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In the name of the author…

Literary scholar Archbishop Georges Khodr hopes to change the Lebanese youth through example and published lectures.

Where have all the books gone?

Well there's no denying that my generation was a stronger one, linguistically speaking, and dynamically. People wrote with causes and dedication. But still, this new generation has inherited some of our passion and aptitude for literature.

Is it generally good?

Literary quality is still around but everyone is so distracted. People seem to be far too involved in everything else - from politics to economics - and this makes the literary field lag far behind. You can argue that problems feed creativity but that's only true to a certain extent. And while I no longer immerse myself in young literature, every now and then something does catch my eye. It's rarely in Arabic though.

Maybe Arabic is dying?

I don't agree with that at all. English is taking over the world, perhaps, to the extent that it surpasses local languages; but despite all that, I feel a true writer will only be able to express himself in his mother tongue. We have our colloquialisms and that's producing some poetry unique to the Arabic that we've developed. This tells me that the desire is still there and it won't die.