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'A House of Pomegranates'… Broken Hearts Cured With Myth

Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde
Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde
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'A House of Pomegranates'… Broken Hearts Cured With Myth

Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde
Irish poet and novelist Oscar Wilde

The Irish Novelist Oscar Wilde uses the story collection "A House of Pomegranates" to express his philosophy through different characters like mermaids, tulips, forest animals, and even mythical creatures inspired by the Greek mythology. With a wild imagination, he weaved stories and lessons about how beauty can be a "painkiller", said a main character in one of his stories. The "A House of Pomegranates" collection has been recently released by "Afaq" publishing house in Cairo, and translated by Inas al-Turki. Turki said that was the first Arabic translation of the story collection described as one of Oscar Wilde's greatest works.

In the "Fisherman and his soul", the hero is a fisherman who took an unfamiliar fateful decision. He separated from his soul because it was preventing him from marrying the mermaid that charmed him with her beauty and pure voice during his fishing trips. To marry her, the fisherman had to do one thing: get rid of his human soul that, according to the rules of sea creatures, was a burden.

"What is the value of my soul? I don't see it, or touch it, and I don't know it," said the fisherman while telling his story to the monk, who tried to change his mind, saying: "The soul is more valuable than the world's gold and kings' jewels." However, the lover wasn't convinced and went to offer his soul for sale. The vendors told him: "A human soul is valueless. It won't bring us a small silver coin," proposing to buy his body, and turning him into a slave, so they can sell him to a queen.

Then, the fisherman went to a malicious witch who lived in a cave. She recommended him to stand with his back to the moon until he sees his shadow and cut it with a knife, because "a human's shadow is his soul." But before he cuts his shadow, the soul pleased him to let it alive, and asked him to keep his heart for it so it doesn't feel alone in this cruel world. However, the fisherman refused and told the soul: "How can I love my mermaid if I gave you my heart?" Then, the soul asked him to meet it once a year on the beach where they split and he accepted.

The soul called him every year, and he went to meet it. In the first year, it told him about its tours in the East, and proposed to give him the "mirror of wisdom", which can show him the truth wherever he is, if he accepts to reunite with the soul. However, he refused because "love is better than wisdom," and went back to his mermaid. The second year, the soul called him again and spoke about its tours in the South, then proposed to give him a ring that would make him the richest man on earth, but he refused because "love is more important." In the third year, the soul proposed to accompany him to a nearby city where he can watch a barefoot woman dancing. The mermaid has no legs and cannot dance, so he agreed to go with his soul but only on a one-day trip so he can return quickly to his mermaid.

Here, the soul started to incite him to bad actions like stealing a silver cup, slapping a child, and killing a kind man. The fisherman noticed that his soul has become pure evil, and when he denounced its action, the soul told him: "Did you forget that you left me without a heart?" The fisherman tried to separate from his soul again by cutting his shadow as taught by the witch, but he discovered that his soul and shadow can be cut one time, and that his evil soul will stay with him forever. As "his love reached great levels", the fisherman looked for his mermaids in the seas, neglecting the words of his soul calling him to forget her. Eventually, when his heart broke, the soul found its way again to him, and they reunited.

The story collection includes four stories in 217 pages. Wilde used pomegranates as an expressive symbol in his four stories, and created tens of imaginary pictures aimed at making an equal dialogue between the worlds of kings and poor people. In the "Young King" story, a poor man stands in a crowd and addresses to the king, saying: "Sir, don't you know that the life of poor people exists because of rich people? We live from your extravagances. We gain our bread from your vices. Working hard for a cruel master is bitter, but not having a master to work hard for is even bitterer." In this story, a sixteen-year-old shepherd surprisingly found himself in a fancy palace, and knew he is the only legitimate heir of a king, whose daughter was killed for loving a lower man. The young shepherd's life starts to change with an excessive passion for beauty. His greatest dream centered on his appearance during the crowning ceremony and "the golden cape, the sapphire-studded crown, and the pearl-adorned scepter" he is going to wear.

However, that night, the young heir saw three dreams that described the heavy price he is going to pay to wear these three things. The first dream featured weak hands shaking in a heavy air while weaving his cape; in the second, he saw himself on a boat during a fishing trip that ended with the bloody death of the diver who found the prettiest pearl for his crown; in the third, he saw death and greediness fighting and messing with the fate of men looking for the sapphires that would adorn his crown. The young shepherd woke up the next morning and ordered his escorts who brought the cape, crown, and scepter to "take these things away, and hide them. The white hands of pain weaved the cape with the loom of sadness; the sapphires are covered with blood, and the pearl is hunted by death".

