Lighthouse for the Drowning

First published in Arabic in 1996, exactly 20 years ago, Lighthouse for the Drowning was met with high acclaim, praised for its unique poetic voice and its strong relationship and dialogue with the Arabic poetic tradition. Fakhreddine is one of the major Lebanese names in Modern Arabic Poetry, and is considered one of the second generation poets of the modernist movement in the Arab world. His major literary accomplishment is the establishment of a new poetic voice to bridge foreign, Modernist values with Classic Arabic tradition. Fakhreddine's PhD dissertation was supervised by Adonis, a major Arab poet, and one of the first theorizers of the Arab modernist movement. Fakhreddine is one of the modern Arab poets who constantly evokes the classical tradition of Arabic poetry and tries to remain in dialogue with it. Arabic poetry, throughout history and to this day, is the brightest space in Arab life and culture, both in mainstream culture and in margins. Renowned Arab poets have always been symbols for liberation, open-mindedness, and progress, standing against stagnation, fanaticism, and bigotry. Arabic poetry has always been the source of modernization and renewal in Arab culture. With it, language is renewed, as well as rhetoric, thought, and cultural values.