Lebanese Researchers Association, Bahithaat || Thesis discussion: “Books and publishing in Lebanon during the first half of the twentieth century: recovering lost memory” - Beirut

Organizing party: Lebanese Researchers Association, Bahithaat
Title of the event: gathering to discuss the Halah El-bizri Thesis: “Books and publishing in Lebanon during the first half of the twentieth century: recovering lost memory”

Venue: Bahithaat Center, Raml al Zarif, Toufic Tabbara Street, Toufic Tabbara Center, 2nd floor
Date and time: 21-11-2012 From 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Other information: This gathering is the seventh within the framework of its monthly gatherings, the Lebanese Researchers Association, Bahithaat, hosting Halah el Bizri who will be presenting her thesis (prepared in French under the supervision of Jean-Yves Meulier and in collaboration with Maud Stephan-Hachem of the UVSQ university of Versailles.

Synopsis:

Lebanon played an exceptional role in the making and publishing of Arabic books since the second half of the nineteenth century.  This period witnessed the proliferation of missionary and local print houses, newspapers, magazines and cultural organisations.  This was considered to be the a Arabic literary and intellectual renaissance period.  Most published books were in the beginning religious, but, supply and demand for other subjects increased namely for literary and school books.  With the start of the twentieth century, and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the profile of the Arab intellectual and his/her role started to take shape.  Printing technology also developed and Arab intellectuals moved towards Western modernity.  Thus, this thesis seeks to draw the history of intellectual interaction between Lebanese publishers and Lebanese and Arab intellectuals during the first half of the twentieth century and includes a selected bibliography of books published between 1920 and 1960.