Finally, the heir chose to attend the crowning ceremony accompanied by his sheep, wearing his cape made of sheep fur, and putting a crown of thorns on his head, with the primitive shepherd stick in his hand. When he walked among the crowds in this modest appearance, the rich and poor called him "the beggar and the king's clown", while he insisted on modesty and told them about his dreams.

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Culture

Brazil is in Fashion, as Brazilians Like to Say. Here’s Why

A tourist wearing a jersey in Brazilian colors poses for photos on a terrace at the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, on Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A tourist wearing a jersey in Brazilian colors poses for photos on a terrace at the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, on Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
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Brazil is in Fashion, as Brazilians Like to Say. Here’s Why

A tourist wearing a jersey in Brazilian colors poses for photos on a terrace at the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, on Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A tourist wearing a jersey in Brazilian colors poses for photos on a terrace at the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, on Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Brazil is having a moment. Celebrities and record numbers of tourists donning green, yellow and blue are flooding into the country. Brazilian culture — from its Oscar-nominated films to funk music — is taking the world by storm. Global fashion brands and influencers are leaning into the hype.

For decades, Brazilians have lamented that the country and its cultural makeup and output have long gone under-appreciated in what has become known as the “mongrel complex”, The Associated Press said.

But as attention from abroad pours in and consolidates itself in 2026, some say a shift may be underway with the rise of “caramelo pride” — a ubiquitous celebration by Brazilians of caramel-colored street mutts that have come to represent the country.

Here’s a look at the phenomenon.

Brazilcore kicks off the trend

Brazil has captured the world’s attention and admiration before, and Brazilians cyclically observe that “Brasil está na moda,” or Brazil is in fashion.

Many trace the current popularity of the phase to 2023, when Brazilcore, a fashion trend featuring the colors of the Brazilian flag and inspired by Brazilian culture, gained widespread global traction. Celebrities including Bad Bunny, Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Bieber, Tina Kunakey, Sabrina Carpenter, Alex Consani and Addison Rae have all participated in the trend.

Fashion was “very rigid, with many uniformized clothes. Suddenly came this wave from Brazil showing more skin, using more color,” said Néli Pereira, a PhD candidate at the University of Sao Paulo in cultural studies who specializes in Brazil. The spontaneity and vivid color palettes resonated amid a craving for more light-heartedness.

Recently, the popularity of Brazilcore has morphed into a massive, multi-faceted global phenomenon that celebrates “brasilidade,” or Brazilianness, moving beyond fashion to include music, dance, cinema and sport.

Trend seen in fashion, increased tourism and star power

Brazilcore can be spotted on high streets around the world and takes the forms of bikinis, micro-shorts, crochet pieces, soccer shirts and accessories. Brands including fast fashion giants, such as Zara and H&M, have put out tops in green and yellow or emblazoned with Rio de Janeiro, while Chanel, Jil Sander and Schiaparelli have all made references to Brazil’s national colors.

The hype around Brazil has also translated into record numbers of tourists visiting the country. More than 9 million tourists came to Brazil last year, a 37% increase compared with 2024. Jokes on the internet abound about the CPF — an individual’s fiscal identity in Brazil — being the new sought-after green card.

In Rio, visitors head to Rocinha favela, kitted out in Brazilcore, and pay for footage of themselves striding out onto a terrace, plonking themselves down as a drone captures the scene before panning out to capture Rio’s stunning urban landscape. These videos have gone viral in recent months.

“If you don’t do the video with the drone, it’s as if you didn’t come to the favela,” said Eduardo Maristany, a 30-year-old tourist from Barcelona, who recently partook in a tour of Rocinha. Like many others, he chose the country as a destination after seeing an influx of videos on social media about Brazil’s famed favelas, beaches and parties.

It’s not just tourists who are engaging with Brazil. Madonna, Lady Gaga and Shakira performed free shows on Copacabana Beach in 2024, 2025 and 2026 respectively, drawing at least a million concert-goers each time, according to Rio City Hall numbers.

And in 2024, Bruno Mars posted a video of himself dancing to funk music, seemingly getting a Christ the Redeemer tattoo on his chest and posing with a caramelo dog. With more than 13 million likes on Instagram, the video ends with the words: “I love you Brazil.” Rosalia and Dua Lipa have also professed their love for Brazil online.

