The Prose Poem and the Journal Shi'r: A Comparative Study of Literature, Literary Theory and Journalism

The

Prose Poem Journal Shi’r and the



A Comparative Study of Literature, Literary Theory and Journalism

Otared Haidar

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The

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Prose  Poem Journal Shi’r and the

A Comparative Study of Literature, Literary Theory and Journalism

Otared Haidar

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THE PROSE POEM AND THE JOURNAL SHI‘R A Comparative Study of Literature, Literary Theory and Journalism Published by Ithaca Press 8 Southern Court South Street Reading RG1 4QS UK Ithaca Press is an imprint of Garnet Publishing Limited. Copyright © Otared Haidar 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. First Edition ISBN-13: 978-0-86372-329-2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset by Samantha Barden. Jacket design by David Rose. Cover images used with kind permission of the Syrian Ministry of Culture. Printed in Lebanon. www.ithacapress.co.uk

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To my parents

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C ONTENTS

Foreword Author’s Note Acknowledgements Prologue

1 2 3 4

ix xi xiii xv

The Prose Poem in History: A Comparative Approach 1 The Prose Poem in Modern Literary Theory: Comparative Approaches 39 Shi‘r and the Prose Poem: Context and Practice 73 Shi‘r and the Prose Poem: The Text 109 Adßn#s: A New Structure for a New Vision Uns# Al-∂\jj: The Individual and the Collective Mu©ammad Al-M\ghßµ: A Poet in a Prosaic World

109 134 168

Epilogue: Shi‘r and the Pioneers: The Legacy Bibliography Appendices Index

225 231 237 321

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F OREWORD

The avant-garde journal Shi’r, especially in the first and most ground-breaking phase of its existence (1957–64), had a truly seminal impact on Arabic poetry in the second half of the 20th century, so much so that in the 1950s and 1960s those who had had their poems and articles published in its pages were thought by many to constitute by far the most significant voice of modern Arabic poetry. While it is true that the major authorities who have written in English (Badawi, Jayyusi, et al) on the history of modern Arabic poetry do of course pay due attention to Shi’r in their scholarly work, such was the overwhelming weight of its contribution that it is surprising that it has taken so long for a book-length study to appear such as that presented here by Otared Haidar. As the author points out, Shi’r was much more than a quarterly literary journal: under the guidance of its founding editor Yusuf al-Khal, it was attached to a publishing house and under its aegis were organised regular forums and cultural events which articulated and shaped some of the most innovative trends in modern Arabic poetry. Shi’r and its adherents were also avowedly internationalist, reaching out to other literatures especially in Europe and America. One of the most valuable features of Otared Haidar’s work is that she encourages the reader to think of Sh’ir as nothing less than an avant-garde literary institution which brought what many in the 1950s thought of as a counterculture of Arabic poetry into the very centre of its poetic theory and practice. This book is also another sustained reminder of how literary journalism has been at the heart of the development of Arabic literature since the late 19th century, so much so that it is impossible to think of the history of this literature without those numerous journals, some of them avant-garde by nature, which provided the initial publishing outlets for authors who subsequently became household names. As befits a journal dedicated to innovation, Shi’r became known as the principal supportive platform for that most controversial form of modern Arabic poetry, the prose poem, through publishing the critical and theoretical articles of Khalida Sa’id and Adunis, and the prose poems of Unsi al-Hajj, Muhammad al-Maghut and Adunis himself. Even today after such a lengthy period of time, the prose poem still arouses powerful reactions amongst its detractors. It is probably the case that more people prefer to look back on Shi’r for its promotion of the somewhat misleadingly entitled ‘free poetry’ (shi’r hurr) rather than for its championing of the prose poem. Through her studies presented here of selections of the prose poetry of Adunis, Unsi al-Hajj and Muhammad al-Maghut, along

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with her detailed attention to comparative material, Otared Haidar reminds the reader that their contribution to the development of Arabic poetry should be seen in the same light as that brought to French poetry in the 19th century by Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Mallarme. One might venture to suggest that much of the future of Arabic poetry lies with the prose poem, a future that is still very much in the making. Robin Ostle

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A UTHOR ’ S N OTE

The system of transliteration of Arabic words in this book is that adopted by the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, with the exception of terms which are widely used in English such as ‘Sufi’. Arabic words and titles of books appear in italics but this does not apply to proper names and titles of articles, poems and chapters. References in the endnotes to books and articles give only the name of the writer and the titles along with the page references. Full bibliographical details are given in the bibliography. With reference to the Arabic texts of the prose poem studied in ‘Part Four’, the complete texts of the poems by Adßn#s and al-∂\jj are provided as appendices one and two respectively at the end of the book. As for al-M\ghßµ, his whole collection ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar is discussed with special emphasis on some poems and on the book design. Hence, the third appendix includes the book cover and four of the poems from the collection. A final appendix consisting of the two covers of Shi‘r, no. 1 and no. 33–4, is also provided. The appendices are provided for reference only, and have been reproduced from copies of the originals – hence the quality of reproduction varies in places. All translations from the Arabic are my own, unless stated otherwise.

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A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all those who have helped in the production of this book. I wish to express my gratitude, first of all, to my supervisor, Dr Robin Ostle, whose rigorous and attentive criticism was of immense value during all the stages of writing. His wide knowledge and expertise in the subject have influenced both the methodology and the content of my research and helped me to shape and sharpen my views and arguments. His patience, support and encouragement have been a great help to my work. I am also grateful to the International Office at the University of Oxford and to the Karim Rida Said Foundation which generously supported and encouraged me in more ways than I can adequately acknowledge here. Many thanks to Professor Geert Jan van Gelder and Dr Elisabeth Kendall from whose criticism and advice I benefited at an earlier stage in this work; to Professor Kari Vogt for her continuous support and interest in my research; to Professor Muhammad Arkoun from the Institute of Ismaili Studies, who sparked my early interest in the subject; to Dr Nadim Shahadeh from the Centre for Lebanese Studies; to Naser Gazali from the Damascus Centre for Theoretical and Civil Rights Studies; to Ali Safar from the Academy of Dramatic Arts; to Abuna Dr Shafiq Abu Zayd in Aram; to Dr Ali al-Qayyim in the Syrian Ministry of Culture and my friends at the Cultural Centre of Al-Adawi in Damascus; and to my father and my brother Muhannad for helpful responses and generous support with Arabic books and material for which I am grateful. My publishers deserve thanks. I wish also to thank my friends who encouraged and supported me in all stages of writing my book, and above all my four friends Professor Cathie Lloyd from Queen Elizabeth House, Simon Chamberlain and Mazna Qato from the Middle Eastern Centre, and Kat Stapley from the Oriental Institute, who proofread and commented on considerable parts of the manuscript. Special thanks are due to my family who helped this work with their continuous love and patience. And finally, I am, in particular, greatly indebted to my mother Fawziyyah Safar and my father Aziz Haidar, whose enthusiasm, encouragement and support helped to make this work possible. This work is dedicated to them both and to their unconditional and infinite love for me.

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P ROLOGUE

The journal Shi‘r (1957–70) – ‘Poetry’ in English, also referred to as ‘Poetry Review’ by some writers – was a professional avant-garde monthly journal founded in Beirut by Yßsuf al-Kh\l with a group of young poets and was dedicated to poetry and poetic studies. The journal supported poetic experimentation and became a centre of various types of cultural practice. In the course of time, the activities of the group that were linked to the journal were consolidated in what was called ‘the Shi‘r movement’. The movement defined itself through the involvement of the group and the journal in the issues of cultural modernity, and through its interest in reinforcing modern poetics and experimentation with innovative poetic forms. However, the movement was also associated with other practices derived from its interest in modernity, Western poetry, literary theory, and cultural events around the world. Through the joint efforts of the group, the prose poem gradually occupied a central position in Shi‘r’s project of cultural modernity. Writers from different disciplines have recognized Shi‘r as one of the main motivating factors that raised the issue of Arabic cultural modernity. The cultural scene in the Arab world at the moment is witnessing unprecedented public and official interest in the issue of cultural modernity and in paying tribute to some great modernizers and to their works. However, recent writings on the subject show that conventional methods still dominate research on both the experience of Shi‘r, as well as on the new genre of the prose poem that was introduced and supported by Shi‘r. A special focus is placed on reassessing the roles of writers who had previously been ignored, downplayed, or mistreated by cultural and political authorities. Some of those who are still alive have been turned into cultural icons and their works are promoted and popularized by the mass media. Despite the significance of this effort, this practice seems merely an extension of an enduring tradition in Arab cultural history, which recognizes groundbreaking historical endeavours for change as individual enterprises. Occasionally, this shortcoming suggests a systematic attempt to isolate and blow apart the forces for change that exist and work outside the mainstream, and to underestimate their ability to create independent organizational frameworks and projects beyond official structures. However, as this book maintains, it is more often a failure in the methodology of research to recognize and explore collective practices and discourses within the overall projects of cultural groups such as Shi‘r. This is combined with a deficiency in the required theoretical tools and devices for studying these alternative cultural frameworks and structures that accommodate

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writers and their works. In its review of the literature, this book will show that these traditional methods have dominated writings about Shi‘r as a journal, a group and a movement and about the prose poem which was the focus of its project of modernity. These related concerns will guide the inquiry of this book which seeks a clearer appreciation of this organic and interconnected relation between the genre and the journal. This book will start by defining the prose poem as a crosscultural universal practice which requires a broad comparative perspective to be examined appropriately. Hence, it will take a comparative approach to place the Arabic prose poem squarely in this crosscultural historical context, and to examine its interactive relation with this context which remains unexplored. The course of progress that the Western prose poem followed will provide a comparable approach for the study of its Arabic counterpart. The comparative study of the genre in its Arabic and Western context will demonstrate that Western and Arabic prose poetics had similar geneses and that they shared some master-models and sources. Moreover, they both developed through their interactive relations with overall cultural atmospheres as well as with journalism. Through this comparative perspective, the book will show that Western as well as Arabic literary theorists agree on the complex process of determining the nature of the prose poem and its extraliterary implications. The main difficulty that faces Western scholars who try to determine the nature of the prose poem stems from the fact that ‘there is no absolute definition of prose or poetry’.1 In Arabic literary history, the dividing line between poetry and prose is also repeatedly blurred. The Qur’an, which consists of texts that are void of metre and do not follow a regular rhyme scheme, has been compared to poetry by some parties since the early stages of Islam.2 On the other hand, some major medieval Arab critics such as ‘Abd al-Q\hir al-Jurj\n# (d. 1078) and al-J\©i$ (775–868) suggested that the mere presence of metre and rhyme, na@©m, is not sufficient to make versification into poetry.3 Nevertheless, in both the Western and the Arab contexts, there have been constant efforts to differentiate poetry from prose. In both cases, the process was complicated by various factors. As Western critics argue, the distinction between prose and poetry took on intense extraliterary implications. This distinction was, and still is, more than ‘historicized’. It was firmly ‘socialized’, ‘politicized’ and ‘institutionalized’.4 In terms of Arabic literature, one might even add, ‘theologized’. In Arabic as well as Western literature, the distinction between poetry and prose was always implicated in the structures of social hierarchization and power. In the European as well as in the Arabic contexts, early practitioners blurred the boundaries between prose and poetry. These pioneering attempts were repressed by dominant discursive institutions on both sides. Early European experiments were sometimes reduced to a ‘cultural failure’5 and Arabic literary history demonstrates a cultural analogy. Similarly, the Arab innovative poets ‘al-mu©dathßn’, who struggled against the authority of the generic boundaries

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from the eighth century and modified the rigid conventions of qa§#da, were sometimes, and still are, considered political and intellectual dissidents.6 Edward Said stated in Culture and Imperialism that, at the very heart of the Shar#‘a, literary innovation was placed as a counteractive force against the religio-political authority.7 By making references to this crosscultural historical struggle against the discursive authorities and the generic literary canons, this book will show that the pioneers of Shi‘r were equally considered political heretics and cultural dissidents and their theoretical views were similarly subjected to political polemics. The theoretical approaches that were originally developed for studying verse and metrical poetry were applied widely to studying the new genre. To a degree, these methods still interfere to this day with the ongoing attempts to construct new approaches to studying the genre. Conventional and rigid methods were also applied to studying the discourse, themes and motifs of the new genre. During the post-colonial, post-1948 period in which Shi‘r was published, the dominant cultural discourse in the Arab world favoured direct expression and a declamatory tone and preoccupied itself with public political aspirations. In that atmosphere, the prose poem was condemned as an unwelcome import from the West, and the pioneers were denounced as self-indulgent, elitist, individualistic and outsiders. These views stigmatized the genre in its foundational stage and influenced its definition and reception. These continuous contests and challenges tended to put the journal and the pioneers on the defensive. They also influenced the progress of the genre and the evolution of new theoretical approaches to studying it. In the course of time, some of these misconceptions and misinterpretations were reviewed and re-examined. However, the more recent publications about the subject that are reviewed in this book reveal that various critics are still struggling with the old legacy to obtain a clear vision of Shi‘r and the prose poem. The book will examine the ongoing debates about Shi‘r which continued after its closure in 1970, and the growing tendency among Arab critics, intellectuals and ideologists to associate literary movements that pursued innovation and change with the movement of modernity in the Arab world. Most of the writers who investigate and evaluate the practices and contributions of Shi‘r define the prose poem as central to Shi‘r’s aspiration for cultural change, yet Arab critics who explore the works of the Shi‘r group tend to treat the work of each writer as an individual accomplishment. Consequently, the journal was seen merely as a meeting venue and a medium for conducting individual experiments and pursuing personal careers. The group was also perceived as an insular gathering dominated by a competitive spirit, and by sectarian and political connections. Basing its analysis on the major writings about Shi‘r and the prose poem in Arabic and English, the book seeks to demonstrate that these conventional methods of viewing the Shi‘r project still breed misconceptions about the group and their writings and still affect adversely the studies of the Arabic prose poem. Taking as its basis recent groundbreaking writings on modern cultural

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and literary studies in general, and on studies of the prose poem in particular, this book will attempt to search for a new perspective to redefine the place of Shi‘r and the prose poem within the battleground of Arabic modern poetry. Searching for models and approaches for reading the prose poem as both a text and a cultural practice, I found that despite the growing interest in the genre among Arab poets, critics and readers, Arabic theoretical studies of the genre did not progress significantly after Shi‘r ceased publication. The attempts to formulate new approaches to the genre remain limited, and most still depend completely on the basic approaches that were developed during the Shi‘r period. In contrast, the recent upsurge of interest in the genre in Europe and America which began during the 1970s has rekindled interest among Western critics. This has given rise to new approaches and methods that have transformed the poetic studies of the genre as both a text and a practice. In the recent studies of the genre, Western critics draw on a wide range of schools of historical, linguistic, literary and cultural studies. Some critics approached the prose poem as a text, and others approached it as a cultural practice. A third group developed new holistic strategies that combine both approaches. These studies synthesize new textual and contextual approaches to studying the poetic and the cultural functions of the genre. Hence, they have contributed to establishing the prose poem as a trans-cultural text and practice. When approaching these strategies, this book will classify them in four main categories: textual studies, narrative studies, cultural studies and studies that combine approaches from different disciplines. It will also examine the potential for applying these strategies to studying the Arabic prose poem in general, and the prose poem of the Shi‘r pioneers in particular. One of the other major contributions of Western literary theory to the study of the genre has been to create a theoretical ground and a strategy for studying the common tendencies of the international avant-garde, including their interest in subverting generic boundaries and experimenting with innovative poetics. By examining different groups in different cultures, the recent studies of the international avant-garde provide comparative approaches that enrich and guide research about similar poetic practices. These approaches have provided me with a strategy for studying the Shi‘r’s history and practices, especially in relation to the prose poem. They also make available comparative case studies for examining Shi‘r as a journal, a group and a movement and for analysing the writings of the pioneers. In the light of these new methods and approaches, a new image of Shi‘r and the Arabic prose poem as part of the universal avant-garde culture will emerge. This book will investigate the period in which the prose poem arose and was established as central to the Shi‘r project. The largest section of the book, ‘Part Four’, will engage in an extensive reading of a corpus of texts written by three pioneers of the Arabic prose poem: Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ, Adßn#s and Uns# al-∂\jj. While the book does not claim to cover in detail all the

