‘Tell Us Our History’: Charles Corm, Mount Lebanon and Lebanese Nationalism
2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 40; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/0026320042000213438
ISSN1743-7881
Autores Tópico(s)Islamic Studies and History
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes See original text in Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (henceforth MAE), Nantes, Boîte 1533. Youssef Choueiri, Arab History and the Nation State (London: Routledge, 1989), p.115. Asher Kaufman, 'Reviving Phoenicia: The Search for an Identity in Lebanon' (Ph.D. thesis, Brandeis University, May 2000), pp.93–189. On this process see the illuminating study of Carol Hakim-Dowek, 'The Origins of the Lebanese National Idea, 1840–1914' (Ph.D. thesis, St Antony's College, 1997). The curricula of the Faculté orientale focused on local history in Syria and Lebanon from ancient times to modernity. Ancient Phoenicia, Syrian Christian churches, the crusaders and the Umayyad period were the major subjects taught. The Jesuit Archives at Vanves, file No.RPO 52. Programme des cours et conférences, 1905–6, 1906–7. See for example David Gordon, Self-Determination and History in the Third World (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1971), pp.55–130. On the Berber case in North Africa, see: MAE Nantes, DAI 59. 'Principe d'organisation et d'administration des tribus Berbers.' Direction du service des renseignements, 5 Jan. 1916. On the relations between St Joseph University and the state, see David A. Kerr, 'The Temporal Authority of the Maronite Patriarchate' (Ph.D. thesis, St Antony's College, 1973) p.151. See also Iskandar al-Riyashi, Ru'asa' Lubnan Kama 'Araftuhum [Lebanese Presidents as I Knew Them], (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Tijari, 1961), pp.15. Daoud Corm, Charles' father, studied and worked for the Jesuit school in Ghazir. See in Lebanon – The Artists View (London: The British Lebanese Association, 1989), p.101. Edouard Lahoud, L'art contemporain au Liban (Beirut: Dar el-Mashreq, 1974), pp.1–9. 1875–1925, Cinquantenaire de l'Université St Joseph (Beirut: Imprimerie catholique, 1925), p.27. Correspondance d'Orient, No.209 (15 March 1919), pp.378–9; No.210 (1 April 1919), pp.378–9; MAE Paris, Vol.11, p.141, Corm to Ganem, 28 March 1919. See also Correspondance d'Orient, No.211 (15 April 1919), p.324. MAE Paris, Vol.43, p.111, a petition of Beirut journalists to the American King–Crane Commission, dated 21 July 1919, calling for the establishment of Greater Lebanon with France as a mandatory power. Charles Corm signed the petition as the owner of La revue phénicienne. Central Zionist Archives S25 10225, a report by Eliahu Epstein (Elath) of a visit to Syria and Lebanon, October 1934. Epstein describes a meeting with Corm and Albert Naccache, two of the founders and activists in the 'Young Phoenicians' association, who claimed that the association was helped by de Caix in 1919. A few articles still called for the establishment of Greater Syria as a non-Arab entity, reflecting the fact that only in July 1919 did most Lebanese line up behind the idea of the establishment of Greater Lebanon. Corm used the following names: 'Caf Rémine', standing for the Arabic (or other Semitic) letters of his last name: Caf, Ra', Mim; 'Chinalef Relame', standing for the letters of his first name: Shin, Alif, Ra, Lam; 'Sanchoniathon', referring to the Beirut historian who wrote the annals of the city in 1000 BC; E. Le Veilleur, meaning the guardian (of Lebanon?); Cedar, after the eternal Lebanese tree; and Camelot de la montagne, borrowing from the militants of L'action française, the nationalist and royalist French movement, whose members were called Camelots du roi. La revue phénicienne, pp.43, 116, 254. MAE Paris, Vol.57, revue de la presse, p.123. A report on a dinner hosted by General Gouraud in Paris for the Syro-Lebanese community. Among those present was Corm, who was referred to in the press as 'the well-known Lebanese patriot'. AD Nantes, carton 2, Ecole française de droit, 7 June 1920. A