Although Salim Barakat is one of the most renowned and respected contemporary writers in Arabic letters, he remains virtually unknown in the English-speaking world. This first collection of his poetry in English, representing every stage of his career, remedies that startling omission. Come, Take a Gentle Stab features selections from his most acclaimed works of poetry, including excerpts from his book-length poems, rendered into an English that captures the exultation of language for which he is famous. A Kurdish-Syrian man, Barakat chose to write in Arabic, the language of cultural and political hegemony that has marginalized his people. Like Paul Celan, he mastered the language of the oppressor to such an extent that the course of the language itself has been compelled to bend to his will. Barakat pushes Arabic to a point just beyond its linguistic limits, stretching those limits. He resists coherence, but never destroys it, pulling back before the final blow. What results is a figurative abstraction of struggle, as alive as the struggle itself. And always beneath the surface of this roiling water one can glimpse the deep currents of ancient Kurdish culture.

Introduces renowned Kurdish-Syrian writer Salim Barkat to an English audience for the first time, with translated selections from his most acclaimed works of poetry. Although Salim Barakat is one of the most renowned and respected contemporary writers in Arabic letters, he remains virtually unknown in the English-speaking world. This first collection of his poetry in English, representing every stage of his career, remedies that startling omission. Come, Take a Gentle Stab features selections from his most acclaimed works of poetry, including excerpts from his book-length poems, rendered into an English that captures the exultation of language for which he is famous.   A Kurdish-Syrian man, Barakat chose to write in Arabic, the language of cultural and political hegemony that has marginalized his people. Like Paul Celan, he mastered the language of the oppressor to such an extent that the course of the language itself has been compelled to bend to his will. Barakat pushes Arabic to a point just beyond its linguistic limits, stretching those limits. He resists coherence, but never destroys it, pulling back before the final blow. What results is a figurative abstraction of struggle, as alive as the struggle itself. And always beneath the surface of this roiling water one can glimpse the deep currents of ancient Kurdish culture.

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.