since 2000,
Lebanon has claimed Shab'a Farms area in the Israeli-
occupied Golan Heights; the roughly 2,000-strong UN
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been in place
since 1978”
Tashi

12. “It is one of the most populated countries in the world,
many Lebanese have moved outside of Lebanon. In
fact more than 10 million Lebanese live outside of
Lebanon! I found this interesting because it leads me to
the conclusion that Lebanese people are looking to
greaten themselves.”
Paxton

13. “One piece of information that I found interesting was that
there are many different religions in Lebanon. There are at
least seventeen different types of religions in Lebanon today
[main ones are Islam and Christianity]. I found this on a
website called www.cia.gov. I picked this because I think that
this could have had something to do with different groups of
people who are powerful or who are not. It reminds me of
the ways in which people are divided. It is like the poor
verses the rich. Religions divide people, thus resulting in
segregation within the same race.”
Carley