Arabs and books
2022-04-28
It is popular in Arab countries that Egyptians write books, Lebanese write books and Iraqis read books. Although the actual situation is not so absolute, it is not difficult to see that books are indispensable in Arab life and important spiritual food for them. The earliest Library Several of the earliest libraries in the world appeared in the Middle East. On a mud slab of Nineveh monuments in Iraq today, Assyrian king baniba described himself: "I, ashbaniba, inspired by Naboo's God of wisdom, feel the need to read widely. Reading can not only expand knowledge and skills, but also develop a noble bearing and dignity." Baniba built the famous Ashu baniba Library in the ancient capital Nineveh. Many historians believe that this is the earliest Library in the world. The library has a complete collection of books, including literature, linguistics, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, physics, medicine, astrology and other works, almost covering all the knowledge known to mankind at that time. The Alexandria Library in Egypt was once the largest library in the world, known as "the sun of the world of human civilization". In its heyday, the library collected more than 700000 volumes, including 120 volumes of catalogues alone. Around the 3rd century BC, Ptolemy I, the king of the Ptolemy Dynasty, tried to build Alexandria into the "academic center" of the world at that time, so he established the Alexandria library, which was built to "collect books from all over the world" and realize the "collection of world knowledge". Unfortunately, the "world's brightest pearl of wisdom" at that time was later caught in a fire, and the books were swallowed up by the fire. In 2002, through the joint efforts of UNESCO and the Egyptian government, a new Alexandria Library stood on the beautiful Mediterranean side, and the ancient Alexandria library was reborn. After the completion of the new museum, it has received Book donations from many countries. The Chinese government donated 556 sets of classics such as the general history of China, the complete collection of Chinese medicine and the twenty fourth history, which enriched the memory of the collection. Today, the Alexandria library is one of the largest libraries in the Middle East and Africa. The author has visited this library, which Egyptians proudly call "the Lighthouse of human knowledge and the intersection of Civilizations", for several times. The reading room there is often full, even during the epidemic. "Reading Iraqis" Although strictly speaking, the baniba library and the ancient Alexandria library were not built by Arabs, they are proud to be built on the land where Arabs live today. Due to historical, political and other reasons, the Middle East has been turbulent for a long time, and some countries still have frequent conflicts and smoke of gunpowder. However, unrest and war did not stop Arabs from reading. The story of the book keeper is a vivid and powerful example. This diary, written by Sade Iskander, the curator of the Iraqi National Library, has touched countless readers. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iskander resolutely decided to end his life in a foreign country and return to Baghdad to take up the post of director of the Iraqi National Library and archives. He risked explosions, shootings and kidnappings to guard books and Iraqi culture. According to the book keeper of beacon fire, in 2006, four people were assassinated, two were kidnapped and 58 received death threats. In 2007, almost every month, a library staff member died. Even so, isconde was not frightened. Similarly, the library's readers did not stop borrowing. According to records, the Iraqi National Library received 503 readers in July this year. Together with readers, isconde's team of book keepers of beacon fire has built a moving landscape that is still eager for knowledge in the period of war, which is also a vivid interpretation of the saying of "Iraqis reading". In this regard, the author has a profound experience when interviewing in Iraq. In the old city of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, the oldest bookshop in Iraqi history is located on mutanabi street named after the great Arab poet of the 10th century. There are rows of old and new bookstores and cultural cafes everywhere. It is not only a good place for intellectuals to search for books, but also a spiritual "Habitat" for literati to meet. It is known as the "literary center" and "cultural Lighthouse" of Baghdad. Iraqi friends told me that if the area around mutanabi street is like the "left bank" of Paris, then the "shehabanda" cafe, which was built during the Ottoman Empire in 1917, is equivalent to the "flower god cafe" loved by cultural celebrities such as Hugo, Hemingway, Sartre and Picasso on St. Germain Avenue in Paris. However, in March 2007, 26 people, including Ali's four sons and one grandson, were killed in a car bomb attack in front of the "shehabanda" cafe. The cafe and most of the nearby streets were instantly razed to the ground. Ali himself was also buried under the ruins and unconscious. After Ali's grandfather carefully restored the original appearance of the cafe, Zeng Xie left it. "Since the establishment of the cafe, this is the place where influential thinkers, politicians and intellectuals of all dynasties often meet. I want to maintain this tradition and let the cafe reproduce the grand gathering of celebrities," he said Ali pasted the walls of the cafe with precious photos of famous Iraqi poets, writers, artists, politicians and so on. He also prominently hung pictures of the children killed by the explosion behind the counter of the cafe. He straightened his back and sat in the shop every day, with a few more sorrows and vicissitudes in his eyes. After the opening of the new "shehabanda" cafe, cultural celebrities often come here to drink coffee, talk about culture and look for writing inspiration. In the nearby old