Publisher's Synopsis
Although he spent most of his life in New York, Eliya Abu Madi is well known in the Arab world and is considered one of the most prominent Arab poets in Diaspora in the early years of the twentieth century. He is also acknowledged as one of the founders of al-Rabita al-Qalamiya in New York City along with Gibran Kahlil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy, Ameen al-Rihani, and other poets and journalists. Next to the three aforementioned members, and compared to the rest of his colleagues in al-Rabita, he is considered a prolific and an innovative poet and journalist. His poetry was well received in the Arab world; it was memorized by Arab students and poets, and it touched on various aspects of Arab life and human experiences and concerns which made his vision more interesting, intriguing, and relevant.
His poetry betrays various trends and prevailing styles and movements specific to Romanticism, Existentialism, Transcendentalism, and Symbolism, which make his vision all the more unique, but also appealing and engaging. Above all, ideas and influences from his colleagues in al-Rabita, particularly Gibran, Naimy, and to some extent al-Rihani, remain also visible and poignant in his philosophy and poetry of optimism, patriotism, and in his humanistic tendencies that touched on various aspects of human life. This book provides a condensed summary of Abu Madi's vision, philosophical ideas, and poetic achievement. It also presents a synopsis of his life and development as a poet and a journalist, and it attempts to place the poet in his proper historical context. The book is divided into four parts:1. A critical introduction to Abu Madi: the man, the poet, and the journalist.
2. Highlights of the author's correspondence with the poet's grandson, Mr. Bob Madey, who currently lives and works in New York City.
3. A comprehensive summary of an hour long phone interview with the poet's only surviving son, Dr. Robert W. Madey, who is now 88 years old and who lives in Melville, New York.
4. A letter written in 1922 by Eliya Abu Madi to Ameen al-Rihani.
