“Gluttony” from Abbas Beydoun’s “Frankenstein’s Mirrors”
Lebanese poet-novelist Abbas Baydoun reflects in an autobiographical mode on the melancholy of language and existence, while contemplating sweets.
Abbas Baydoun
Abbas Baydoun is a Lebanese poet, novelist, and journalist. Born in 1945, near Tyre, he is widely considered one of the Arab world’s most influential literary voices. His works—spanning styles and genres—have been translated into numerous languages, including English, French, German and Italian. With a B.A. in Arabic literature from the Lebanese University in Beirut and a maitrise in Islamic Studies from the Sorbonne in Paris, Baydoun has been engaged variously as a political activist, school teacher, full-time poet, and since 1997, the cultural editor for the daily newspaper as-Safir.
Lily Sadowsky is a technical editor and translator from Los Angeles, CA. She holds a BA in mathematics and classical languages from Macalester College in St. Paul and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. Her work was featured at the inaugural Bila Hudood: Arabic Literature Everywhere festival in 2021.