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accomplishments of the three poets, it focuses on a group of texts that represent significant patterns of the genre and illustrate landmarks and groundbreaking developments in the genre’s history.8 I chose to start with Adßn#s because he is the most prolific in terms of the theoretical writings which shed light on his prose poems as well as the other prose poets of Shi‘r. Uns# al-∂\jj, who has fewer theoretical writings, comes second and is followed by al-M\ghßµ. The first part of the book adopts a historical perspective, and examines the historical progress of the prose poem in both Western and Arabic contexts focusing on the common ground which exists between them in terms of definition, origin, evolution and practice. The second part is of a theoretical nature. It will investigate and explore a wide range of theoretical writings with diverse perspectives for studying the genre, writings which will be used as the main critical references of the book. This includes material written in, and translated into, English that draws on the main modern approaches and methods of studying the prose poem, as a text and as a practice. These approaches will be combined with a selection of landmark Arabic writings about the genre during the Shi‘r period and afterwards. By reviewing and investigating different approaches and sources comparatively, the book will examine the possibilities and the challenges of applying these methods to the study of the Arabic prose poem. The third part will make use of the methods and approaches that are introduced in cultural studies of poetry and poetic practices. It focuses on studying Shi‘r as the professional, institutional and cultural context of a new discourse and writing. By examining the role of avant-garde groups, literary journalism and what is called ‘Poetry Project-based journals’9 in different cultures, the book will consolidate its comparative approach to studying Shi‘r as part of an international avant-garde culture. Along these lines, it intends to examine the ways in which they operated their media and organizational frameworks to create an alternative structure in order to launch their project and disseminate their views and writings. Thus, the book will attempt to define the origins of the shortcomings and difficulties that have become associated with studying Shi‘r and its practices, and will suggest alternative perspectives in this regard. The fourth part has a textual orientation and focuses primarily on the analysis of the chosen prose poems. However, it will also consider the text’s interaction with its context. This part will make use of semiotic and textual approaches in order to explore the writings of the three pioneers: Adßn#s, Uns# al-∂\jj and Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ. This textual analysis of the pioneers’ writings will seek to go beyond the conventional methods of studying poetry as a merely linguistic and aesthetic production independent of its historical, social, cultural and economic contingencies. Selecting a number of representative texts written by these pioneers, the Arabic prose poem will be viewed as both a text and a practice. By conducting a historical, theoretical, cultural and textual examination of Shi‘r and the prose poem, throughout the four parts respectively, this book aims

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to establish the basis for a new reading of the literary practices and their relation to cultural structures in general, and of the Arabic prose poem and its relation to Shi‘r. While writing the book, the current Arab poetic scene, the younger generations of Arab prose poets and their persistent attempts to create supportive contexts for their products, discourses and practices were never far from my mind. Hence, this new reading of the pioneering stage of the prose poem seeks to contribute to the ongoing process of formulating new approaches to studying the genre in the Arab context as both a text and as a cultural practice. Exploring the prose poem as text and Shi‘r as a context for practising the genre, the book aims to emphasize the significance of studying the connection between alternative cultural structures on the one hand and modern writing and discourse on the other. Hence, it aspires to stimulate greater interest in considering the contribution of alternative frameworks and alternative discourses in shaping the cultural and intellectual life of the region.

N OTES

1 John Ivan Simon, The Prose Poem as a Genre in Nineteenth Century European Literature, p. 3. 2 This is indicated by several Qur’anic verses which refute those who considered the Qur’an as poetry. For more details see ∂anna Kass#s, A Concordance of the Qur’an, under the entry ‘Shi‘r’. 3 For more details see Mu©ammad Luµf# al-Yßsuf#, Modernism and the Intrigues of the Antique: A Reflection on Arabic Poetry, translated and edited by Robin Ostle and Wal#d Khazend\r, p. 23, and Adßn#s, Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, Diras\t f# al-Shi‘riyya al-‘Arabiyya al-Mu‘\§ira, pp. 10–12. 4 See Richard Terdiman, Discourse/Counter-Discourse: The Theory and Practice of Symbolic Resistance in Nineteenth-Century France, pp. 267, 268, and Jonathan Monroe, A Poverty of Objects: The Prose Poem and the Politics of Genres, p. 23. 5 About Mallarmé’s experiment see ibid., p. 311. 6 See Adßn#s, An Introduction to Arab Poetics, tr. Catherine Cobham, Introduction. 7 See Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, p. 369. 8 More details about the selection criteria for the poets and the texts will follow in Parts Two and Three of the book. 9 For more about this type of journal see Daniel Kane, ‘Angel Hair Magazine: The SecondGeneration New York School and the Poetics of Sociability’, in Contemporary Literature, summer 2004, vol. 45, no. 2.

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T HE P ROSE P OEM IN H ISTORY : A C OMPARATIVE A PPROACH

Definitions and Anti-definitions Though modern literary theorists seem to agree upon considering the prose poem as a genre in itself, working towards defining it and drawing its boundaries is still ongoing. The main difficulty comes from the dual nature of this genre which is represented by its very name. In attempting to define the prose poem, a myriad of similar definitions that are only as elusive as the genre itself have been produced by critics and poets: A mode of discourse that speaks against itself in the very act of defining itself.1 A piece of prose that wants to be a poem.2 A genre formed in violation of genres.3 A generic hybrid.4

Despite the exhaustive search for a definition, critics still give what seem more like anti-definitions in their attempt to solve the mystery of the prose poem and to establish a definition for it. These statements seem to add to the ambiguity of the genre. However, these anti-definitions are widely quoted and referred to by critics to underline the difficulties and challenges of studying the prose poem and of providing methods and approaches to deal with it. In their introductions, critics who write about the prose poem struggle with terms and definitions while attempting to introduce their subject to the readers in few plain words. The most comprehensive introductory account that tackles the subject and tries to define it is provided by Suzanne Bernard in her pioneering work about the prose poem. In her massive work, she includes scores of descriptions, all of which could help in defining the genre. Nonetheless, she also starts her book by highlighting the challenges of such an endeavour. In her introduction, she quotes and endorses Morris Chaplin’s definition: ‘A genre of which no theorist has dared to declare rules.’5 The other descriptions in her book deal with the features and characteristics of the prose poem. In her introduction, she provides her own definition of the genre describing it as being: ‘A rebellion against all types of formal tyranny, which prevent the poet from creating a private language for himself, and force him to put the flexible substance of his phrases into ready-made moulds.’6 Bernard’s statements are the basis of the definitions and descriptions that followed at the hands of subsequent Western as well as Arab critics.

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Attempting to define the new genre in the Arabic context, Arab critics produced similar anti-definitions to those that were provided by Western critics. Hence, the Arabic prose poem was described as an ‘extraordinary literary creature’ with ‘an obscure and elusive nature’.7 It was also referred to as the ‘most extreme’,8 and the ‘most controversial’9 form which appeared in Arabic poetry, and ‘the most difficult to be studied’.10 Earlier attempts to define the Arabic prose poem, which were carried out by Shi‘r’s writers, were more informative; however, they were based a great deal on Bernard’s characterizations and descriptions.11 The earliest to be published in Arabic are found in the pioneering study of Adßn#s about the genre: ‘The prose poem is a distinctive artistic construction by itself. It may employ narrative elements and elevate them for a purely poetic purpose.’12 In this groundbreaking study ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ (On the Prose Poem), which was published in 1960, the term qa§#dat al-nathr – ‘the prose poem’ – was introduced by Adßn#s into Arabic. That was followed by a similar attempt by Uns# al-∂\jj to describe the prose poem and define it as ‘an independent genre’.13 The early descriptions and definitions that emerged during the publication of the Shi‘r journal still dominate and control the views about the genre in its Arabic context. As shown in Western as well as Arabic comments and statements that attempted to introduce the genre, it is difficult to explain the complex nature of the prose poem in a brief and precise definition. Therefore, new definitions of the prose poem still seem more like descriptive detailed accounts. Moreover, the genre is better understood when it is closely examined through contextual and textual approaches. That is, in other words, to study the prose poem as a text and as a cultural practice that takes place within a certain context. Interestingly, the most authoritative and common definition is still that given by its most famous French pioneer. The very first definition which was given spontaneously by Charles Baudelaire is still the most quoted by Western and Arab writers and poets in different periods. In the Baudelairian definition, the prose poem is ‘the miracle of poetic prose, musical without rhythm and without rhyme’.14

Origins and Roots The complications which faced critics in their attempt to define the prose poem and to establish it as a genre seem to surface again in their accounts of literary history in which they tried to trace back the ancestral lines of the genre. These attempts are still considered by some contemporary critics to be only a ‘desire to place this hybrid work in some line of descent’.15 However, Western literary theory places a great emphasis on the significance of establishing a genealogical story in order to study the prose poem. By putting the prose poem in a welldefined historical context, literary theory was able to establish it as a distinct and independent genre from prose and poetry. Investigating roots and origins, critics

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focused on searching for early sources and models of prose poetics, and on studying them. Although they differed in their choices and emphases, they applied similar methods. Comparing theories and approaches that are applied in the available sources, it is possible to extract and compile an appropriate plan for drawing the historical process of the evolution and development of prose poetics in both Western and Arabic literary history. Western literary theorists associate the development of prose poetics with certain traditions and practices in theory, in literature and in culture. These practices resulted in the production of prose texts with certain literary characteristics that were traditionally attributed to poetry. These texts are classified generically by modern Western literary theory as ‘poetic prose’. The characteristics of these texts that combined the attributes of both poetry and prose are called ‘prose poetics’. Alongside these texts, there exists a significant body of theories and views that accompanied and supported them. Arabic prose poetics were cultivated through a parallel course of texts and theories. Therefore, the Western course of progress that the prose poem followed can provide a comparable approach for the study of its Arabic counterpart. Moreover, Western and Arabic prose poetics had a similar genesis and they shared some models and sources. Therefore, it is possible to examine both of them within the same procedure. It is interesting and instructive to see that both on the Western side and the Arabic side there are a whole series of ancestral sources for the prose poem which have been recognized as such by both Western and Arab critics. It is beyond the scope of this book to examine these in depth and detail but the principal categories mentioned by the critics are as follows: Classical Literary Theories

This is one of the earliest categories of sources which contributed to defining prose poetics. Modern Western theorists turned to the Greek heritage in search for authentic origins of the new genre. Bernard states that Aristotle in his Poetics distinguished between poetry and metrical writing when he excluded the merely metrical verse from poetry.16 Simon traces the evolution of prose poetics back to the division established between poetic prose and ordinary prose by the earliest theorists like Socrates and Quintilian. Socrates comments on this division when he says: ‘Prose must not be merely prose, or else it will be dry; it must not be metrical, for then artifice is manifest.’ On the other hand, Quintilian contributes to the recognition and development of prosaic rhythms: ‘In prose the movement varies from phrase to phrase in the freest fashion. Nevertheless, the presence of rhythm . . . [is] indispensable.’17 Modern Arab critics recognized a foundation for their modern concepts of prose poetics in the liberal views of classical Arab theorists who emphasized the freedom of the poet to choose forms. In this respect, modern Arab critics observed a major turning point in classical Arabic theory, which took place in the

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tenth century. They studied the writings of al-™ßl# (d. 947), ‘Abd al-Q\hir al-Jurj\n# (d. 1078), al-J\©i$ (775–868), Ibn Rushd (1126–98), Ibn S#n\ (980–1037), Qud\ma Ibn Ja‘far (d. 948), al-Qarµ\jann# (1211–85) and Ibn Khaldßn (1332–1406), and they concentrated particularly on the innovative views of these writers concerning the difference between poetry and prose. These classical theorists downgraded the significance of metres and rhyme in poetry and shifted the focus to other characteristics. For example, Adßn#s finds the arguments of al-™ßl# and al-Jurj\n# about ‘poetic language’ inspirational for his study about Arabic prose poetics and the Arabic prose poem. These two classical theorists used ‘poetic language’ instead of metre and rhyme as their main criterion to evaluate poetry.18 Al-Yßsuf# believes that a number of Arab theorists, beginning with al-J\©i$ up to Ibn Khaldßn ‘had an acute awareness that the boundaries between poetry and prose are unsteady and so fine as to resist being defined and seized’.19 Both Adßn#s and al-Yßsuf# state that this disassociation of poetics and versification by classical Arabic literary theory has a vital relevance to the situation of Arabic poetry today.20 Ibn S#n\ and Ibn Rushd studied khaµ\ba (oratory) as a prosaic art and they explored its ‘prosaic rhythms’. In his study of the prose poem, Sharbal D\ghir acclaims their views as significant in understanding Arabic ‘rhythms of prose’.21 The views and commentaries of Ibn S#n\ and Ibn Rushd which invoke Aristotle’s Poetics represented another source of inspiration for modern Arabic critics who researched Arabic prose poetics and the prose poem. Al-Yßsuf# observes that modern theorists preoccupied themselves with searching for the universal poetics that these two philosophers referred to in their writings. He considers this preoccupation as a manifestation of the obsession of Arab thought with deeprooted authenticity.22 In this respect, modern European and Arab literary theorists seem to have followed in the footsteps of Arab classical theorists in turning to the Greek heritage in search for authenticity and credibility. Ancient Near Eastern Texts

Western literary historians consider the Bible, and the King James Bible in particular, as a major ancestor of the Western prose poem. John Simon finds that the Bible contains some of the earliest poetic prose models. He believes that the intense and lyrical style of the Bible had a major effect on the style of many prose writers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that the psalms, in particular, ‘provide a point of departure for poetic prose and even prose poetry’.23 Suzanne Bernard has the same appreciation for the biblical ancestry of the prose poem as she explores in more depth the influence of the biblical style in French poetry in the nineteenth century. Analysing ‘le style biblique’, she lists the biblical techniques employed by prose poets such as: ‘division of the text into very short versets, the repetition of words and the device of making the idea ‘pivot’ on a word, the use to the point of excess of and at the head of a phrase, [and] parallelism’.24

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As for the Arabic prose poem, it is widely held that the Torah, and the Psalms and Solomon’s Song of Songs, in particular, had a major influence on the Arabic prose poem especially during the foundational stage of Shi‘r.25 Al-∂\jj, who translated Song of Songs into Arabic, explores in the introduction the poetic language and form in this text.26 In fact, the fine translation of this ancient text and the introduction might have been encouraged by the collective project of the writers of Shi‘r who were searching for new poetic models in their ancient cultural sources. Jayyusi and Khouri name the Qur’an as one of the earliest archetypes of the Arabic prose poem.27 Arab critics and prose poets alike sought further ancestral lines in other Ancient Near Eastern texts, a great many of which were assimilated and reproduced in the Old Testament, New Testament and also the Qur’an. The combination of the poetic and prose elements of these texts, which blur boundaries between poetry and prose, certainly inspired prose poets during the foundational stage of Shi‘r. Defining the roots of his early prose poems, Adßn#s underlines a major source that he calls: ‘The poetic tradition in ancient Syria-Mesopotamia’.28 The poet ∑arr\d al-Kubays# also asserts that the Arabic prose poem is rooted in ancient Assyrian and Babylonian texts. He argues that the formal innovations of the genre employ the techniques used in ‘the inscriptions and scrolls’, and the poetry of ‘the Semitic civilization in general’.29 Other sources are mentioned by critics and poets such as the Canaanite texts, the Epic of Gilgamesh and old Egyptian texts.30 Devotional Literature

In his book The Origins of the Free Verse, Kirby-Smith dedicates the last chapter to the study of the prose poem, treating it as one of the variations of free verse. He passes some controversial judgements on the prose poem, which he considers as ‘The ultimate refuge of bankrupt talent’.31 However, he provides some acute insights and invaluable information about its roots and origins. In this chapter, he ridicules looking for precursors for the prose poem in pre-eighteenth-century writings. However, he observes that ‘As early as the seventeenth century there had been the sudden efflorescence of highly ornamented prose in English but those who wrote it did not imagine themselves to be composing poetry.’32 Kirby-Smith does not go any further in discussing these pioneering attempts nor does in any footnote refer to these early prose texts. He instead moves directly to discuss examples from the eighteenth century. Nonetheless, scattered in other chapters of his book, there is some information about these early prose texts. Exploring the origins of free verse in his seventh chapter, Kirby-Smith states: ‘among the great prose writers who adorn the seventeenth century, those who were also poets were likely, in their prose, to sense the latent poetry of the Bible and to reproduce it’.33 Thereafter, he selects and studies various ‘devotional’ prose texts taken from John Donne’s Sermons (1661), Thomas Traherne’s Centuries of Meditations (1908) and Thanksgivings (1699) and Jeremy Taylor’s Festival Hymns (1655). He also states that all of these texts are little