list of registered students. Proche Orient, revue économique et financière (Beirut, Oct. 1922), page number missing. Bulletin de l'union économique de Syrie (Beirut, Feb. 1923); see also Olivier Dugast, 'Automobiles, chauffeurs et transports routiers en Syrie et au Liban pendant la période mandataire' (MA thesis, Université de Rennes II, no date), p.22. Jesuit Archives, Vanves. Fond Louis Jalabert, 24 May 1934. Louis Jalabert was the director of the prestigious Jesuit journal Études, a former teacher at USJ and the representative of the Faculty of Medicine of the University in Paris. Anis Nasr, Al-Nubugh al-Lubnani fi al-Qarn al-'Ishrin [The Lebanese Genius in the Twentieth Century] (Aleppo: Maktabat al-'Asr al-Jadid, 1938), p.82. Charles Corm, La montagne inspirée (Beirut: Éditions de la revue phénicienne, 1934), p.13. Henri Bordeaux, Voyageurs d'Orient (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1926), pp.254–5; Bulletin de l'association amicale des anciens élèves de l'Université Saint Joseph (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1925), pp.16–17. [Lebanon, land of memories and filled with seeds]. For a more detailed analysis of the impact of Maurice Barrès on Christian Lebanese nationalists see Asher Kaufman, 'From La colline inspirée to la montagna inspirée: Maurice Barrès and Christian Lebanese Nationalism,' in Yali Haran (ed.), France and the Middle East: Past, Present and Future (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, forthcoming). For a detailed account of La colline inspirée, see the introduction of the annotated edition of the novel written by Joseph Barbier (Nancy: Berger-Levrault, 1962); Barbier, 'La colline inspirée,' Table ronde, 111, March (1957), pp.128–34; idem. Jean Guitton, 'La religion de la colline inspirée,' pp.134–40; Monique Parnet, 'Les images dans la colline inspirée de Barrès,' Travaux de linguistique et de littérature, 1 (1963), pp.201–218. On Barrès' nationalist thought see Zeev Sternhell, Maurice Barrès et le nationalisme français (Paris: Armand Colin, 1972); C. Stewart Doty, From Cultural Rebellion to Counterrevolution: The Politics of Maurice Barrès (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1976); Raoul Girardet, 'Un tournant du nationalisme français', Table ronde, 111 (March 1957), pp.187–92. See the classic text of Pierre Nora, 'Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire,' Representations, Spring (1989), pp.7–24, especially pp.7–13. A little more than a decade ago a new and controversial study, Black Athena, brought the theory of Bérard back to life, arguing that the glory days of the Hellenic world were a direct product of Phoenician and Egyptian, that is Semitic, civilizations and that scholars have deliberately ignored this fact because it undermines the actual foundations of western civilization. See Martin Bernal, Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. 2 vols (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1987, 1991). Bernal's thesis agitated the entire scholarly world of the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean basin and led to numerous critical responses. One of the recent ones is Jacques Berlinerblau, Heresy in the University (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1999). See especially pp.96–101 for Bérard's thesis and its use by Bernal. La montagne inspirée, p.39. Ibid., p.41. [Language of the Phoenicians, my Lebanese language, Where the letter is without voice under sealed caves, Language of gold, you that were the birth Of all the alphabets.] Ibid., p.42 [I search after you in vain along the length of our coasts In the gulf where the nymph bathed Cupid On the steles of Amrith, and in the sarcophagus of Tyre and Sidon] Ibid., p.44. [Absent, absolutely absent from our soul, This extreme force where one falls on his knees, In order to receive from the Heavens the dewdrops and the flame That have descended in us;] Ibid., p.53. [If I remind my own people about our ancestors the Phoenicians It is that, we were only at the gable of history, Before becoming Muslims or Christians, We were only a people united in the same glory, And, in evolving, we should at least, By the fact of one faith all the more praiseworthy, Love ourselves like in the Era when we were pagans!