Biographie
My Poor Dear Zaiter
يا حسرتي عليك يا زعيتر
The Lebanese story : Book No. 11
Author : Chukri El-Khoury
Study and Presentation: Dr. Salim Khalil Kahwaji
Year : 2017
Publisher: PCLS
Page: 205 p.
Size: 13.5 x 20.5
Form Cover: Soft Cover
ISSN 2518-5160
ISBN: 978-614-8007-71-2
The author made Zaiter’s name indissociable from the expression “My poor Dear”, as his life seemed like an endless string of misery ever since he left his village. The author tells the story of a young man in his twenties who was raised on respecting the values of simplicity and obedience in a remote Lebanese mountain village. The idea of making a quick fortune lured him into emigrating to Brazil. After a first stop in Beirut, he went to Alexandria with other young emigrants, and then to Marseille. In Beirut and Marseille, he encountered such trouble and hardships as he had never imagined before.
The author uses the emigration of Zaitar as a means of criticizing the political, social, environmental, and health situation. He severely condemns the authorities for making it easier for exploiters. He deplored the fact that Beirut, the flower of the Levant and the cradle of Levantine science, knowledge and arts, was ruled by anarchy and corruption.
Through Zaiter’s journey, the author detracts the Turkish government that treats its citizens like enemies, goes after them as if they were thieves, and persecutes them in their own country, while also criticizing the collusion between the government and foreign companies.
The book boldly criticizes the ruling regime and its prisons, expresses views on education and teaching, and praises the Lebanese emigrants’ role in Egypt’s cultural life in Egypt and in the literary, journalistic, and economic life in America.