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known and read. Commenting on Donne, he says that his prose contains all sorts of ‘baroque extravagance’ and that his prose is more poetic than much of what is held today as poetry. He also registers his admiration for Traherne’s rhythmic prose and experimentation in techniques. As for Taylor, he admires ‘the grandeur of his prose’. Though these early texts are emphasized by Kirby-Smith as precursors of free verse, they are the examples that were missing in his observations about the poetics of English prose in his chapter on the prose poem. Accordingly, these texts could be thought of as precursors of the prose poem in English. In the same manner, the Arabic prose poem claimed one of its roots in the literature that was associated with devotional subjects and experiences in the Sufi writings. The Yemeni poet ‘Abd al-Az#z al-Muq\li© argues that the Arabic prose poem is a derivation of ‘the Sufi heritage which springs from the Qur’anic language and the Qur’anic rhythms, and from a spiritual experience that has profound universal aspects’.34 Several other critics considered the Sufi writings as a major model of the poetics of the prose poem. Adßn#s argues that the Arabic prose poem began under the influence of the Western prose poem and entered a different phase when Arab prose poets became familiar with Arabic Sufi writings. In this second stage, the Arabic prose poem was reborn with a new structure and mode that are derived from its own cultural heritage. Among the Sufi texts he specifies are Al-Maw\qif wa al-Mukh\µab\t of al-Niffar# (d. 977), Al-Ishar\t al-Il\hiyya of al-Taw©#d# (d. 1023), Al-Shaµa©\t of al-Bisµ\m# (d. 1454) and several texts of Ibn ‘Arab# (1165–1240) and al-Suhraward# (1154–91). He details the techniques that were discovered in Sufi sources and that had an influence on prose poets as ‘ways of expression in these writings, and ways of using language that is, essentially, poetic, even though it is non-metrical’.35 Al-L\dhiq\n# and al-Mun\§ira add the writings of al-∂all\j (858–922) to the list of the Sufi models that had inspired the Arabic prose poem.36 Texts of Poetic Prose

Poetic prose – also called ‘artistic prose’ and ‘ornate prose’ – played a major role in bringing prose close to poetry.37 The pioneering Western prose poem emerged in French and English, and developed naturally by exploiting the lack of an absolute division between prose and poetry in the first place. In the common ground between these two genres lies a third area that is called poetic prose. Bernard and Murphy believe that ‘poetic prose’ represents the most direct ancestor of the prose poem. It was the first rebellion against the restraints of conventional poetry, and it prepared the ground for the prose poem.38 In eighteenth-century France, the ‘cultivation of lyrical or impassioned prose’ by Diderot, Rousseau and others was read as poetry by French readers who were impatient with the restraints of metres.39 As for England, Kirby-Smith states that during the eighteenth century, highly ornamental prose was common in English.40 James Macpherson’s book Ossian (1807) followed Celtic models of ancient heroic poetry and was also

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influenced by the Bible.41 The book was written in a prosaic style in which the basic unit was the sentence. Nonetheless, it was read as poetry. Ossian contributed to liberating English poetry from metres and it had a great influence on the European prose poem. Simon emphasizes that the book was well known on the European continent in the eighteenth century and that it had a great influence on all European literatures.42 Monroe believes that it inspired Novalis, the German poet who wrote some of the earliest prose poems in Europe. Bernard also mentions Novalis’ prose texts as one of the ancestors of the French prose poem.43 Poetic prose was also practised by the masters of English prose such as Milton, Swift, and Carlyle.44 In nineteenth-century England, prose poetics were much inspired by the writings of Walter Pater. In his writings, Pater argues for an aesthetic evaluation of prose according to certain poetic norms. In fact, Pater’s theoretical writing itself is a fine example of artistic prose which employs prose poetics and poetic prose. The writings of Pater provide a comprehensive account of the continual procedure of exploring the nature of poetry and of re-evaluating poetics in the nineteenth century. His poetic prose provided a significant model and played a decisive role in the history of the English prose poem as an emerging genre at the end of the nineteenth century.45 On the other side of the Atlantic, poetic prose was associated with several illustrious names. Fredman believes that in the nineteenth century there was ‘a central body of prose texts that carry poetry beyond the lyric mode’. Among these he lists Poe’s ‘Eureka’ (1848) which was subtitled ‘A Prose Poem’, Thoreau’s Walden (1854), Whitman’s preface to the Leaves of Grass (1855), and Emily Dickinson’s letters.46 He also observes that Emerson’s prose texts had a great influence on the American prose poem and he acclaimed Emerson as the American ‘master of prose’. He states that Emerson’s literary essays were often read as poetic prose or even poetry and played a significant role in the history of English prose poetics. Fredman places the ‘Emersonian tradition’ next to ‘the Symbolist tradition’ as the two major trends that are conflicting and competing in the modern Anglo-American prose poem.47 Arabic prose poetics followed a not dissimilar course, though it is longer and more eventful. Al-Yßsuf# notices that, in ancient Arabic culture, prose borrowed many ‘structural poetic components’. One of the earliest examples that he quotes is ‘the rhymed prose of pre-Islamic soothsayers’.48 Moreover, he stresses that whoever examines the ways in which ancient Arab texts were written will find it difficult to come across a single prose text which does not cohabit with poetry. Poetry, he believes, ‘occurs in books of anecdotes, Biographies, Science, Philosophy, Philology and Theology’.49 Referring to the Abbasid period, Moreh observes that prose became highly rhetorical and ornate in this period. Abbasid prose ‘adopted the rhetorical techniques of poetry by introducing al-bad#‘ ’.50 This ‘ornate prose’ reached its highest development in the various types of ras\’il (pl. of ris\la ‘epistle’), and later on in the simple narrative of the maq\ma which

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employed sophisticated rhyme schemes.51 The main emphasis in the ris\la and maq\ma was laid upon ‘the mastery of the language and its rhetorical and visual techniques’. However, the subject matter of these genres remained prosaic. The main techniques used by different writers of these genres were ‘parallelism, homoetoleuton’ (saj‘), simple and clear similes and metaphors’.52 These techniques could be found in other types of short prose texts that existed before and alongside those that are discussed by al-Yßsuf# and Moreh such as wa§iyya (will) and khuµba (oration). As for modern Arabic poetic prose, it was recognized by Jayyusi as an immediate ancestor of the Arabic prose poem. In her book, she takes a broad view of this literary practice and gives a rough definition of it: ‘Poetic prose, al-nathr al-shi‘r# is a prose style with a touch of imaginative. It is pervaded by a kind of emotion which can be described as poetic, but which does not attain the emotional tension of poetry.’ Looking for examples Jayyusi states that ‘Jibr\n’s stories are a very good example’, whereas Moreh recognizes some articles of Jibr\n such as his treatise Al-Mßs#q\ (New York 1905) as poetic prose.53 The Poetics of Translation

Bernard emphasizes the importance of the ‘poetics of translation’ in turning the literary translation into a principal antecedent of the prose poem. Furthermore, she places a particular emphasis on the translation from verse into prose, and she argues that ‘through translation, French writers practised the earliest experiments on the prose poem’.54 In view of that, she states that certain translations of the Scandinavian Eddas, the Scottish Ossian and the English Night Thoughts into French during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had a major influence on the concept of poetry in France.55 On the other hand, she asserts that the Romantic fascination with foreign literatures and translation contributed considerably to the emergence of the prose poem. In this respect, she underlines four collections of translated poems and songs. These collections, as listed in historical order by Bernard, are: Arabic Arabic Selections (1819), Spanish Historical Romantic Ballads (1822), Greek Popular Chants of Modern Greece (1824) and English and Scottish Lyrics and Myths (1825).56 These songs, myths, chants and folksongs employed ‘refrains’, ‘rhythms’ and ‘metaphorical language’. Hence, they were to be ‘the models that inspired the prose poem in its initial stages’.57 Simon emphasizes the role of the translators in providing inspiring models for the prose poem. He notices that on many occasions ‘the translator’ who rendered the metrical poem into a non-metrical poem fancies himself as ‘a poet’ with full freedom to change and extend.58 He goes further stating that, in fact, the ‘infidelity’ of some translators was sometimes an attempt to poeticize the prosaic text, and compensate for the lost effect of the metres. Therefore, several translators can be considered, deservedly, as early practitioners of the prose poem.59 This view can be applied to the translators whose work appeared in Shi‘r in its early stages. Some of Shi‘r’s translators of European poetry became eminent

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practitioners of the Arabic prose poem. Most notably among those are its two masters, Adßn#s and al-∂\jj. However, unlike Western critics, most Arab critics did not view the influence of the translation in a positive light. Moreover, some of them overstated or misjudged the influence of the translation on the Arabic prose poem. The emergence of the genre in Arabic was sometimes considered as an outcome of the ‘translation movement’60 while others interpreted this coming under the influence of translated poetry as an imitation.61

The Foundation and Formation of the Genre The writings that explored the founding and formation of the Western prose poem as a genre associate it with dynamic changes in the overall cultural atmosphere and in the sphere of journalism in particular. The cultural scene in Europe was vitalized by the increase and expansion of journals in the second half of the nineteenth century. Studying the history of the French prose poem, Bernard makes several valuable references to the role of journalism in the development of the new genre.62 Accounting for this role, especially in the early stages, she states that in the progress towards the prose poem we should look for transformations in small journals in particular. In this respect, she emphasizes that the small journal played this vital role in the history of the prose poem because, by its very nature, it responds to all genres, forms, experiments and new forms or hybrid ones.63 Moreover, she alludes to a generic similarity between journalistic writing and prose genres by stating that: ‘among all different forms we see the generating of all kinds of prose writings’.64 Though her examples refer to the French prose poem, Bernard’s argument can be applied equally to the prose poem in English and to the Arabic prose poem. The French Prose Poem: The Heroic Age65

Literary theory takes it as a given that the prose poem, in its modern form, originated in nineteenth-century France. The prose poem was found to be rooted in the poets’ struggle against the tyranny of traditional French versification. Hence, whereas the basic unit in English verse is the iamb, the French alexandrine, for example, is not an accumulation of feet but is itself the basic unit of prosodic form. Consequently, the relatively lower profile and belated emergence of the genre in English is viewed by some French critics as a consequence of the greater degree of freedom of English verse.66 Gaspard de la Nuit (1842), authored by Aloysius Bertrand (1807–41), is recognized in Western literary theory as the first collection of prose poems. The book is acclaimed as the origin of the genre, and the poet as ‘the inventor of the genre’.67 Modern theorists highly value the collection because it included all the paradoxes of the genre with which theorists still struggle and it is still considered to be the first model to represent all the problems of the poetry of modernity in general.68

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The second significant stage in the formation of the genre was brought about by Charles Baudelaire (1793–1871), who gave the genre its universally accepted name. Baudelaire tested his early experimental prose poems by publishing them in small journals. He published the first three in Revue Fantaisiste in 1861. Two of these were highly regarded by Sainte Beuve, who praised them in an article published in Constitutionnel (20 Janvier 1862). Having his name promoted by an eminent poet and his work published in the journal had been remarkably motivating for the young poet. This could be assumed by reading Bernard’s chapter about Baudelaire, including her footnotes and bibliography. Following the Baudelairian experiment, Bernard mentions that he composed another 14 poems that were published in La Presse in August 1962 and September 1962.69 Owing to the dynamic functioning of the media, the young poet had his experiments accomplished, reviewed and appraised within two years. Hence, he was able to carry his experimentation and the Western prose poem to the next stage. The real breakthrough in the history of the genre came with the publication of his collection Petits Poèmes en Prose (1869),70 which critics believe laid the whole basis of the genre. With the Baudelairian prose poem, Monroe argues, two principal norms were undermined: the formal association of poetry and verse, and the exclusion from the text of such prosaic motifs as urban life, poverty and class conflicts.71 However, it is believed that Baudelaire ‘wrote his prose poems as a kind of sideline, an experiment; they were not meant to outshine the verse of Les Fleurs du Mal. And few readers would claim to find the prose version of ‘L’Invitation au voyage’, for example, more beautiful than the harmonious lines of the verse poem’.72 However, it is agreed that his prose poems introduced some of the fundamental techniques of the genre. The chief Baudelairian contribution to the prose poem is the new ‘structural archetype’ which is to be found in the works of subsequent generations of prose poets.73 With this Baudelairian model of elaborate textual architecture, the concept of the ‘Arabesque of the poem’74 came into play, indicating that the intersections and interconnections between the autonomous units in a poetry collection can turn the work into an interrelated whole.75 Stephane Mallarmé (1842–98) started his experimentation with the genre under the influence of Baudelaire. His involvement with journalism from his early youth provided him with the motivation and the opportunity to experiment with the new form. He was an active contributor to literary journals, poetic reviews and articles in French literary journals. However, it was when Revue Fantaisiste published 20 prose poems by Baudelaire in 1862 that Mallarmé wrote his early prose poems and published them in Revue des Lettres et des Arts in 1867.76 Mallarmé, relentlessly, tried to erase the boundary between prose and verse in some of his poems. His main aspiration was to create a linguistic system that is mastered and controlled by the human mind. In practice, he experimented with language and poetic form and created ‘a reunion’ of vers libre and the prose poem.77 He believed that by using this ‘synthesis’ he would be able to produce

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‘comprehensive brief pieces, like immediate rhythms of thought, commanding a prosody’.78 He tried fitting prose sentences with poetic verses in one structure, struggled against the conventions of traditional syntax and rearranged words within the sentence under new rules. By creating a new language within the conventional language, critics believe that he was able to reach the broadest universal level open to human language. His contribution to the prose poem is particularly influential for it’s aesthetics and formal techniques. However, the Mallarméan experiment also made a considerable contribution to developing the ability of the prose poem to embody its discourse through poetic form rather than content. Terdiman believes that Mallarmé’s choice of prose as a poetic medium was a strategic attempt to criticize the institutionalized opposition between poetry and prose that is enhanced by the mediums of dominant discourse, including journalism.79 The genre reached its peak at the hands of Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91).80 Rimbaud claimed that some major works of poetry are only ‘rhymed prose’, and he called Victor Hugo’s famous novel, Les Misérables (1862), a poem. This blurring of the distinction between prose and poetry and the insistence upon new forms produced a foundation for his experiment that was completely liberated from the shackles of metre and rhyme. Bernard believes that Rimbaud’s early experiments were inspired by some prose poems published in small journals that he was familiar with, especially Revue des Lettres et des Arts, Renaissance and L’Artiste.81 In his early poems, Rimbaud tried a great variety of different rhythms, mastering each of them in a seemingly effortless manner. He also set out to destroy the formal moulds themselves by constant use of enjambment. This led to irregular caesura and the breaking down of the metre completely. As for rhyme, he started by breaking the rules, only to do away with them together in some poems which were written in blank verse. Contrary to approved practice, he ended some lines with prepositions and articles. This ‘gradual evolution’ led to ‘the leap’ which took place when Illuminations (1886), his first collection of prose poems, appeared. In the Rimbaudean prose poem, two main topics came into view: the poet as a visionary and the poem as a vision on the one hand, and inventing new poetic language on the other.82 The first topic led to the exploration of the unknown and the invention of new forms. The second aimed at creating a language that was both subversive and constructive. In other words, he aimed to break the normal linguistic shackles to reach ‘an international language’ that was richer and more liberal. These were to become among the main concerns of Western, as well as Arab, practitioners and theorists of the prose poem alike.83 The new form was celebrated and developed by groups of young poets who gathered around small journals. The most active among those were the Decadents and the Symbolists. The Decadents gathered around their magazine Le Décadent and ‘the young poets of the editorial board’ declared their mission and project in its editorials. The Decadents aspired to free literature from the materialistic preoccupations of the industrialized world. They claimed Baudelaire

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as their inspiration and counted Rimbaud and Mallarmé among themselves. They chose the prose poem because it was the best medium in which they could experiment and carry out their project to ‘create a new language that differs from the overused language’.84 In England, the Decadents were among the leading poets of the 1890s, most notably the two masters of the English prose poem, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Dawson. The Decadents paved the way for the Symbolists, who experimented with free verse and the prose poem. They had several magazines, including their most famous ones La Vogue and Le Symboliste. The Symbolists called for ‘a reformation of the poetic language, purifying and enriching it, and for exploiting all sources of sounds and rhythms in the French speech’. The first generation of the Symbolists chose the prose poem during the 1880s as ‘a rhythmic form from which they could learn new rhythms’.85 Accordingly, they developed their free verse. However, the second generation of the 1890s went beyond concentrating on the language and form of the prose poem to be involved in the broader field of its poetics. The prose poem was the school in which they learned to liberate the meaning and transform it into ‘a vision’, to undermine conventions in order to build a new poetic world, and to turn the literary discourse into a social, ethical and cultural discourse.86 The continuous experimentations of these two groups were inspired by the innovative poetics of the prose poem and were carried out under the influence of the great masters of the genre, especially Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Rimbaud. The Decadents and the Symbolists accompanied the foundation and formation of the genre. Accordingly, in literary theory as well as in literary history, the prose poem is often associated with these two movements.87 The twentieth century’s French poets commended and exploited the nineteenth-century legacy of the prose poem. Avant-garde poets celebrated this newly won freedom by composing in any combination of free as well as regular verse that the occasion demanded. The Surrealists practised the genre from the beginning of the twentieth century, and enriched it with the Surrealist techniques that concentrate on dream narrative and subverting language.88 They also followed their master André Breton in mixing free verse and prose texts in the same volume. French critics maintain that no French poet in the twentieth century remained immune to the genre. In fact, the prose poem was practised by some of the chief poets of the twentieth century, including Saint-John Perse, Paul Claudel, Pierre Reverdy, Max Jacob, Yves Bonnefoy and Francis Ponge.89 Some of these poets contributed, in a way, to the movement of Shi‘r and its prose poem as some of their works were translated and reviewed by the poets and critics of Shi‘r. Others provided primary models in the early stages of the Shi‘r movement and were principal sources of inspiration.90