… […] Language of my country, tell us our history, Tell our children that in all that seems to humiliate, That they can be proud to have been in glory, In glories by the thousands! Language of my country, give us confidence, Make us still believe in ourselves and in our ancestors, Protect for us our place, protect our audience At the table of the gods!] Ibid., p.61. [My Muslim brother, understand my frankness: I am the real Lebanon, sincere and churchgoer; All the more Lebanese that my Faith symbolizes The heart of a pelican. If my fervour is attached to the dogmas of the Church, It is because in my eyes it is the universality; Because I cannot believe in a god that divides The immense humanity.] New Testament, Mathew, 15: 21–8. Mark, 7: 24–30. La montagne inspirée, p.45. [Bal-Shamin, God of the Sky, O ineffable Name, O sole Proprietor, O Master, O Possessor, God of Time, total God, inconceivable Lord, Supreme Creator; You through whom our monotheism has been affirmed, And the immense unity of Phoenician cults, Before the great Moses, before Judaism And the Platonists;] Ibid., p.57. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, revised edn (London: Verso, 1991), p.11. Anthony Smith, The Ethnic origins of Nations (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986), p.189. Ibid., p.188. Maurice Barrès, Une enquête aux pays du Levant, pp.51–2; p.102; pp.130–40. See many references to the Adonis river in the writings of French travellers as collected in Jean-Claude Berchet, Le Voyage en Orient, fourth edition (Turin: Robert Laffont, 1997), pp.709–801. La montagne inspirée, p.76. Ibid. [Do not let the ardour that dominates our souls Ever degenerate into perverse pleasure; River of pure love, do not let our flames Be wasted in the flesh! That the bottomless philters, drunkenness and ambrosia, In which sex dazes our triumphant assaults Continue, for good, generators of life, Multiply our children!] A reference to the only six standing columns in the site of the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek. La montagne inspirée, p.84. Ibid., p.85. [It is of little importance for you to be loved, O Virile; It is to love, O Baalbek, a body six times masculine, It is the power to love, that tells us the gospel That cries inside your kidneys! It is to love the absolute, the divine, the impossible; And the craziness of the Sun, to tend to it frantically; It is to strike your trunks towards the eternal target; It is to be a lover male; […] Columns of Baalbek, you were the first fruit of our virility; Under your sceptres of love, watch for us the delights Of your kingdom!…] Ibid., p.83. Ibid., p.92. [Here I have returned Loyal, faithful and naked, As you knew me, Sun, my Sovereign! Accept my flesh In you clear gold My most dear treasure And my forms of bronze! […] I offer myself to you, Sun, at the threshold of your palace, Just as you want me, just as I please you!] Ibid., p.93. [Mix with the fire of my blood Your incandescent fires, Of your intense essence Penetrate My substance, Invade all my being!] Ibid., p.98. [You are so strong Against my body You are so hard with your flame And yet so subtle That I feel, me the virile, Becoming, suddenly, like a weak woman!] Ibid., p.99. [That for receiving you, I must be a woman And for bestowing myself better, for lavishing my soul For accomplishing my purpose, for completing my sum, It is necessary at the same time that I remain a man; That resembles a house of your smoking forge. I am that female and male at once I am the haughty Mont and the loving montagne.] Ibid., p.101. [But sadness, sadness, indefinable sadness!