Rural Life and Social Change in the 1929 Collection ‘Ghosts of the Village’ (Ashbah al-Qaryah) by Karam Mulhim Karam (I)

Abstract

The pre-1930 stories by Karam Mulhim Karam (1902-1959) document the evolution of varied classes and cultural groups in Lebanon in the late Ottoman, and early French mandatory, periods. These stories, among other features, show the roles of Maronite Christianity as a core for intactness for ordinary Lebanese, but also as an instrument crafted by some rogue clergy to extract wealth from the faithful. These stories did touch upon macro-historical issues of the evolution of Lebanon and its identity, such as the country as a continuous place, repression by the Ottoman Turks during World War I, and the self-corrupting linkages of the Maronites to France and other Western world powers through commerce and culture.