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The Prose Poem in English: Two Master Patterns

One of the widespread practices in literary theory is setting the French prose poem as a standard or a template against which the prose poem in English is compared. Critics who have studied the prose poem in English frequently express frustration because ‘no great original prose poem appeared in English, nothing so revolutionary or accomplished as Rimbaud’s Illuminations’.91 British and American prose poets are, at their best, considered ‘followers’ and ‘imitators’92 of their French counterparts. Thus, when writing the history of the prose poem in English, critics mention the year 1890 as a landmark. In this year, Pastels in Prose, a collection of prose poems written by twenty-three different French poets was translated into English by Stuart Merill and published in New York.93 It is obvious that these Anglophone literary critics have the same problems with the prose poem as their Arab counterparts, and that both teams looked upon their national prose poem as a French export. In this respect, the prose poem in English provides one of the convenient comparative approaches for studying the Arabic prose poem. Nonetheless, although, the history of the genre in English is much more sporadic than in French, it is by no means less established or long-standing. Theorists consider the publishing of Wilde’s prose poems as the first momentous achievement in the history of the prose poem in English. Therefore, they often treat it as the inauguration of the genre in English. However, Simon proclaims the year 1798 as a significant date in the history of the genre.94 In this year, Coleridge wrote ‘The Wandering of Cain’, a piece of prose which he labelled a ‘poem’. However, Simon considers it only ‘poeticized prose’ and argues that 1803 was the exact date of the birth of prose poem in English. In this year, Coleridge wrote some entries in his collection Anima poetae, which includes some ‘prose poems in the best sense’.95 Moreover, Coleridge’s theoretical writings about prose poetics matched and supported his experiment. He believed that: ‘Poetry of the highest kind may exist without metre and even without the contradistinguishing objects of a poem.’96 The first major work that carried the label and brought it into the open was Oscar Wilde’s Poems in Prose. Modern critics still acclaim it as ‘the first instance of a consciously cultivated tradition of the prose poem in English’.97 A section of this collection was published in The Fortnightly Review in 1894 before the whole work was published in a book.98 The controversial profile of the poet, who was involved in ferocious battles with the authorities, put on trial and exiled, gave the genre in England a controversial start.99 Murphy states that Wilde’s use of terms ‘prose poem’ and ‘poems in prose’ is significant for the history of the genre in English. The use of these two terms, in reference to his writing during his dramatic encounters with the authorities, placed the genre at the centre of cultural debate. Although Wilde was well acquainted with the French prose poem: studies of his prose poems show that he devised his own techniques and originated a new tradition. In his Poems in Prose, Wilde took the ‘English Bible’

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as his literary model and his main intertext. In his prose poems, he reworked religious themes and adopted biblical rhythms and vocabularies. On the other hand, he imitated the sacred text to counter its teaching and to subvert it through irony. Given his knowledge of other models such as Baudelaire and Pater, Murphy finds Wilde’s choice of the Bible as a poetic model to be ‘peculiar’. Furthermore, she seems more interested in exploring the impact of Wilde’s prose poem on the readers of the Bible than in exploring the biblical influence on his writing. Therefore, she follows closely the shocking effect of Wilde’s writings on the Victorian public. In this respect, she reads Wilde’s work as an attempt to secularize the ‘English Bible’ and a desire to subvert the Christian tradition.100 This major work was preceded by a text that is considered a prose poem in its own right. In their study of Wilde’s techniques, Kirby-Smith and Murphy quote the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) as a fine example of Wilde’s prose poems.101 The other main characteristic of Wilde’s prose poem is his choice to ‘elaborate and ornament’ his prose and to use ‘pseudo-archaic language’. That was perceived as ‘artificial’ by some critic-poets such as André Gide and W. B. Yeats who preferred ‘less ornate versions, closer to contemporary speech’. Murphy, who has more taste for poetry that brings ‘ordinary speech into poetic idiom’ than the Wildean ‘archaic parabolic’102 poetry, declares her preference in her study about Wilde. The first type of poetry, about which she is more passionate, flourished in the hands of her compatriot prose poets in the twentieth century. However, she recognizes that ‘artificiality’ is a deliberate attempt to remove ‘poeticity’ from the sphere of public discourse.103 Due to the form he sometimes used, and due to the circumstances which surrounded his experiment, Wilde’s work could provide a model for studying some Arabic prose poems. His experimentation with form includes one of the popular forms used by Arab prose poets. This form, which does not appear in the Euro-American prose poem very often, employs short lines instead of the paragraph form as in this example: It was night-time, and He was alone And He saw afar-off the walls of a round city, and went towards the city.104

The new form that was introduced by Wilde triggered many polemical and critical writings in journals105 and was aborted shortly afterwards. Wilde’s trial in Reading court, in which his prose poems along with his literary and political views and his social behaviour were denounced, put an end to his experimentation and had a negative effect on literature of the time and on the genre as a whole.106 In 1899, Ernest Dawson published his collection of prose poems Decoration in Prose. Dawson was well acquainted with French Symbolism, which had a great influence on his prose poems. However, he developed his own devices and techniques, which employed the conventions of storytelling in the fairytale tradition and dream narration.107 The poems mimic these narratives and then

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they subvert the formula to represent the loss of illusion before ‘reality’, or the realization of an existential or ethical void. He employed the technique of repetition and refrain that exist in traditional folktale to produce an ironic effect and to suggest that ‘beyond illusion, there is nothing. The future will resemble the past.’ There was a certain vogue for the genre during the fin de siècle. It fell out of fashion not long after it appeared, only to resurface in the second decade of the next century. Anglo-American poetry at the beginning of the twentieth century had an ambivalent attitude toward the prose poem. This was manifested in the writings of T. S. Eliot and his own experimentation with the prose poem. Eliot once considered the prose poem as a hybrid genre and a leftover from Decadence. After that, he wrote many articles and essays on the subject, in which he expressed more tolerant views towards the prose poem and towards all experiments that transgress traditional generic boundaries. Furthermore, he translated Saint-John Perse’s collection of prose poems, Anabase (1924), into English and considered it to be ‘poetry’.108 The same work was to be translated into Arabic half a century later by Adßn#s. Eliot wrote at least four prose poems, including his renowned ‘Hysteria’ (1915), which was published in Ezra Pound’s Catholic Anthology (1914). Delville acclaims the poem as signalling ‘the birth of a specific kind of stylistic and imagistic hysterics inaugurated in the English-speaking world’. Delville evaluates ‘Hysteria’ as a precursor and inspiration for the American prose poem that flourished in the second half of the twentieth century.109 Fredman commends Eliot’s poem and accredits him with the regrafting of the French Symbolist tradition in English literature.110 Smith says about this poem: ‘if anything can really succeed as a prose poem, Eliot’s ‘Hysteria’ must be allowed as poetry’.111 He cherishes it as Eliot’s ‘sole entry in this division’, but he views it as only a gesture that Eliot made to ‘register his credentials as a true disciple of the French Symbolists’. Besides playing down Eliot as a prose poet, Smith, just like other writers except Murphy seems to be indifferent to the other three, at least, prose poems written by Eliot. Eliot’s abandonment of the genre might have had a devastating influence on it, similar to that caused by the termination of Wilde’s experiment. ‘Given Eliot’s stature and influence over his generation of poets and critics and over subsequent generations of professors of English’, Murphy wonders ‘whether his lack of sustained interest in the prose poem’ has led to keeping the prose poem ‘at the margins of modernist poetry in English’ in the hands of minor poets and American iconoclasts.112 Sources mention that between 1915 and 1917, Amy Lowel published several prose poems in Poetry magazine and in a collection of free verse,113 and that several ‘minor imagists from the Amy Lowel school’ wrote prose poems.114 However, apart from these scattered short sentences about them in these major sources about the prose poem, the prose poem of the Imagists is totally ignored. Perhaps, because their major contribution is thought of as the invention of free verse, this tends to make critics deal with their prose poems as minor achievements.

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For example, Kirby-Smith counts them among the ‘great originators’ of the prose poem, and places them in the position that the French symbolists occupy in the history of the French prose poem.115 Nevertheless, he concentrates most on their experiments in free verse and almost ignores them in his chapter about the prose poem. Alongside the two brief attempts in the genre by Eliot and Lowel, there exist the major experiments of Gertrude Stein and Williams Carlos Williams. These two poets are often chosen by modern literary critics and historians as representatives of the prose poem in the first half of the twentieth century. Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons (1914) is a self-conscious phase of prose poetry. She perceived the struggle of literary genres as a ‘symbolic enactment of the politics of gender’.116 She also believed that the most radical way of renewing the strength of poetry lies in a discovery of ‘poetic potentials of descriptive and argumentative syntax’117 and she applied that to her prose poems. Her prose poems echo the diction of the dominant discourses on women such as cookery books and guides to etiquette, in an attempt to subvert the basic icons of Victorian domesticity from within. Stein’s texts can provide a model to assess the writing of Arab prose poetesses whose contributions became central towards the end of the twentieth century. An enthusiastic effort to explore the poetic potentials of the prose poem was provided by William Carlos Williams’ Kora in Hell: Improvisations. Parts of the collection were first serialized in the Little Review before being published in book form in 1919. The Improvisations was a successful attempt to liberate poetry from formal aesthetic traditions and to turn the prose poem into ‘a means of verbalizing specific modern concerns and realities’.118 Different sources deal with this work as a major and mature example of the Anglo-American prose poem. Delville views the book as a project to develop a specific American form that was not meant to be an American remake of any previous tradition of the prose poem.119 Roy Miki has a similar view, considering Kora in Hell: Improvisations as the ‘first modern text’ which was ‘wholly written and published in America’.120 Some accounts about the history of the genre imply that besides the known works of the principal prose poets there exists a whole body of prose poems in English that is overlooked by literary historians and critics. These critics believe that a major missing section of the prose poem in English exists in journals and that a thorough history of the genre would draw heavily on them rather than restricting research to published collections. Delville believes that there was a wide variety of prose poems published in poetry magazines. In his study, he explores some works which he believes ‘have been constantly neglected by literary criticism in both Europe and the United States.121 He uses literary journals such as Transition in his investigation of the prose poem in the first half of the twentieth century.122 Kirby-Smith states that the early numbers of the Little Review, and the Poetry magazine of the same period, published many prose poems.123 Contemporary critics widely consider Williams’ collection to be the last important work to appear before the 1960s. After Improvisations, no significant

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work of prose poetry appeared in English for four decades. It seemed as if the genre had fallen out of fashion, until it came back strongly in the 1960s in the United States.124 Since then, poets ‘of every strip were drawn to the extreme of prose’. Several competing ‘camps’ in which the prose poem is a principal practice coexisted: neo-Surrealists such as Russell Edson and Robert Bly; New York poets such as John Ashbery; the followers of Objectivism and Projectivism such as Robert Creeley; and the Language poets such as Ron Silliman, Michael Davidson and David Antin.125 These movements revolutionized the genre and brought it again to the centre of cultural life. Their adherents formed poetic communities and spread out between the margin and the centre, from the oppositional left to the prestigious boards of the academy. The movements were characterized by their extensive usage of small journals and their new understanding of the role of media ‘where writing and the meaning of its modes are actively engaged’.126 Nonetheless, Murphy believes that the American prose poem which exploits ‘the flexibility of English syntax and the vitality of American speech’ has ‘remained true to the innovative, expansive, and subversive course set by Baudelaire, Rimbaud and others’.127 Several modern critics believe that the American prose poem opened a new and different tradition in the history of the genre and is quite distinct from the European prose poem. Hence, it is possible to recognize two master patterns for the prose poem in English: the Anglo prose poem and the American prose poem. The first one is the daughter of the English literary climate of aestheticism that prevailed during the Decadence, in which ‘prose was valued for qualities usually associated with poetry’. These qualities are listed by Murphy as follows: intransitive, non-paraphrasable use of language and the search for colour and musicality rather than logical coherence or discursive clarity.128 On the other side of the Atlantic, the American prose poem distinguished itself inherently from its English counterpart. Throughout its history, the American prose poem endeavoured to combine the aesthetic aspirations of the high modernists on the one hand and to remain faithful to the American conviction about the poetry as audience-oriented practice grounded on its reading public and public space and central to literary and cultural/political life on the other. As an experimental practice, the American prose poem was encouraged and supported by the postmodern Americanists. The postmodern endeavour to redefine poetry and to challenge established assumptions about poetry provided American prose poets with motivation and ground to experiment with the new form. Owing to its ability to accommodate intersecting narratives, personal and political, dominant and dissenting, the American prose poem was a representative poetic counterdiscourse during the 1960 counterculture and beyond.129 Benedikt’s famous long ‘definition’ of the American prose poem is often quoted and referred to by authorities in the field. Benedikt, who is a prose poet and a critic, published a renowned anthology of the prose poem, in which he defines the American prose poem by listing its ‘essential characteristics’ as follows:

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1 ‘An attention to the unconscious, and to its particular logic’; 2 ‘an accelerated use of colloquial and other everyday speech patterns’; 3 ‘a visionary thrust following the insistence on the reality of the unconscious and on the dailyness of the imagination’; 4 ‘a certain humour’ which ‘registers the fluctuating motions of consciousness and which subsumes ordinary ideas of poetic gravity of decorum’; and 5 ‘a kind of enlightened doubtfulness, or hopeful scepticism’.130 The Arabic Prose Poem: Before and During the Shi‘r Period

Ever since the early texts of the pioneers were published in Shi‘r, there have been ongoing debates in Arabic literary circles about the circumstances that surrounded the emergence of the Arabic prose poem as a genre. Western literary theorists emphasized the necessity of investigating the course which the genre followed through its foundational stage and of exploring this progress through experimentation and practice. Thus, they created a common ground for defining the foundational stage of the prose poem in a certain context and identified its early chief practitioners. Afterwards, they concentrated on exploring the dynamics of experimentation and practice which led to the emergence of the prose poem as a genre. By contrast, Arab prose poets had to be engaged in endless disputes in order to prove that the Arabic prose poem has emerged as a result of genuine effort and experimentation. Thus, the difficulties of defining the Arabic prose poem and establishing a theory for it are increased by the challenges and controversies that surrounded its emergence and make it difficult to create a common ground between critics in writing its history. Some of these debates on the history of the genre are reported in periodicals and some are discussed in books. As for Shi‘r, the pioneers and their fellow critics consolidated their group perspective while they participated in the heated discussions about the subject. Writing the history of the genre: challenges and controversies In his article ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ (On the Prose Poem)131 Adßn#s argues passionately that the appearance of the Arabic prose poem was inevitable. He describes the emergence of the genre at the hand of the pioneers as an ‘historical inevitability’ created by various factors and precursors that paved the way for the new form. Exploring the history of the genre in retrospect, Adßn#s pinpoints these factors and precursors as follows: the reaction against the traditional restraints in Arabic poetry and Arabic language, the weakness of metrical poetry, the growth of the modern aspiration, the influence of the Torah and the ancient literary heritage in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the popularity of Western poetry in translation, and poetic prose. Among these factors, Adßn#s places special emphasis on poetic prose, highlighting it as the most immediate precursor of the Arabic prose poem. Soon after Adßn#s’ article, al-∂\jj elaborates on the same ideas in his introduction to Lan (Will Not) (1960). The two articles of these pioneers are considered

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the main references that represent the viewpoints of the group of Shi‘r at that early stage. Uns# al-∂\jj considers the year 1958, in which al-M\ghßµ, Adßn#s and he published their first prose poems in Shi‘r, to be the official date of birth of the Arabic prose poem.132 In the famous long essay that prefaced his collection which was published by Shi‘r, al-∂\jj tries devotedly to stand up for the new genre that was pioneered by his group. Reviewing the different views which conflicted in the scene during the first two years of the new genre, he complains that the Arabic prose poem was widely accused of being a ‘crossbreed’ and a ‘passing cloud’. He also warns that the infant genre was falling prey to ‘conservatism’, ‘fanaticism’ and ‘backwardness’, and accuses those who attacked the new genre of using ‘political, racial and sectarian tools’ in their arguments. In his defence, he emphasizes that practising the prose poem is a process that requires diligent and productive experimentation. He also describes the prose poem as being a result of ‘constant revision’, ‘re-drafting’ and ‘consolidation’. Besides, the ‘real’ prose poet is described by al-∂\jj as the one who ‘rejects worn-out ready-made devices’, and conducts his work by ‘discarding, searching and creating’. With equal conviction, some writers opposed the claims of Adßn#s and al-∂\jj and argued against the originality of the Arabic prose poem. Most of all, these writers dismissed in their arguments the claims of Shi‘r about the formal experiments that preceded the emergence of the genre. They also denied the pioneers’ claims to lead dynamic experimentation in the context of Shi‘r. Since it was promoting a genre that had been pioneered in the West, Shi‘r was an ideal target for accusations that were common in the post-colonial and the post-1948 discourse, with some of these writers maintaining that the Arabic prose poem was a result of direct Western influence. This evaluation continued to influence attitudes toward the prose poem, and avant-garde literature in general. The arguments of Jayyusi on this issue represent a widespread understanding that accompanied the Arabic prose poem in its early stages and is still current now. In her study of the Arabic prose poem, Jayyusi might have been referring to the above-mentioned arguments of Adßn#s and al-∂\jj when she challenges the idea that the Arabic prose poem had progressed through experimentation: The idea expressed by al-∂\jj and implied by Adun#s that the poem in prose in Arabic is the result of long experimentation in the form of poetry does not hold much ground either. All the forms employing a prose medium for poetic expression in Arabic seem to be the result more of direct Western influence than of a gradual and inevitable development. It is only free verse in Arabic, which is metrical, that can be considered with any accuracy as the result of continual experimentation in the poetic form’.133