and new bookstores, a large number of bookworms linger tirelessly. For a time, the atmosphere of selecting, buying and reading books in Iraq became stronger. The Iraqi government is also deliberately "polishing" the "cultural card" of mutanabi street. Iraq's Morning Post reported that in December 2021, the capital Baghdad longchong wished the renovation of mutanabi street, the historical center of its book trade, to be completed. Colorful fireworks lit up the sky of Bagdad at the celebration ceremony of the completion ceremony of the repair of mutanabi Street organized by the Baghdad municipal government. Local media said that the new appearance of mutanabi street was accompanied by books, galleries, art exhibitions and cultural festivals, which reflected "an emerging cultural renaissance and reminded people of the golden age when Baghdad was regarded as the cultural capital of the Arab world". "The Lebanese who published the book" Lebanon is a small country with a population of less than 7 million and an area of only 10000 square kilometers, but its publishing industry is very developed. Khatib, President of "digital future" publishing company, which is located in the center of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, told the author that in Lebanon, at most, there were about thousands of large and small publishing companies in the country. Now there are still hundreds of active publishing companies, and tens of thousands of people are engaged in the publishing industry in the country. This is also what makes all Lebanese, including Khatib, proud. Lebanon's publishing industry is far ahead of other Arab countries because of its free society, strong cultural atmosphere and loose environment for publishing and distributing books. Lebanon publishes about 8000 books every year, including more than 3000 new books. For a long time, literary books published by Beirut have been well-known, highly praised and sold well in all Arab countries. I can always see literary works published in Lebanon in bookstores and bookstores in Cairo. Books are exquisitely designed and carefully bound, which often brighten people's eyes and immediately produce an impulse to buy. Khatib gave the reporter a set of new book "Encyclopedia of medical plants" just released by his publishing company. The book is a five volume book, hard hardbound and exquisitely printed. Each volume is made into different colors and has a strong visual impact. It is worth mentioning that "digital future" publishing company has also unremittingly published China's excellent books. So far, more than 200 Chinese books have been published and distributed, with a total of more than 1 million copies. To this end, Khatib also won the "youth Achievement Award" of the 11th China Book Special Contribution Award. "The Egyptians who wrote books" In contrast to "Iraqis reading and Lebanese publishing", it is "Egyptians writing books". As the cradle and one of the important birthplaces of ancient human civilization, Egypt is the place where the first ray of sunshine of world culture rises and shines. The ancient Egyptian people living on both sides of the Nile gave birth to a dazzling ancient civilization with their wisdom. Emil Ludwig (1881-1948), a German writer famous in the world literary world for his ability to create humanized biographies, In his book the Nile: the river of life, he wrote: "The Egyptian writing is much more beautiful than the Sumerian writing on stone and the Assyrian cuneiform writing. Since the Nile mud lost between the fingers of Egyptian hands, they have written with pointed papyrus. In fact, they are writing with a brush, mixing black and red in color palette and pottery pot, writing on wood lettering board, and then writing on papyrus." Ludwig also wrote: "as an official, the power of the instrument is strong and enjoys a high reputation, just like the princes in the ancient kingdom. Of course, here, like all over the world, the opposite of the instrument is the soldier, but only in Egypt, the pen is more powerful than the gun, because this nation has always been a writing nation and has never become a belligerent nation." These words can be called "insights", which deeply grasped the personality characteristics of ancient Egyptians and highlighted the importance and leading role of language and writing in their life and culture. To this day, Egypt is still a country with high cultural level in the Arab world, the Middle East and Africa. In particular, the Egyptian tradition of being good at writing books has been well inherited. Even Egypt has been born. So far, Najib Mahafuz, the only Nobel Prize winner in all Arab countries, has been born. Mahafuz is recognized as the "literary giant" and the "father of novelists" in the Arab world. He is full of talent, exquisite writing and never stops writing all his life. He enjoys high prestige in the whole Arab world. In fact, in Egypt, there are not as famous writers as Mahafouz, but there are many writers who are good at writing. In addition to writing books, Egyptians also like reading. At the 53rd Cairo International Book Fair held in February this year, 1063 publishing institutions from more than 50 countries exhibited tens of millions of books, both retail and wholesale sales exceeded last year. According to local media reports, statistics show that 96000 people were attracted to the opening ceremony on the same day. After the first week of the book fair, 530000 people visited the exhibition on site. At the same time, hundreds of millions of online exhibitors through the special network platform of the book fair. The annual Cairo International Book Fair, which began in 1969, is the largest book fair in the Middle East, one of the world's largest international book fairs and an important exhibition place for Arabic books around the world. The author noticed that at the book fair
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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