Meanwhile, Brazilian culture — from Anitta’s funk music to Academy Award-nominated films such as ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent’ — is being celebrated on the world’s biggest stages and across the internet, turbocharging Brazil’s soft power.

Brazil is renowned for its complexity and online presence It's frequently said about the country that “Brazil is not for amateurs.” The oft-repeated phrase taps into the complexity of the continental-sized country, where exuberant celebrations of life – epitomized by Carnival — coexist alongside violence, poverty and political scandals reminiscent of telenovelas.

Brazil’s ambiguities “make sense in a world filled with conflicts, inequalities and scarcity,” said Bruno Pompeu, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo’s school of communications and arts.

The country’s formidable presence online is also contributing to the current wave of interest in Brazil. Brazil — with a population of over 200 million — is one of the most connected countries in the world and social media users are showcasing the country’s seemingly infinitely multilayered culture.

“Brazil pulsates creativity and has this very particular characteristic of interacting on the internet in a collective manner. It’s common for content to be quickly transformed into memes and cultural references,” said Eduardo Lorenzi, general director of operations for Latin America at TikTok.

Brazilians are known for their high engagement, a much-sought-after characteristic in the attention economy.

Courtney Henning Novak, a Californian and prolific reader and writer, developed an online community composed mostly of Brazilian followers after her rave review of a 1881 book by Brazilian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis went viral.

“Brazilians love to comment. I get more messages than I can keep up with, and there’s a lot of positive energy,” she said.

For the global entertainment industry, brands, event organizers, businesses and influencers, Brazil represents a key market and an exceptionally valuable fan base.

Vitor Oliveira, a 36-year-old tour guide from Rocinha, credits social networks for the explosion of tourism in his neighborhood. “Influencers coming here were a game changer and primordial to the increase of tourism in Rio and especially in Rocinha,” he said.

Beyond digital engagement, Brazil’s current moment in the spotlight is the result of a confluence of factors involving politics, diplomacy, culture and economics, said Pereira, pointing to policies that support the showcasing of Brazilian culture and a huge effort to attract tourists by Embratur, Brazil’s government tourism agency.

Brazil's popularity might begin to fade

Like all trends, this one is likely to fade, experts say, predicting that the upcoming election and the return of political polarization may diminish the association of yellow and green with joy.

French comedian Paul Cabannes, who is based in Sao Paulo and has millions of followers across different platforms, posts humorous content about Brazil and has watched as the number of foreigners producing content almost exclusively about Brazil soared.

“It’s a formula that’s getting a bit tired. I think it’s harder to succeed doing this than before,” he said.

In an increasingly multipolar world, many Brazilians believe that the country’s soft power is here to stay. But Pereira predicts that Brazil’s “mongrel complex” will resurface if the current attention from abroad fades. “Once people stop giving us those little pats on the head, it’ll all come back," she said.

Culture

AlUla Skies, Rock Formations Attract Visitors, Photographers

AlUla's skies and rock formations create striking natural scenes that attract visitors and astrotourism enthusiasts. (SPA)
AlUla's skies and rock formations create striking natural scenes that attract visitors and astrotourism enthusiasts. (SPA)
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AlUla Skies, Rock Formations Attract Visitors, Photographers

AlUla's skies and rock formations create striking natural scenes that attract visitors and astrotourism enthusiasts. (SPA)
AlUla's skies and rock formations create striking natural scenes that attract visitors and astrotourism enthusiasts. (SPA)

AlUla's skies and rock formations create striking natural scenes that attract visitors and astrotourism enthusiasts, as its diverse landscapes blend with the stars and night sky, offering an experience that combines nature, celestial observation, and astrophotography, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
These scenes become particularly striking after nightfall and away from light sources, when the distinctive rock formations serve as visual elements for photographing the Milky Way, stars, and the movement of celestial bodies. The scene varies depending on location, timing, and camera angle.
Several sites across AlUla attract visitors, stargazers, and night photography enthusiasts from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and abroad, drawn by the expansive horizons, diverse terrain, and open desert landscapes.

Gharameel Nature Reserve stands out as a destination where rock formations meet the night sky, giving visitors opportunities for stargazing and astrophotography amid a distinctive desert landscape.