Coming from an authority like Jayyusi, this view must have had a considerable influence on the understanding of the historical bases of the Arabic prose poem

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and of the achievements of Shi‘r. Interestingly, Jayyusi’s own study itself contains valuable details about poetic experimentation with form during the first half of the twentieth century, and this casts a shadow of uncertainty on her claims. The cultural atmosphere: early calls for experimentation Writing about the ‘early development’ in Arabic poetics at the beginning of the twentieth century, Jayyusi explores the works of Arab poets and critics who had an interest in and knowledge of Western poetry. Hence, she studies in depth Khal#l Muµr\n’s passion for Western poetry and his views about the influence of Western poetics on his experimental poetry as disclosed by Muµr\n himself in his writings. She explores in depth his article ‘Al-Tajd#d fi al-Shi‘r’ which was published in the journal al-Hil\l, in which he urged innovation in both prose and poetry, considering it as ‘necessary’.134 Subsequently, Jayyusi explores similar views and experiments. In this regard, she reads different articles written by eminent writers and published in journals at that time. In her account, she reviews an article by Naj#b ∂add\d published in al-Bay\n, several articles of Rß©# al-Kh\lid# published in al-Hil\l and the experimental poetry of Sulaym\n al-Bust\n# and his introduction to the Iliad.135 Using comparative perspectives, these articles explored poetic language, techniques and devices in Arabic as well as in Western poetry. In their studies, those writers consolidated and applied approaches and methods that are similar to those found in modern comparative studies of Arabic and Western poetics. Besides living and writing in the same historical and geographical context, the four writers, Muµr\n, ∂add\d, al-Kh\lid# and al-Bust\n# display strikingly similar interests in experimentation and interaction with world literature. However, Jayyusi presents the four writers as four different profiles and explores their views and practices separately. If we apply Bernard’s method of exploring the overall cultural atmosphere, as activated by journalism and displayed in journals, this reveals a different scene and provides more facts. In this light, the arguments and experimentation of the four writers seem to present part of the prevailing views and practices in the Arab literary circles at the time. Their articles demonstrate that the interaction with Western poetry forms a basis for measured and structured experimentation rather than casual imitation. In fact, taken together, the views of these four modernizers are not unlike the collective discourse of Shi‘r, though the latter is much more developed and cultivated. If we combine Bernard’s approach to studying an overall cultural atmosphere and Jayyusi’s approach to exploring the literary discourse at the beginning of the twentieth century we uncover further interesting cases. In a series of articles entitled ‘Al-Shi‘r’ (‘Poetry’), which appeared in the editorials of al-®iy\’ between 1899 and 1900,136 the writer employed a comparative approach in his discussion of Arabic poetics, and introduced very progressive and liberal views. These long editorials, which are anonymous, are probably written by one of the

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writers on the editorial board, or the editor-in-chief, Ibr\h#m al-Y\zij#, who was himself a noted poet. The writer-editor focused on analysing the difference between prose and poetry, as expressed in the writings of classical authors, like Ibn Khaldßn, and also of European critics. According to the writer, ‘the metre is not one of the elements of poetry, and has nothing to do with its nature and origin, because if we explore classical poetry, such as that which is included in some chapters of the Torah and writings of the prophets, we find that it is not based on metres’. Combining the classical Arabic literary theory with Western modern literary theory, al-Y\zij# develops a groundbreaking approach to studying Arabic poetry. In fact, this is the very combination upon which the writers of Shi‘r based their critical approaches more than half a century later.137 Al-Y\zij#’s futuristic study paves the way for what was to turn into the main sources of inspiration for the subsequent experimentation and practice in the prose poem. Interestingly, some of the main sources on the history of the genre, which this chapter draws on, mention that Ibr\h#m al-Y\zij# was the teacher, or the master, of Khal#l Muµr\n. However, none of these sources explored al-Y\zij#’s poetry and his journal seems to be unknown to them.138 Moreover, while these sources mention Muµr\n’s experimentation in al-shi‘r al-manthßr (poetry in prose), they overlooked the possibility of direct inspiration from his teacher-editor. As Bernard states, journals usually report the ongoing arguments and discussions on the cultural scene. Hence, debates about poetic experimentation must have been popular in cultural circles at that time. Accordingly, ongoing experiments, including Muµr\n’s, must have been triggered by significant debate and research. By adding al-Y\zij# to the other four writers, it is possible to sketch the early foundations of Arabic–European comparative literature. These calls for experimentation and modernity at the turn of the century shed more light on the poetic practice and experimentation which started at that period and continued until the founding of Shi‘r and the emergence of the prose poem at the hands of the pioneers of the genre. The discourse of these five writers reflects a dynamic and open cultural atmosphere and, more significantly, their writings show that the influence of Western poetry does not inhibit experimentation. On the contrary, interacting with world literature provokes and energizes poetic experimentation. These early sophisticated views on Western literature and poetic experimentation sound similar to the arguments that were presented by Adßn#s in the late twentieth century in his book An Introduction to Arab Poetics, though Adßn#s’ arguments are more structured and elaborate. Twenty-five years after his article ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, in which he passionately proclaimed the emergence of the Arabic prose poem as an ‘historical inevitability’ he revisited the subject. In this book, Adßn#s reviews the various controversies that accompanied the emergence of the prose poem as a genre in Arabic, and openly acknowledges that the early interest in the genre was ignited by the admiration of the Western prose poem. Boldly, Adßn#s admits that the early experiments by him and others were basically imitating and evoking modern Western models. However, he argues

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that this engagement with Western literary modernity led to the discovery of the modernity in Arabic poetry from within the Arab cultural order.139 Adßn#s also admits that he was one of those who were captivated by Western culture. However, he says that he was also one of those who went beyond that stage and put all their efforts into establishing their own cultural independence by embracing what he calls ‘Arab modernity’ as manifested in the writings of the early Arab modernizers of the tenth century. He emphasizes in particular the writings of Abß Nuw\s, Abß Tamm\m, al-Jurj\n# and the Sufis. Nonetheless, he states that it was reading Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Rimbaud that led him to rediscover the earlier Arab modernity.140 In this book, Adßn#s drops his previous argument about ‘historical inevitability’ in which he defended the idea of the inevitable emergence of the genre. However, he maintains his assertion that the prose poems of the pioneers were preceded and accompanied by vigorous experimentations in the new genre. Various sources depict the first half of the twentieth century. This era is depicted as a period of experimentation in all poetic forms including using prose as a poetic medium. Liberated poetics: experimentation and practice Most of the Western critics associated the evolution of the prose poem with the prevalence of experimentation in poetic form, in the broad sense. Critics and literary historians who traced the precursors of the Western prose poem focused on studying the immediately preceding changes in poetic form. In their studies, they viewed the emergence of the prose poem as an outcome of the liberation of poetics that was implemented by poets who experimented and practised open poetic forms. These forms, which abandon conventional restraints and use innovative techniques, liberated poetry and contributed to introducing new poetics. Breaking the rules of rhyme and metre was the main preoccupation of innovative French and English poets.141 Using innovative open poetic forms gradually extended the frontiers of poetry and prepared the ground for the prose poems, which accomplished the absolute breakdown of regular versification. In Arabic, the progress towards the prose poem proceeded through a similar course of introducing open poetic forms and new liberal poetics. Poetic experimentations by Arab poets during the first half of the twentieth century gave rise to several innovative poetic forms, some of which are similar to Western open forms. Although a number of poets during the nineteenth century had begun to suggest changes in themes, diction and imagery in Arabic poetry, literary historians tend to start with Khal#l Muµr\n (1872–1949) as a pioneer in introducing innovations in modern Arabic poetry. In both theory and practice, Muµr\n showed his dissatisfaction with classical poetry. He called, in various published articles, for innovation in both prose and poetry,142 and in his own poetry, he changed for the first time the conventional architecture of the poem, introducing new poetic techniques and forms. Beside the more conventional forms

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of the classical Arabic poem (qa§#da) he used quatrains, urjßza and strophic verse, and he enhanced ‘the music’ by using alliteration, internal rhymes and recurrence of the same word, idea and image.143 These are the very techniques that were to be employed by some prose poets to create the rhythms in their prose poems. From the beginning of the twentieth century Arab poets began to search for new poetic forms and modes of expressions. They felt that the old forms did not suit the new themes and ideas, so started experimenting with new forms. Being in close contact with Western poetic experience through translation and education, they found a rich source for learning and inspiration. Along with those who were carrying out their experimentation from within the classical conventional forms, there were a host of revolutionary poets who started to question the long-held and time-honoured conventions of rhyme and metre. These elements, which had been revered throughout the centuries, and considered as the cornerstones of poetry, became a source of controversy, a target for severe attacks, and were increasingly blamed for the decadence of Arabic poetry.144 As a consequence, during the first half of the twentieth century some poets concentrated on unconventional stanzic forms, short metres and variations of the muwashsha© (an Arabic poetic genre in strophic form developed in Muslim Spain in the 11th and 12th centuries). Two significant developments, in particular, took place before the emergence of the prose poem. These were experiments with blank verse and free verse. The first died out after a short while, while the other survived and became one of the most popular forms in modern Arabic poetry. However, both experiments contributed to liberating Arabic poetry and poetics and they still represent landmarks in the evolution of the more liberal poetic form that was introduced by the practitioners of the prose poem. Al-Shi‘r al-Mursal (blank verse)

This name was applied to Arabic poems that maintain the classical metres of the qa§#da on one the hand, and abandon the conventional system of monorhyme or other rhyme schemes on the other. Al-shi‘r al-mursal is ‘free of rhyme completely or of different rhymes’.145 It was created by some young poets who were trying to find an alternative to the enslaving musical devices of classical poetry. They were searching for a simple form that would allow them to move away from the classical poetic rhetoric and to focus on their new themes and ideas. However, these early attempts on form were carried out by poets who translated long texts or wrote poetic drama. Those poets realized that it is extremely difficult to write a long monorhymed text, and that other nations had used blank verse in their epics and dramas throughout the centuries.146 Paired rhyme (aabbccdd . . .) has been used extensively for the same purpose by French, English, medieval Persian and indeed medieval Arabic poets.147 In the hands of Rizqallah ∂assßn,148 the Syrian poet who used the form in his texts published in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the Lebanese Sulaym\n al-Bust\n# in 1904,149 al-shi‘r al-mursal proved to be convenient for their long translated texts and dramas.

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Thus, it was at that time that al-shi‘r al-mursal was introduced as a new form. Soon after, Jam#l ™idq# al-Zah\w# wrote a poem in blank verse. The poem was entitled ‘min al-shi‘r al-mursal’ and was published in the newspaper al-Mu’ayyad in 1905.150 Al-Zah\w# supported his poetic experiment by lectures and articles, in which he expressed disapproval of traditional poetic restrictions and advocated complete poetical freedom. He condemned all conventions that restrict poetry and argued that ‘poetry knows no limitations’.151 Furthermore, he argued that the poet is allowed to write in any metre he likes, but strangely enough he was completely conventional in terms of versification.152 Further experiments were carried out by poets from different parts of the Arab world. However, al-mursal entered a new phase when it was adopted and supported by Abß Sh\d# (1892?–1955). He encouraged poets to practise the new form and tried to formulate a theory for it. He also gave al-mursal the full backing of his literary periodical Apollo (1932–34).153 Furthermore, Abß Sh\d# himself experimented with al-shi‘r al-mursal in his anthologies and translations, and developed its techniques. His most valuable achievement was in applying the form to drama and narrative poetry, and urging other poets to do the same.154 ‘Al# Mu©ammad B\kath#r developed the foundations laid by Abß Sh\d# in his dramas, such as Ikhn\tßn wa Nifirt#t#, which were taken as a model by young poets.155 Using blank verse gave him greater freedom to make the sentence or the phrase the basic unit.156 This feature was to become one of the ground rules of the prose poem. These experiments in al-shi‘r al-mursal were condemned and opposed aggressively by conservative voices. The progressive critics and poets responded by defending the right of poets to choose appropriate forms in general and al-shi‘r al-mursal in particular. These battles helped them to conceptualize their ideas and solidify their positions.157 They quoted the relevant arguments of Western critics and poets, especially Milton, to support their views, and to refute the views of their adversaries. The conservatives argued that rhyme is an essential element of Arabic prosody and that the Arabic language, unlike European languages, is rich enough to provide poets with unlimited numbers of words for the monorhyme. However, the rise of al-mursal proves all those claims wrong. This was the first major attempt at change in Arabic poetry in the twentieth century and it was aiming to abolish the rhyme. However, some critics believe that the theoretical stand of the defenders of al-mursal was stronger and more convincing than the poetry that they wrote. This is due to the fact that their experience did not lead to a sustained production. Later, the form had a short and successful comeback in the hands of ™al\© ‘Abd al-™abßr and Yßsuf al-Kh\l, whose poems in al-mursal are considered some of the most successful of their kind.158 However, al-shi‘r al-mursal did not prove to be a very successful medium outside dramatic works. Most modern critics agree on the failure of this experiment,159 and the blame was directed this time at the conventional symmetrical form of the two-hemistich line, which proved a continual barrier to a successful adoption of blank verse. Furthermore, the poets were blamed for their inability

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to improvise a method to compensate for the loss of the habitual musical effect at the end of the line. Yet, critics seem to agree that the experiment played its part in undermining the classical structure of the Arabic poem. This significant achievement was exploited by all subsequent endeavours to modernize Arabic poetry. Al-Shi‘r al-∂urr (free verse)

Al-shi‘r al-©urr is the poetic form that seeks liberation from the symmetrical form and the conventional versification of the classical poem. However, contrary to English–American free verse or French vers libre,160 it preserves the metre. For this reason, some Arabic critics and poets prefer the term shi‘r al-taf‘#la (poetry of the metrical foot), especially for the second stage of the free verse movement that started with the Iraqi school.161 The latter term gives a more accurate description because it indicates an irregular metrical form. The form and techniques of al-shi‘r al-©urr are more comparable to French and English vers irrégulier. Along these lines, it could be more accurately defined as ‘metrical free verse’.162 Jayyusi, the eminent free verse poetess, who witnessed the rise of the free verse movement, believes that modern Arabic poetry comprises all the previous experiments that aspired to innovate and liberate Arabic poetry. She divides the movement into two stages: the initial stage, which includes all the experiments prior to 1947, and the second stage that followed it and witnessed the emergence of the school of al-shi‘r al-©urr.163 The initial stage might be defined as the ‘liberation from the fixed patterns of traditional Arabic poetry’.164 This includes liberation from the fixed number of feet, as well as from the aspects of symmetry. It also involves moving away from the fixed poetic models in Arabic poetry. This stage witnessed several attempts to find an alternative for the rigid traditional structure, yet maintain the music of metrical rhythm. This search can be traced back to Muµr\n’s early poetry in which he used different forms and metres. He divided the poem into several parts and employed two types of stanza using different rhymes and the majzß’ (a short form of metre) of two different metres in the same poem.165 In the early years of the twentieth century, a number of poets emigrated from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine and settled in the USA. Their aspiration was to modernize Arabic poetry and to contribute to a cultural change. To implement their collective project they formed the famous group al-R\biµa al-Qalamiyya (The Pen Club), and founded several journals including al-Funßn, al-S\i’© and al-Hud\. Some critics believe that this Mahjar# experimentation laid down the overall basis of modern Arabic poetry.166 They experimented in using quatrains and stanzas, reproducing these classical poetic forms in innovative ways. They used short metres and a multiplicity of rhymes, and they did not adhere to a fixed number of feet in a single verse, yet they sought to maintain a symmetrical structure.167