… Our grandmothers spoke Syriac in Ghazir, Where the Syriac succeeded the Phoenician language And its rough desire; But nobody thinks any more to retrieve the imprint Of the steps of a grandmother around an old rose tree; The language of the past is for ever extinct In our thin throats.] [How a people is an orphan when it does not have a language; How the languages of others are a borrowed habit, How one seems in them doubting, shameful, weak, bloodless, Foreign and intrusive!] Ibid., p.103. [We shook this immense planet We ploughed, long ago, the continents; But our language is dead, one evening, in silence; And we are alive!] Ibid., p.105. [But no, not you, my mother tongue, A fallen cadaver in the abyss of time, Because I hear your eternal vigour rising In my young spring! Because in the shiver of all the nature That formed the spirits of my distant forefathers, It is still your sigh and it is your murmur That passes in the skies!] Ibid., p.106. Because when I write in a foreign language, In the shadow of silence or the gold of speech, You are in my voice, sainted voice of my mother, Warm like love! […] Because even these words that on lips of France I took shivering of a passionate heart, Have a taste, on my lip, where my suffering smiled Of Lebanese kisses! Al-Mashriq, Jan.–March (1936), pp.33–6; July–Sept. (1936), pp.350–4. Al-Ma'rid, No.1022 (4 July 1934). 'Al-Jabal al-Mulham, Muharrir al-Arwa' [The Inspired Mountain, the Deliverer of Wonders], pp.4–8. See Philip Hitti, History of the Arabs, pp.3–13; Kenneth Cragg, The Arab Christian (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), pp.13–14; See a recent usage of this theory in Hasan Hallaq, Lubnan: Min al-Finiqiyya ila al-'Uruba [Lebanon: from Phoenicianism to Arabism], (Beirut: al-Dar al-Jami'iyya, 1993). See for example 'Umar Fakhuri, 'Risalat Lubnan al-Thaqafiyya' [The Cultural Mission of Lebanon], in 'Usbu' al-Thaqafa fi Lubnan [The Week of Culture in Lebanon], (Beirut, 1942), p.4. See also the historical essay of 'Abdallah 'Alayli in the handbook Beyrouth et la République libanaise of the series Les Guides Verts (Paris, 1946). 'Jabal al-Tajalli' [The Mountain of Transfiguration (of Christ)], al-Ma'rid, pp.9–10. Qalb Lubnan [The Heart of Lebanon], written around 1936, was published for the first time in 1949, nine years after al-Rihani's death. A reference to the last section in La montagne inspirée, the hymn to the Sun. Amin al-Rihani, Qalb Lubnan, sixth edition (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Lubnani, 1978), pp.271–2. When France gave up the mandate in Nov.1943, Corm was devastated, fearing that Lebanon was headed toward relinquishing its Christian western-oriented character. The Zionist emissary in Beirut reported that 'Corm is in a panic' as a result of Eddé's fall and that he is working with friends to try and reverse the situation. Central Zionist Archives S25 5577 Tzadok to the Political Department, 25 Dec.1943, meetings with Ayub Tabet, Charles Corm, Pierre Jummayel and Albert Naccache. See references in La revue du Liban, No.58–9, March (1936), pp.38–40. About Corm's winning the Edgar Allan Poe prize of the Maison de Poésie de Paris, see MAE, Paris, Levant Vol.628, pp.102–3, p.108, au sujet de Charles Corm, 24 May 1935. The speeches of Corm in this congress can be found in Etudes (5 Jan. 1936), pp.74–83; and al-Mashriq, Jan.–March (1936), pp.94–103. Not coincidentally, I believe, both were Jesuit journals that made the effort to publish the words of Corm. Les Riches heures du Festival (Beirut: Dar al-Nahar, 1998); Annie Tohme, 'Le festival de Baalbek au carrefour des paradoxes libanais d'avant guerre', in Hélène Sader et al. (eds.), Baalbek: Image and Monument; 1898–1998 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1998), p.221. See Les riches heures du festival, 221 pp. See also Charles Corm, 'Qui à construit Baalbek?' Quatorzième festival international de Baalbek (Beirut, 1969), p.62. VIème festival international de Baalbek (Beirut, 1961), p.130. Riad Fakhuri, 'Lubnan al-Jam'iyyat al-Adabiyya min al-In'izaliyya ila al-Taqaddumiyya' [Lebanon, the Cultural Associations from Isolationism to Progressivism], Al-Sayyad, 25 April–2 May (1974), p.66. See for example Fares Sassine, 'A Lebanese Education,' in The Beirut Review, 6(1993). http://www.rafikhariri.net/v1/
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