Culture

Gold, Gems and Renoirs: France’s Museums Grapple with a Wave of Smash-and-Grab Thefts

The entrance of the Renoir Museum is pictured after thieves stole four valuable Renoir paintings, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP)
The entrance of the Renoir Museum is pictured after thieves stole four valuable Renoir paintings, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP)
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Gold, Gems and Renoirs: France’s Museums Grapple with a Wave of Smash-and-Grab Thefts

The entrance of the Renoir Museum is pictured after thieves stole four valuable Renoir paintings, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP)
The entrance of the Renoir Museum is pictured after thieves stole four valuable Renoir paintings, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP)

At a museum in eastern France, two men disguised with wigs used a sledgehammer and a hammer to smash a display case and make off with a 2,500-year-old gold necklace. The heist took under four minutes.

In a smash-and-grab at another French museum, three masked robbers stole 27 pieces of jewelry valued at more than 4.5 million euros (US$5.2 million), busting through two doors to break in.

Those thefts took place in July. This week, thieves sliced through a fence and climbed through the window of a museum on the French Riviera and fled with two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They abandoned two other artworks by the Impressionist master as they made their escape.

The rash of the robberies, coming on the heels of last year's stunning jewel heist in France's most famous and most visited museum, the Louvre, show how the country is both blessed and cursed by its troves of treasure accumulated over centuries of conquest, creativity and having money to spend on art.

France's passion for paintings, sculptures, ancient artifacts and other valuables and curios is a source of national pride and identity. Thousands of museums that house collections big and small help transmit France's love of culture and history from one generation to the next. The biggest also draw millions of tourists who pump money into the French economy.

But keeping all that wealth safe is costly and difficult. Criminals see museums as soft targets. The brazen and agonizing theft of 88 million euros ($102 million) worth of crown jewels from display cases in the Louvre's Apollo gallery served as a wake-up call. But it was only the most shocking example of broader threats to museums, and not just in France.

“When the jewels of a French king disappear, to be melted down because of the price of gold, it is tragic. It breaks everyone’s heart,” said Guillaume Poitrinal, president of a foundation that funds the renovation and protection of French cultural sites, the Fondation du patrimoine.

“We need to make it more difficult to steal works of art and objects that are part of France’s cultural heritage and belong to all French people. That is absolutely essential. And to achieve that, we need to invest,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Renoir heist took just minutes

Before dawn Tuesday, two robbers made off with “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well.” They dropped “Portrait of Madame Pichon” and “Coco Reading” as they fled through the garden of the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer.

They cut through a fence with an electric knife or saw and entered the museum through the ground floor, said Bryan Masson, mayor of the town between Cannes and Nice on the Mediterranean coast.

The heist took under three minutes. Masson estimated the artworks' value at 9 million euros ($10.5 million). Offloading well-known, stolen art is impossible through legitimate channels, so the paintings could prove to be worth little or nothing for the thieves.

European police agency Europol says museum heists are becoming more violent, with sledgehammers, axes, crowbars and even explosives used for break-ins and to smash display cases.

Thieves also are increasingly targeting museum items with gold and other precious metals that can be melted down and with gemstones that can be removed and sold, the agency said in a report in August. Criminals believe “museum security measures are less robust than those in jewelry stores,” it said.

The ancient necklace stolen July 24 from the museum in Châtillon-sur-Seine, eastern France, was crafted from nearly half a kilo (a pound) of gold.

A record 10 burglaries targeted French and other European museums this summer, according to Jean-Christophe Castelain, director of Le Journal des Arts, a bimonthly revue of the art world.

“Eight of those 10 involved jewelry, coins or antique objects that can easily be melted down,” he said.

A distraught museum director shares her pain

The Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur-Moder, further east near France's border with Germany, has not reopened since the July 5 theft of jewelry there from six display cases busted open with sledgehammers and hammers. The public museum celebrates 19th-century jeweler and glassmaker René Lalique and his successors.

The pain is still raw for its director, Véronique Brumm Schaich. Her voice cracked with emotion during an interview. The museum is seeking 200,000 euros ($233,000) for security upgrades.

“Robbers’ tactics are evolving,” she said. “The recent examples show that we are not the only ones who need to go further in our efforts.”

Because of government budget squeezes, it's not yet clear how much funding will come from public coffers, she said. The museum is also collecting private donations, because “these are things that are extremely expensive,” she said.

“These are difficult times,” she said. “A burglary never comes at a good time, but this one came at an especially bad time.”

Some of the funding that the Fondation du patrimoine provides, including for museums, comes from a national lottery. To help boost museum revenues, the foundation is also launching a pass that will grant subscribers access to 500 museums, monuments and châteaux.

“France is a country where we love passing the buck,” said Poitrinal, the foundation president. “People say it is the state’s responsibility or the city’s responsibility. I say it's quite simple: it is everyone’s responsibility.”