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Abß Sh\d# carried out the first serious experiment in al-shi‘r al-©urr under the influence of Muµr\n, the Mahjar# poets and English free verse. By his relentless efforts, and through the Apollo society and magazine, free verse was introduced into Arabic literature. He tried to formulate a theory, basing his argument mainly on English models of which he had extensive knowledge, and in 1936 he published the first manifesto on free verse in his Apollo magazine. Concerning his own practical experiments, his free verse was published in 1926 in his anthology al-Shafaq al-b\k#. His method depended on using several Arabic metres that have some similarity, especially those which combine two different types of feet such as al-µaw#l, al-bas#µ, and al-khaf#f. In most of his free verse poems, the lines are rarely divided into two hemistichs, the unit is the sentence and the rhyme is absent or employed rarely. Moreh believes that this poetic form that uses mixed metres is probably influenced by Swinburne, a poet whom Abß Sh\d# admired and quoted in his arguments. However, Abß Sh\d#’s free verse was still subject to the restrictions of conventional form such as the caesura and the independence of the lines. Also, critics maintain that his main contribution remained at the level of theory rather than practice, and in creating the liberal ambience of Apollo, where a number of poets experimented in the new form.168 Abß Sh\di’s innovation was followed by several major experiments. Niqßl\ Fayy\d and ‘Al# A©mad B\kath#r employed one metre in lines of irregular length and irregular rhyme schemes.169 Luw#s ‘Awa@ used the same technique in Blutuland,170 which he wished, as he wrote in the preface, to inspire a change in Arabic literature,171 and this was the main technique to be used by the masters of the genre in the second and successful stage of al-shi‘r al-©urr. These experiments in the initial stage could not liberate themselves completely from the confines of conventional form. Nevertheless, along with the literary theorization that accompanied them, they created the foundation for the second and successful rise of free verse in the middle of the century. A new stage in the free verse movement, which is also called shi‘r al-taf‘#la, was started by the two works written in this form by the two Iraqi poets N\zik al-Mal\’ika (1923–) and Badr Sh\kir al-Sayy\b (1926–64). Al-Mal\’ika’s poem ‘Al-Kßl#r\’ and al-Sayy\b’s collection Hal K\na ∂ubban? appeared in December 1947; hence the still unresolved dispute as to who was the real pioneer172 of the genre. The two works surprised literary circles by their new type of versification, which employed a single metre along with its shorter forms and irregular rhyme. The movement started formally after publication of al-Mal\’ika’s second d#w\n, Sha$\y\ wa ram\d in 1949, and al-Sayy\b’s second d#w\n As\µ#r in 1950. The two poets showed a new understanding of poetics and a high command of techniques of form. In the introductions to these two collections, both poets acknowledged that they developed some of their ideas during their readings of poetry in English.173 The new techniques involving the arrangement of syllables and words, line lengths and the distribution of pauses were applied efficiently and successfully

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by these two poets. The experiment was welcomed enthusiastically, especially by the younger generation of Arab readers, and instantly enjoyed the great support of young poets throughout the Arab world. Jayyusi, who witnessed the rise of the movement and who was part of it, believes that free verse, which started originally as experimentation in form, was welcomed in the 1950s for psychological and social reasons.174 Younger poets started their own experimentation, such as ‘Abd al-Wahh\b al-Bayy\t#, Buland al-∂aydar#, Razzßq Faraj Razzßq, Kaz#m Jaw\d, and ™al\© ‘Abd al-™abßr. The new form soon became popular and many important works were published in subsequent years, most notably al-Bayy\t#’s Ab\r#q Muhashshama (1954), Razzßq’s Wajd (1955), and ‘Abd al-™abßr’s Al-N\s F# Bil\d# (1957). The influence of Western poetry on the movement was profound. However, Eliot in particular had a ‘strangely powerful influence’ shown not only in the structure and the style, but also in the use of myth and interior monologue.175 Jayyusi, who evaluated the consequences of the movement, places special emphasis on two achievements she considers most significant: (1) liberation from the symmetry and equilibrium of the two-hemistich line, and (2) freedom for the poet to create his own verse structures in accordance with the content.176 These are also considered the two main contributions of the free verse movement to preparing the ground for the prose poem. All open poetic forms, including free verse, and all practices that challenged conventional prosody and poetics, are usually viewed as significant factors in preparing the ground for the prose poem.177 Hence, experimentations in these open forms and experimentation in the prose poem, in theory and practice, are often difficult to separate. In spite of disputes, most sources agree that experimentations in prose used similar devices and shared common features. They also maintain that in the period stretching between the call for experimentation at the turn of the century and the founding of Shi‘r, experimentation led to the emergence of a new mode of expression that is inherently related to the prose poem, widely known as poetry in prose. Before Shi‘r: poetry in prose English sources which studied experimentation in the Arabic prose poem before Shi‘r mentioned different experiments with non-metrical poetry and listed them under different names: ‘prose poetry’ (shi‘r nathr#), ‘poetry in prose’ (shi‘r manthßr),178 ‘a prose-poem’ (qa§#da nathriyya), and even as ‘a prose poem’ (qa§#dat nathr).179 The first term occurs in most books written in English about Western and Arabic prose poems. Arabic sources use the term al-shi‘r al-nathr# which might have been introduced as a direct translation of ‘prose poetry’ from English or French. However, the sources do not agree on two precise and authorized definitions for the two poetic terms of ‘prose poetry’ and ‘poetry in prose’. Comparing the different accounts indicates that the term ‘prose poetry’ often refers to all patterns of poetry that use the prose medium for poetic

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expression including the prose poem. Hence, it could be defined as a poetic configuration that includes all poetic genres, sub-genres and experiments that practised writing in non-metrical rhymeless poetic texts. Poetry in prose or al-shi‘r al-manthßr occurs in Arabic sources in reference to a poetic form that is considered to be an Arabic counterpart of English free verse or French vers libre.180 ‘Prose-poem’ is a term used by some critics as a singular form for ‘poetry in prose’. In order to differentiate such a text from a prose poem, a dash is always inserted.181 Experimentations in prose poetry increased and intensified in the first half of the twentieth century indicating that a new form was emerging. The texts that were produced were categorized under several names. However, the one that was to be widely authorized was al-shi‘r al-manthßr, poetry in prose. Poetry in prose is sometimes claimed as a poetic genre in its own right. Jayyusi’s book describes it as ‘a poetic genre’ that is without metre and often rhymeless. However, the form employs rhyme sometimes as a ‘decorative agent’, as Jayyusi observes, and it is written in short lines, which suggests a pause at the end of each line.182 Critics disagree about the origin of the term. Some state that it was first used in 1905 by Am#n al-Rai©\n#, whereas others state that it was first used by Jurj# Zayd\n in his article that was published in al-Hil\l (1905) about the experiment of al-Rai©\n#.183 However, they agree on crediting al-Rai©\n# as being the creator of al-shi‘r al-manthßr and on defining his models and techniques. For literary histographers and critics, the father of al-shi‘r al-manthßr is held as the first poet who introduced the idea of using a prose medium for poetic expression. Thus, he is considered as one of the two earliest founding fathers of the Arabic prose poem alongside Jibr\n. Most critics identify the groundwork of the Arabic prose poem as a cultural project and a literary practice as expressed in the views and texts of these two masters. However, it is widely held that al-Rai©\n#’s contribution did not affect other writers to the same extent as the writings of Jibr\n.184 Different sources on the Arabic prose poem written by different generations seem to be in agreement on their evaluation of al-Rai©\n#’s experiment, but although most critics and prose poets acknowledge his pioneering role in applying the prose medium to poetry, al-Rai©\n# is rarely quoted or referred to.185 On the other hand, Jibr\n is considered to have had a great effect on non-metrical poetic writings and on establishing poetry in prose as a genre. Handling his texts with his great poetic talents, Jibr\n became the sole master of the genre, and had a great impact on his own and later generations. His ideas, words, lyrical expression and unique rhythms left a lasting influence on the prose poem and formed a legacy which is considered crucial for the development of the prose poem.186 Jibr\n adopted biblical poetic techniques such as parallelism and reiteration and used the flexible rhythms of prose. His collection Dam‘a wa Ibtis\ma (A Tear and a Smile),187 is acclaimed by Moreh as a manifestation of great mastery of the techniques and rhythms of poetic prose. In these texts, he uses parallelism to unite the lines, which are independent units, and to enhance

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the rhythm. These are the very techniques that were to be applied and developed by the pioneers of the Arabic prose poem in their early poems in Shi‘r. Besides being the pioneering practitioners of the genre, al-Rai©\n# and Jibr\n laid the theoretical foundations of the movement. In their writings, they stated that the nature of poetry does not lie in metre, rhyme and memorizing classical verse. On the contrary, they argued that these practices restrict the poet’s freedom and innovation. In the Arab world, many poets were encouraged by the experiments of these two Mahjar# poets. The first was Muµr\n who included some texts in his first D#w\n 1908, including his ‘Rith\’ al-Y\zij#’ which is labelled by Moreh as a ‘prose-poem’.188 Another significant experiment is Mayy Ziy\da’s Kalim\t wa-Ish\r\t (1922) and ±ulum\t wa Ashi‘a (1923) which were written under the direct influence of Jibr\n.189 As early as 1922, works written in the new form were enough to constitute an anthology when ∂ab#b Sal\ma published the anthology of Al-shi‘r al-manthßr in which he collected poems by ten writers: Jibr\n, al-Rai©\n#, Mayy, Mu©ammad Luµf# Jum‘a, Tawf#q Mufrij, Rash#d Nakhla, Mu©ammad al-Sib\‘#, Mu©ammad K\mil ∂ajj\j, Mur\d Mikh\’#l and ∂ab#b Sal\m\ himself.190 The new genre seems to have drawn the attention of literary circles and appealed to some eminent figures during the first half of the twentieth century. Sources mention experimentations by other prestigious poets who tried their hands at poetry in prose such as Shawq# in his text ‘Al-Dhikr\’ (1932).191 The movement of al-shi‘r al-manthßr was welcomed by avant-garde groups and journals. It enjoyed the support of Abß Sh\d# and the Apollo group and journal and also the support of Alb#r Ad#b and his journal al-Ad#b. The names of these two journals occur frequently in the accounts about experimentation in poetry in prose which emphasize that they encouraged the new poets to write in the new form and published their works. The collections that were published during the late 1940s developed the techniques of the new form and they show better understanding of its potentials. The most significant example is represented by Siry\l (1947), a joint collection written by Orkh\n Muyassar and ‘Al# al-N\§ir. Muyassar’s name occurred in the young poets’ circles that gathered around Al-Ad#b and other small avant-garde journals where they experimented and published. ‘Al# al-N\§ir, who is more known for his free verse, is believed to have written his part under the influence of Muyassar.192 Muyassar’s introduction to the collection elaborates on a wide range of social and literary issues. The work was favoured by avant-garde writers and seems to have been little known in other literary circles. The introduction, which resembles a cultural manifesto, enjoyed popularity among the avant-gardes, and was viewed as an organic part of the collection. Jayyusi dedicates most of her study of Siry\l to a reading of it. Jayussi, who was a young poetess at the time, considers the book as ‘the most avant-garde experiment in modern Arabic poetry before the free verse movement’ and found it very difficult to evaluate its influence on modern Arabic poetry.193 Other young poets at the time, including

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those who were to be the masters of the prose poem in the next stage seem to have been greatly influenced by this important experiment. Being long overlooked by the mainstream, Muyassar was rediscovered after decades and given a more enthusiastic tribute by literary authorities. His work was republished in Damascus by the Union of Arab Writers in 1979 and his introduction was republished in one of the main sources on Arabic poetic theory.194 Adßn#s, who wrote the introduction of the new edition of the collection, acclaims the work as ‘one of the avant-garde introductions of the revolution in the Arabic poetic practice’,195 identifying in Muyassar’s work what he believed to be the seminal principles of the movement of Arabic modern poetry.196 Like Jayyusi, he believes that Muyassar had a great influence on the next generation of poets. However, they both concentrated on studying him apart from the works of other younger poets who might have come under his influence. Jayyusi only mentions the names of Adßn#s and Thurayy\ Mal©as as being influenced by Muyassar, and Adßn#s does not mention any name. Hence, they neither explored the connection between Muyassar’s views and the theoretical approaches of modern Arabic criticism, nor did they analyse the impact of Muyassar’s poetry on modern Arabic poetics and on the prose poem. In his introduction to Siry\l, Muyassar manifested a profound knowledge of Western poetry, and of French symbolism and Surrealism in particular. Adßn#s keenly commends the innovative formal techniques introduced in the collection and linked the ‘moral’ rebellion and ‘artistic’ rebellion in Muyassar’s ‘literary project’. However, the extensive references in Muyassar’s introduction to Western models indicate that the form might have been discovered and developed by Muyassar during his extensive readings of the French Symbolists and Surrealists who mainly wrote free verse and prose poems. In the introduction, the poet classified his collection as having the characteristics of ‘Para-surrealist poetry’, among which he mentioned ‘destroying conventional restraints and delving into new worlds’. These are the same principles that guided the experiments of the Shi‘r pioneers and recurred in their statements. In fact, al-∂\jj’s introduction demonstrates the great influence of Muyassar’s ideas, vision and even terminology.197 Furthermore, whereas Muyassar’s influence on Adßn#s seems to have taken indirect channels, al-∂\jj’s early prose poems put Muyassar’s ideas and poetics into direct view. The techniques and devices of Surrealist poetry and automatic writing form one of the main patterns of al-∂\jj’s poetry. As for Adßn#s, he had more preference for the models and techniques of the Sufi texts, which he believed to be the earlier Arabic equivalent of Surrealist writing.198 In the 1950s, poetry that used prose as a medium started to go beyond the ground that was laid by the poets of al-shi‘r al-manthßr. This move signalled the emergence of a new pattern of poetry which developed new modes of expression. The main turning points in this process were made through the experiments of several poets: Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ, Tawf#q ™\yigh and Jabr\ Ibrah#m Jabr\. Al-M\ghßµ and Jabr\ published their poems in different journals during the

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early 1950s199 and ™\yigh’s collection of poems entitled Thal\thßn qa§#da was published in 1954. A new concept of poetry and poetics prevailed during this transitional period as poetry started to move away from the dominant Jibr\nian tradition of prose poetry marked by lyrical language, melodious rhythm and romantic imagery. In their studies of poetry in prose and the prose poem, Arab critics view these poetic experiments in prose medium, during this period, as a link between the two stages. This intermediary phase came to an end with the publication of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’ in the journal Shi‘r, in January 1958. Shi‘r and the pioneers: the prose poem as a genre

Arab critics studied the pre-Shi‘r period as a period of experimentation and investigation of the prose medium. On the other hand, the period of Shi‘r was perceived as an advancement from experimentation in poetry in prose to writing the prose poem as a self-conscious poetic form.200 The journal Shi‘r began publication in January 1957, introducing itself as ‘a magazine for Arabic poetry’.201 Some critics argue that the founding of the journal Shi‘r was motivated by the need for an avant-garde literary magazine to contribute to sustaining and energizing the modern avant-garde movement in Arabic poetry.202 Shi‘r is considered now as the only journal that dedicated itself to the support of the prose poem, and worked towards providing it with a literary theory. Hence, it is essential to examine the role of this avant-garde magazine. In its own right, the journal Shi‘r is the most authoritative record for the emergence of the prose poem as a genre and the early foundation of establishing the definitions and theoretical approaches for it. Due to the confusion in defining the genre and establishing the strategies and approaches to reading it, most critics found it difficult for decades to classify some of the early experimentations of the prose poem, and of al-M\ghßµ’s poetry in particular. Though his poetry conformed to all the standards of the prose poem, al-M\ghßµ’s prose poems were printed in short lines. This caused confusion in defining his writing, which was classified as prose poetry, poetry in prose or free verse. Accordingly, several authorities in Arabic literary history and theory excluded him from their studies of the Arabic prose poem. After decades, al-M\ghßµ’s poetry was reread in the light of the new understanding of the poetics of the prose poem and the poet was reclaimed as a pioneer of the genre or ‘the pioneer’.203 It is now widely held that ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’ was the first Arabic prose poem that brought the genre into the open. Al-M\ghßµ’s first volume of prose poems, which carried the same title ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar, appeared in 1959. This new era was admitted to the register of Arabic literary history with the publication of Adßn#s’ article ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’204 which officially announced the birth of the genre and made it a focus for the project of Shi‘r.

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In their evaluation of the different phases that the Arabic prose poem had to undergo, as experimentation and as practice, the critics of Shi‘r acknowledged the significant impact of all these stages on the pioneers and on the prose poem in general. Examining the historical progress of the prose poem, Adßn#s stated: The ‘modern’ in poetry from the beginning of this century up to the publication of the periodical Shi‘r (Poetry; founded in 1956) was just a maturing and enlarging of perspective, which resulted in the discovery of hitherto unknown dimensions of modernism that led to a re-examination of the definition of poetry itself. The theoretical treatment of this question represented the peak of Shi‘r’s achievements, in addition to the publication of a body of poetry which set new standards for the way poets approached their subject, and for understanding and evaluation of poetry. What is advocated in poetry today is merely a continuation of the path established by Shi‘r.205

N OTES

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Monroe, p. 17. Michel Delville, The American Prose Poem: Poetic Form and the Boundaries of Genre, preface. Margueritte S. Murphy, A Tradition of Subversion: The Prose Poem from Wilde to Ashbery, p. 1. T. S. Eliot, quoted by Murphy, p. 52. See Suzanne Bernard, Qa§#dat al-Nathr, vol. 1, Arabic translation by R\wiya ™\diq, p. 33. See Bernard, vol. 1, p. 33. See Mounah Abdulla Khouri, Studies in Contemporary Arabic Poetry and Criticism, p. 101. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Literature, p. 226. Kamal Abu Deeb, F# al-Shi‘riyya, p. 116. Sharbal D\ghir, Al-Shi‘riyya al-‘Arabiyya al-∂ad#tha, p. 64. For more details, see Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, Shi‘r, no. 14, 1960, and Uns# al-∂\jj’s Lan, Introduction. See Adßn#s ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 81. See al-∂\jj, Lan, Introduction. Most references use Baudelaire’s quotation. For the extended version of the quotation in both French and English see Hermine Riffaterre ‘Reading Constants’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), The Prose Poem in France, Theory and Practice, p. 98. Henry Tompkins Kirby-Smith, The Origins of the Free Verse, p. 260. See Bernard, p. 39n. Quoted by Simon from J. W. H. Atkin’s ‘Literary Criticism in Antiquity’. For more details see Simon, pp. 10–14. See Adßn#s, Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, Diras\t f# al-Shi‘riya al-‘Arabiyya al-Mu‘\§ira, pp. 10–12. See al-Yßsuf#, p. 23. See Adßn#s, Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, ch. 1, and al-Yßsuf#, pp. 8, 9, 23. See D\ghir, Conclusion. See al-Yßsuf#, p. 8.

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23 Simon, p. 19. The term prose poetry includes all poetic experimentations and practices that use the prose medium. Thus, it includes the prose poem but is not restricted to it. 24 Translated and quoted by Kirby-Smith, p. 261. 25 For more details see the interview with Adßn#s in Al-£d\b, Sept.–Oct. 2000, in which he discussed the influence of the Torah on the Arabic prose poem. In addition see the textual analysis of Adßn#s and al-∂\jj’s texts. However, the biblical influence on the prose poem is a widespread concept that is held by its opponents as well. For more details see ‘Izz al-D#n al-Mun\§ira, Qa§#dat al-Nathr, al-Marji‘iyya wa al-Shi‘\r\t, p. 8. 26 Nash#d al-Ansh\d, tr. Unsi al-∂\jj, Introduction. 27 See Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry, vol. 2, p. 631, and Khouri, p. 101. 28 Shi‘r, spring 1959, no. 10, pp. 7–16. 29 See al-Yßsuf#, p. 25. 30 See al-Mun\§ira, p. 7. 31 Kirby-Smith, p. 255. 32 Ibid., p. 260. 33 Ibid., pp. 140–6. 34 Quoted by Bazzßn; for more details see see A©mad Bazzßn, Qa§#dat al-Nathr al-‘Arabiyya: Al-Iµ\r al-Na$ar#, p. 83. 35 See Adßn#s, Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, pp. 75–6. 36 See al-Yßsuf#, p. 25. See al-Mun\§ira, p. 7. 37 These two terms are used by most of the Western critics that are referred to in this chapter in their writings about Western literature, for example see Kirby-Smith, p. 260. As for Arabic literature, they were used by Geert Jan van Gelder in ‘Rhyme in Maq\m\t’, The Journal of Semitic Studies, spring 1999, vol. 44, and Moreh, pp. 290–2. 38 See Bernard, vol. 1, p. 43, and Murphy, pp. 65–6. 39 Bernard, p. 46, and Kirby-Smith, p. 260. 40 Kirby-Smith, p. 260. 41 For some time after its publication, Ossian was believed to be an original book of Celtic legends. However, it was proved later that Macpherson is the real writer of the book. 42 See Simon, p. 679n. 43 Bernard, pp. 47–51. 44 See Simon, p. 622. 45 See Murphy, pp. 10, 66. 46 See Stephen Fredman, Poet’s Prose: The Crisis in American Verse, Introduction. 47 See Fredman, pp. 36, 126, 170. 48 See al-Yßsuf#, p. 7. 49 See al-Yßsuf#, p. 23. 50 Moreh, p. 290. Al-bad#‘ is a term that emerged as name for the innovations of the ‘Abbasid poets in literary figure and later for tropes in general. It started out as a technical term denoting a certain phenomenon in poetry and gradually evolved into a collective noun meaning rhetorical figures. For more details about al-bad#‘ see Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. I, and Encyclopaedia of Arabic Literature, vol. I, both under the entry of badi‘. 51 For more details about different variations of rhyme in maqama see Van Gelder ‘Rhyme in Maq\m\t’. 52 Moreh, p. 290. 53 See ibid., p. 292. 54 Bernard, vol. 1, pp. 46–51. 55 Eddas is a collection of old Scandinavian folk ballads. Ossian is the long text written by James Macpherson, and Night Thoughts is a collection by the English poet Edward Young (1638–1765). For more details see ibid., vol. 1, pp. 46–51.

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56 Bernard did not give any further detail about the content of these translated books and their writers. 57 See ibid., p. 61. 58 See Simon, pp. 27–8. 59 Bernard, p. 46. 60 ‘Abb\s Bay@ßn, quoted by al-Yßsuf#, p. 25. 61 See Bazzßn, p. 78. 62 See Bernard, vol. 2, pp. 71–6. 63 Small journals played a similar role in the emergence of other modern literary genres. In her pioneering study about Egyptian literary journalism, Elisabeth Kendall explored the instrumental role of small journals in the development of the short story genre. For more details see Literature, Journalism and the Avant-Garde in Egypt: From al-Hil\l to Gallery 68, DPhil thesis, Oxford University. 64 See Bernard, vol. 2, pp. 71–2. 65 Monroe considered the period in which the genre was practised and established by the French early master practitioners as the ‘Heroic Age’, of the Western prose poem. For more details see Monroe, Part II ‘The Prose Poem in its Heroic Age’. 66 See Breunig, ‘Why France?’ in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), pp. 3–12. 67 Max Jacob is quoted by Marvin Richards, Without Rhyme or Reason, Gaspard de la nuit and the Dialectic of the Prose Poem, p. 122. 68 See Richards, p. 13. 69 See Bernard, vol.1, pp. 151, 185. 70 The collection is also known with another title, Le Spleen de Paris. 71 See Monroe, p. 39. 72 Breunig, ‘Why France?’, p. 3. 73 See Michel Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies: Two Contextual Approaches to the French Prose Poem’ in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), pp. 44–5. 74 For more details see Bernard, ch. 1. 75 More details about this subject will follow in the next chapter on theory. 76 See Bernard, vol. 1, pp. 331–2, 400n. 77 See Carole Anne Taylor, A Poetics of Seeing: The Implications of Visual Forms in Modern Poetry, p. 50. 78 Albert Sonnenfeld, ‘L’adieu Spreme and Ultimate Composure: The Boundaries of the Prose Poem’, in A. M. Caws and H. Riffaterre, p. 198. 79 See Terdiman, pp. 310–11. 80 See Breunig, ‘Why France?’, pp. 7–13. 81 See Bernard, vol. 1, pp. 221, 295n, 260n. 82 For more details see Bernard, vol. 1, ch. 2, and Terdiman, p. 334. 83 For more details about ‘vision’ and ‘the universal language’ in the Arabic prose poem see Adßn#s, ‘Mu©\w\la f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, Shi‘r, 11, 1959, pp. 79–90, and Adßn#s ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ Shi‘r, 14, 1960, pp. 75–83. 84 For more details about the Decadents see Bernard, vol. 2, pp. 86–8. 85 For more details about the first generation of Symbolists see ibid., vol. 2, pp. 91–2. 86 For more details about the second generation of Symbolists see ibid., vol. 2, pp. 223–4. 87 For more details about the common history of the Prose Poem, the Symbolists and the Decadents see Bernard, vol. 2, ch. 2 and ch. 4. 88 See ibid., pp. 607–8. 89 For more details about twentieth-century French prose poets see Breunig, ‘Why France?’, p. 12. 90 For more details about the international community of Shi‘r see Part 2 of this book, and about the influence of Saint-John Perse see the Introduction to chapter 12, on Adßn#s. See also the index of poems in early volumes of Shi‘r.

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Murphy, p. 14. See Kirby-Smith, pp. 256, 264. For more details see Murphy, pp. 15–30, and Delville, p. 4. See Simon, p. 623. Ibid., p. 626. Ibid., p. 624. Delville, p. 5. Murphy stated the reference in her footnotes as ‘The Fortnightly Review, ns 331 (1 July 1894): 22–29’ For more details see Murphy, p. 240. For more details see ibid, pp. 43–8, 86, 89. See ibid., pp. 34–43. See Kirby-Smith, pp. 264–5, and Murphy, p. 37. Based on biblical parables. See Murphy, pp. 40–2. The two lines are from his prose poem ‘The Doer of Good’ quoted by Murphy, p. 37. For more about these battles and the involvement of journals see ibid., pp. 46–7. See ibid., ch. 2. See ibid., pp. 30–3. For more details see ibid., pp. 51–60. See Delville, pp. 115–16. See Fredman, p. 124. Kirby-Smith, p. 202. See Murphy, pp. 59–60. Kirby-Smith, pp. 264, 267. See Murphy, p. 60. See Kirby-Smith, p. 269. Monroe, p. 11. Delville, p. 15. Delville, p. 49. See ibid., p. 48. Roy Miki, The Pre-Poetics of W. C. Williams, p. 181. See Delville, pp. 7–8. See ibid., ch. 1. See Kirby-Smith, pp. 267–8. For more details about the topic see Introduction to Murphy. Delville contests these views in his study of Kenneth Patchen’s prose poems, including his collection The Famous Boating Party and Other Poems in Prose which was published in 1954. For more details about these poets and their prose poems see Delville, parts II and III, Fredman, ch. 2, 3 and 4, and Murphy, ch. 5. See Fredman, pp. 8–9, 152–3. See Murphy, p. 6. See ibid., pp. 42–3. For more about the contexts and practices of American poetry see Joseph Harrington ‘Why American Poetry is not American Literature’, The Journal of American literary History, autumn 1996, vol. 88, no. 3, and Matt Theado ‘Beat Generation Literary Criticism’, Contemporary Literature, vol. 45, no. 4. The most comprehensive account of Benedikt’s definition is provided by Delville, p. 129. Adßn#s ‘Fi Qa§#dat al-Nathr’. See al-∂\jj, Introduction of Lan. See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 632. See ibid., vol. 1, pp. 54–64.

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135 See ibid, pp. 64–7. 136 See al-®iy\’, in particular 15 Sept., 15 Oct., 1899, and 31 Dec., 31 Mar. 1900. 137 More details about this subject will be discussed in the following section ‘The Context and the Practice’, under ‘Poetry and Studies’. 138 Jayyusi described him as Muµr\n’s teacher, and Moreh as Muµr\n’s master. See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 1, p. 54 and Moreh, p. 62. 139 See Adßn#s, Introduction to Arab Poetics, p. 79. 140 See ibid., p. 81. 141 About the French prose poets see LeRoy C. Breunig, ‘Why France?’, and about English prose poets see Kirby-Smith, ch. 10. 142 See in particular his article ‘Al-Tajd#d f# al-Shi‘r’, Modernization in Poetry, al-Hil\l, Nov. 1933, no. 42. It is quoted by Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 1, pp. 61–2. 143 See Mu©ammad Bann#s, Al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# al-∂ad#th, Modern Arabic poetry, vol. 2, pp. 104–7. 144 For the argument of al-Bust\n#, al-‘Aqq\d and al-Zah\wi on the subject see Moreh, pp. 126–9. 145 ∂asan ™\li© al-Jadd\w#, quoted by Moreh, p. 132. 146 For more details see the argument of al-Bust\n# in Moreh, pp. 126–9, and that of Abß Sh\d# in Moreh, pp. 141–2, 163–4, and for more details about B\kath#r see pp. 143–4 in the same reference. 147 As for Arabic poetry, the form was used in the versification of Kal#la wa Dimna, urjßza and some lengthy popular epics. 148 Jayyusi considered this Syrian poet as the pioneer of the Arabic blank verse. For more details see Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 536. 149 Sulaym\n. al-Bust\n# Ily\dhat Hßm#rßs Mu‘arraba Na$man, Homer’s Iliad was translated by al-Bustani into Arabic in verse and printed in Cairo by D\r al-Hil\l in 1904. For more details see ibid., vol. 1, p. 66. 150 His poem is entitled ‘D#w\n J\m#l ™idq# al-Zah\w# Min al-Shi‘r al-Mursal’ and dated ‘Al-Mu’ayyad 1905’. See D#w\n J\m#l ™idq# al-Zah\w#. 151 See Adßn#s, Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, pp. 139–40, and Moreh, pp. 127–33. 152 See Badawi, p. 50. 153 See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 1, pp. 382, 384. 154 For more details about Abß Sh\d#’s views see Moreh, pp. 162–3. 155 See ibid., p. 146. 156 ‘Al# Mu©ammad B\kath#r, Ikhn\tßn and Nifirt#t#, p. 537. 157 For more details about the battle between the traditionalists and the modernists see Moreh, pp. 142, 149–51. 158 See ibid., p. 155. 159 See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, pp. 536–7, and Moreh, p. 155. 160 See Moreh, p. 6, and see also his glossary of terms. 161 See ‘Abdulla al-‘Udhar#, Modern Poetry of Arab world, Introduction, and see Khouri, p. 110. 162 See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 630n. 163 About the two stages see Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, pp. 534–60. 164 See ibid., vol. 2, p. 542. 165 For more details about Muµr\n’s innovative poetry and also about examples of these poems see Mu©ammad ‘Aµ\, Khal#l Muµr\n, pp. 48–51. 166 See al-‘Udhar#, pp. 17–18. 167 For more details about the experimentations of the Mahjar# poets and for examples of their poetry see Mu©ammad ∂ammßd, Al-∂ad\tha f# al-Sh‘ir al-‘Arab# al-Mu‘\§ir, pp. 36–8. 168 See Jayyusi, vol. 2, pp. 370–84, and Moreh, p. 168. 169 For more details about Fayy\d see Moreh, p. 183, About B\kath#r see his play Ikhn\tßn wa Nifirt#t#, and his poem entitled ‘Namßdhaj min al-Shi‘r al-Mursal al-∂urr’, according to

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170 171 172

173 174 175 176 177 178

179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192

193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202

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which al-Sayy\b, Badawi and Jayyusi acclaimed B\kath#r as a pioneer of the ‘Arabic free verse’. For more details see Badawi, p. 226 and Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 559. See ‘Awa@, Blutuland wa Qa§\’id Ukhr\. See Mu©ammad ‘Abdul-Hai, Tradition and English and American Influence in Arabic Romantic Poetry, p. 237. The terms ‘pioneer’ and ‘pioneers’ are given in both Western and Arabic literary studies to the early practitioners of all genres and trends. Hence, it is going to be used in this book in reference of the pioneers of different genres and trends. However, when it is used alone it will refer to Shi‘r’s pioneers of the prose poem. For more details see the complete texts of the two introductions, included in Mu©ammad K\mil al-Khaµ#b, Na$ariyyat al-Shi‘r, vol. 5, part 2. See S. Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, in vol. 2, p. 567. See Badawi, p. 223. See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 623. For more details see the tables of contents of the Western references in this chapter. In particular see Breunig, ‘Why France?’, and Kirby-Smith, ch. 10. The two terms are used in reference to texts of Muµran, Muyassar, and Alb#r Ad#b, and Sal\ma’s anthology. For examples see Moreh, glossary of terms, and Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, subject index. Used in reference to Am#n al-Ra#©\ni’s poetry see Khouri, p. 104. See Moreh, the glossary of terms. The term is used by Moreh in reference to several poems. For examples see his account of one of the poems written by Muµr\n; ibid., p. 62. See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 631. See ibid., vol. 2, p. 631 and Moreh, p. 159. See ‘Adn\n ∂aydar, ‘M\ al-∂ad#th f# al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, Al-N\qid, Sept. 1990. See Khouri, p. 104, Adnan Haydar ‘M\ al-∂ad#th f# al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’ and Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 631. Kh\lida Sa‘#d, ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, p. 39. See Moreh, pp. 293–4, and see Jibr\n Khal#l Jibr\n, Dam‘a wa Ibtis\ma. See Moreh, p. 62. See ibid., p. 300. See ibid., p. 298. A©mad Shawq#, Asw\q al-Dhahab, p. 36. Moreh studied al-N\§ir’s pioneering metric experiments and has no mention of him in his chapter about the prose poetry. Jayyusi stated that he was basically a free verse poet and that he carried his experiment in the new form under the influence of Muyassar. For more details see Moreh, pp. 185, 191, and Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, pp. 513–14. See Jayyßs#, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, pp. 514–16. For more detail see ‘Muqaddimat Siry\l’, Introduction of Siry\l, reprinted and included in al-Khaµ#b, Na$ariyyat al-Shi‘r 5, vol. 5, part 2, pp. 705–13. Adßn#s, Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, pp. 122–3. See ibid., pp. 122–3. For example, compare the arguments about the individual experience, the dream technique and the poetic ‘new worlds’ in both introductions. See also the chapter about al-∂\jj. For more details see Adßn#s, Al-™ßfiyya wa al-Sury\liyya. See D\gh#r, p. 60, and Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2. pp. 634–5. See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 631. See the way Shi‘r introduced itself on the front page of each volume. See Mu©ammad Jam\l B\rßt, Al-∂ad\tha al-%l\, ch. 1, and Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, pp. 601–4.

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203 More details and references will follow in the chapter about al-M\ghßµ. 204 Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 75. 205 See Adßn#s, Introduction to Arab Poetics, p. 98.

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T HE P ROSE P OEM IN M ODERN L ITERARY T HEORY : C OMPARATIVE A PPROACHES

Introduction Most of the studies about the prose poem that were published during the years of Shi‘r relied on the approaches developed by the critics and poets of Shi‘r. These early approaches were developed by drawing extensively on the book of Suzanne Bernard and incorporating traits from Arabic theoretical approaches to studying poetry. Similarly, Bernard’s book was at that time the master reference that dominated most Western theoretical approaches to studying the genre. However, the outburst of the genre in Europe and America during the 1970s has rekindled interest among Western critics in the past decades. This gave rise to new approaches and methods that have transformed the poetic studies of the genre. At present, the Arabic prose poem has stimulated similar interest among readers and critics. However, Arabic theoretical studies of the genre did not progress significantly after Shi‘r. The attempts to formulate new approaches to studying the genre in the light of the new theories remain limited, and most still depend completely on the basic approaches that were developed during the stage of Shi‘r. This chapter draws on the main modern approaches and methods of studying the prose poem as text and as practice, with special focus on the most recent studies. It will explore a wide range of theoretical writings with different perspectives for studying the genre and which contain some of the main references of this book. This list consists of books that are written in English and others that are translated into English. They also include a selection of landmark writings in Arabic about the genre during the stage of Shi‘r and afterwards. However, the aim of this chapter is not only to provide a survey of these modern theoretical approaches. The primary aim is to establish the theoretical bases for this whole book and to give an account of the principal sources of my approach. This chapter also sets out the possibilities and the challenges of applying these methods to studying the Arabic prose poem. Hence, it seeks to introduce into Arabic some new approaches and models for the study of the prose poem in the light of the most recent theories. In this chapter, as well as in the following chapters, these Western approaches will be combined with a range of approaches that have been developed in Arabic studies of the genre, to establish a theoretical basis that may contribute to the ongoing process of formulating new theories for the Arabic prose poem. The chapter classifies these theoretical studies of the genre into two categories: singular approaches and comprehensive strategies. The first examines

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the principal features of the prose poem one by one and the second combines several approaches and draws upon a wide range of theories.

Singular Approaches In their endeavour to define the prose poem as an independent genre, critics focused on searching for certain characteristics that exist as its principal constituents. As their studies show, critics seem to agree on certain ‘traditional qualities recognized in the prose poem itself at its best’.1 Hence, these are called ‘the universals’, ‘the norms’, ‘the constants’ or ‘the features’ of the prose poem. These ‘features’ are described as essential to the existence of the prose poem as metre is essential to verse.2 As the definitions of these features indicate, they include textual, thematic, formal and semantic features. By being ‘constant’, ‘repeated’ and ‘recognizable’ these features ‘play a constitutive role in the generation of a prose poem’ and define the prose poem as a ‘formal unit’. Unlike verse, where the form is realized ‘through meter, that is by an established conventional system, existing before and outside the poem itself’, the features of the prose poem are generated by ‘the text’s own internal organization’.3 The application of singular approaches to studying the genre, by concentrating on one or more of these features, is popular in articles that are dedicated to particular features of the prose poem. It is also found in books dedicated to studying other relevant topics which include sections about the genre. On the other hand, books dedicated to studying the genre (we will examine these in the second part of this chapter) also include significant references to these features. It is noteworthy that it is still difficult to reach a consensus about the main features of the prose poem. This difficulty in defining the principal features of the genre derives from the ongoing challenge of defining the genre itself. Suffice to say that none of the theoretical writings claims to have all these features grouped together, nor attempt to accomplish this task. Some of the best definitions of the features are found in The Prose Poem in France: Theory and Practice. This book is a collection of articles written by several authorities on the prose poem and edited by Mary Ann Caws and Hermine Riffaterre. It draws on the work of Bernard and develops her approaches in the light of subsequent achievements in literary theory. The book is widely quoted as one of the first landmarks, after Bernard’s book, in this field of literary criticism. The Features of the Prose Poem

This section attempts to build a definition for each feature as it is described in these articles and books. It will refer to the description of these features in the works of Arab writers. Most of those features can be listed under eight master headings: Flexible form and structure; Brevity; Opposites and dualities; Ontology; Iteration and Repetition; Intertextuality; Disfiguring poetic language and Mimesis.

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Flexible form and structure The non-rigidity of the form and structure is widely identified, by both Western and Arab critics from different generations, as the most inherent feature of the prose poem. The genre is usually defined in comparison to other poetic practices that are organically confined, to different degrees, by metre and rhyme. Critics associated rigid form with rigid thematics4 and consequently the prose poem was defined as being liberal, free and democratic.5 In their analysis of the form and structure of the genre some Western critics have described the prose poem as an application of ‘random forms’. However, others attempted to identify some of the structural characteristics of the genre. The methods that were applied by these gave rise to three approaches to the definition of the structural attributes of the prose poem. The first focuses on studying the developing structure, the second examines the structural-typographical appearance, and the third seeks to define the structural unit. The developing structure

Invoking Bernard’s definitions of the prose poem as ‘an organized whole’, and ‘a closed text’, Riffaterre states that the prose poem should have a well-marked beginning and a closure. He argues that in prose poems, which are marked by diverse images and ideas, the closure represents a culmination of the developing structure. The closure charges the concluding images with ‘a complexity of meaning that links the strands out of which the text is woven’.6 The closure can refer directly to the beginning, repeat it, or reverse it. The more modern studies of the genre studied these structural features in some prose poems but did not acknowledge them as permanent features of the genre. In her study of a prose poem of Rimbaud, Perloff notices that ‘the syntactically ordered series of sentences ends with the strongly closural statement’.7 Murphy observes that the closure works in some prose poems as ‘an organizing principle for the text’ which enhances its unity. In her study of Dawson’s prose poems, she states that the closure repeats the beginning and functions like a refrain.8 Similarly, Delville observes that, in some prose poems, ‘the structural autonomy of the prose poem format’ suggests ‘a certain sense of closure’ at the ending.9 As for Arab theorists, Adßn#s repeatedly describes the structure of the prose poem as ‘circular or semi-circular’.10 He considers this feature as an enhancement of the unity and intensity. Abu Deeb examines the last sentence as a culmination of the structural development which connects, formally and thematically, the different parts of the text.11 The structural–typographical appearance

Searching for a definition of the structural format of the genre, critics were motivated to look into the typographical appearance. Some critics emphasize that the genre tries to differentiate itself from verse by assuming a ‘block-like

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appearance, fuller on the page than a verse poem’.12 This shape was emphasized by some critics as a permanent feature and was totally rejected by others who observed that a prose poem could consist of ‘short lines justified to the left hand margin and beginning with capital letter’.13 A third group of critics gave more general definitions maintaining that the prose poem is identified by ‘its shape on the page which reflects the poetic brevity and density (vertically) combined with the horizontal lines of the narrative – despite their being broken up, they suggest the single line which could keep on going through a lengthy narrative – and is kept limited this way’.14 All these three definitions of the printing shape were used by Arab critics in their studies of the prose poem with two differences: in Arabic the margin is right-handed and the capital letter is absent. The earliest remark about the structural format was made by Adßn#s, who recognized that some Arabic prose poems are written in short lines, implying that both structural formats, the block-like shape and the short lines, are common in the Arabic prose poem.15 Defining the permanent features of the prose poem, Jayyusi states that ‘one of its first structural conditions is to be continuous, with no definite ends to every line (unlike al-shi‘r al-manthßr) but written on the page like prose’. Later on, Jayyusi changes her judgement entirely when she acclaimed al-M\ghßµ, whose prose poems are all printed in short lines, as a pioneer of the prose poem.16 The structural unit

Compensating for the impossibility of defining the printing-shape of the prose poem, critics who attempted to define the structural unit were more able to reach a consensus. Different generations of both Western and Arab critics agree on considering the sentence as a unit. This definition is usually devised in comparison with versified poetry in which the unit is the verset.17 In their definitions of the structural unit, critics maintained that the printing form of the sentences has unlimited scope of shapes and forms and that sentences could exist in ‘semi-isolation’ on the page.18 Brevity John Simon makes an early attempt to set the boundaries of the prose poem and to define the standards by which critics could measure the texts they are studying. Hence, he asserts that the length of a typical prose poem should be ‘that of the average lyrical poem’ because beyond a certain length the prose poem ‘loses its impact and tension’. Michel Beaujour endorses Simon’s criteria and considered ‘brevity’ as the most critically approved poetic norm. Therefore, he views this feature as fundamental to the prose poem poetics and implemented it as a major theoretical approach for his study of some prose poems.19 Critics defined several other features of the prose poem, such as ‘compactness’, ‘selfcontainment’, ‘autonomy’, ‘intensity’ and ‘radiance’. These features were recognized earlier by Bernard, who considered them to be dependent on, and

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realized by, the shortness of the text.20 Brevity is considered as one of the main boundaries that differentiates the prose poem from other genres and especially ‘poetic prose’.21 Some theorists consider this feature as the main criterion for evaluating the prose poem. Reviewing some texts in volume 1 of The Prose Poem: An International Journal, Kirby-Smith remarks that ‘the shorter’ they are ‘the better’.22 However, Mary Ann Caws does not view this feature as a constraint. Rather, she views it as an enhancement of the open space created by the prose poem which, in spite of being limited in length, ‘is unlimited in application, in form and in substance’.23 This rule was repeatedly challenged by several eminent Western prose poets. The first recognized experiment that broke the rule of brevity may be John Ashbery’s, which includes some of the longest poems in the history of the genre.24 His collection Three Poems (1972) was described by critics as ‘difficult’, due to its sophisticated grammar and its long meditative sentences which Ashbery himself described as ‘the overflowing of language’.25 As for the Arabic prose poem, Adßn#s, al-∂\jj and Kh\lida Sa‘#d stress in their theoretical writings ‘brevity’ (#j\z) as an essential feature.26 Sa‘#d finds ‘brevity’ to be realized in the prose poem by ‘bringing words together and omitting additions and explanations’. Adßn#s and al-∂\jj follow Bernard in considering ‘brevity’ as the generator and the carrier of other essential features of the prose poem such as ‘organic unity’, ‘radiant structure’, ‘intensity’, and ‘poetic effect’. However, a limited challenge of the rule took place as early as the first published poems of the pioneers. Whereas al-∂\jj observes this rule, the early poems of Adßn#s and al-M\ghßµ show that they did not.27 In fact, due to al-∂\jj’s commitment to established Western rules of the genre, his poems were often compared to translated poetry.28 Since, in Arabic, #j\z also means ‘conciseness and succinctness’,29 the other two pioneers seem to understand #j\z in this sense. Following their understanding of this feature and their own models, Adßn#s and al-M\ghßµ concentrate on avoiding digression and carefully observed the requirements for intensity, compactness and self-containment in their longer poems. ™al\© Fa@l uses the term ‘iqti§\d’ (economy)30 in reference to this feature of the prose poem and associates it with concentration and intensity. The prose poem, he argues, realizes its own economy through omitting some grammatical components such as prepositions and conjunctions. Fa@l considers this feature as one of the main poetic manifestations of the genre that distinguishes it from ordinary prose. Opposites and dualities Several critics recognize this feature as a typical textual and thematic constituent of the prose poem, implied in its name and dual nature in the first place. Most of those who studied it referred to the earlier definition given by Bernard: ‘the prose poem, not only in form but in essence, is based on the union of opposites: prose and poetry, freedom and rigour, destructive anarchy and constructive art’.31 As the representative par excellence of the historical opposition between

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‘poetry’ and ‘prose’, the prose poem turns its form into a carrier of political conflicting discourses, and proves itself to be ‘the reaffirmation of the marginalized and oppositional cultures’.32 Opposites and contradictions that are generated by thematic and formal techniques coexist in the prose poem in a dialectic way. Beside the simple and straightforward patterns of opposites that are represented by the coexistence of two contraries such as ‘black’ and ‘white’, the prose poem generates more complicated versions. In the latter, the structure of the prose poem ‘unites’ the two opposites ‘without erasing difference among them’.33 A clear application of this principle is analysed extensively by Tzvetan Todorov in his article ‘Poetry without Verse’, where he concentrates on the dual nature of the ‘union of oppositions’ and calls it ‘duality’. Applying his theory to Baudelaire’s Petits Poèmes en Prose, he believes that Baudelaire had been attracted to the genre as it ‘enabled him to find an appropriate form . . . for the thematics of duality, contrast and opposition’.34 Opposites, as viewed by Todorov in his textual analysis of Baudelaire’s prose poems, are represented in the prose poems in three different modes: 1 Incongruity: a describing of a certain fact that is ‘so out of keeping with ordinary habits that one cannot help contrasting it with normal facts or events’. It is represented in the poems by certain motifs such as ‘Generous devil’. 2 Ambivalence: in this type, two opposing terms are used to characterize a single object – for example ‘an ugly but attractive woman’, ‘a man in love with desire to kill’ – and certain times or places which suggest an intersection or combination of two opposites: ‘twilight’, ‘port’. 3 Antitheses: this is the most prevalent type, and it is represented by ‘the juxtaposition of two beings, facts, actions or reactions with opposing characteristics’; for example, ‘man and beast’, ‘man and nature’, ‘rich and poor’, ‘life and death’. This duality is manifested in the titles of some wellknown poems; for example, ‘La Chambre Double’, ‘La Femme Sauvage et la Petite Maîtresse’, ‘Le Miroir’. A more modern concise definition of this duality is given by Perloff, who identified it in ‘the contradictory connotations or word groups that make it all but impossible to specify what it is that is being described’.35 Adßn#s identifies the ‘contradictive sentence’ as one of the practices of the prose poem;36 Kh\lida Sa‘#d identifies the duality of two contradictive concepts as a thematic feature in the prose poem;37 Abu Deeb defines ‘the gap’ that is created between contradictions and dualities as the generator of poetic tension in the prose poem;38 and ™al\© Fa@l describes contradiction as a focal part of the poetic fabric in the prose poem, displayed in the parallelism of two different concepts, words or phrases.39

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Ontology40 Ontological preoccupation is defined as one of the main thematic features of the prose poem which is also related organically to the formal particularities of the genre. Due to its dual nature, which is implied in its name, the prose poem represents an ideal ground for the historical tension between prose and poetry as literary, cultural, social and political institutions. This might be one of the main reasons for the attraction of both poets and critics to the genre. Mallarmé was one of the first writers who recognized the ability of the genre to lead ‘to more fundamental matters concerning the status and functions of poetry, and literature in general’.41 Quoting Mallarmé, Beaujour builds his own theoretical approach, which revolves around studying the prose poem by investigating its main ontological preoccupations. Beaujour links the characteristics of the genre, as being ‘elusive’, ‘interesting’ and ‘problematic’ on one hand, to its ‘ontological’ discourse on the other. This discourse is formed through the ability of the genre ‘to parallel with other discomforting and dangerous experiences through which we glimpse the order of our cultural system’.42 In defining the prose poem as an ontological genre, Beaujour views the prose poem as the chosen forum for assertions concerning supralinguistics, metaliterature, aesthetics, the status of poetic language and poetics, and conventional discourses and archetypes.43 More recent theoretical works about the prose poem turned this feature into a focus which comprises all the formal and thematic characteristics of the prose poem. In analysing the politics of the genre, Monroe considers the prose poem as a self-conscious form of concentrated generic struggle.44 This generic struggle, he argues, is the representative of the cultural and political struggles of genre, gender and class. Terdiman, who analyses the discourses of the prose poem, defines this generic struggle as the historical conflict between discourse and counter-discourse. In the light of this assumption, he identifies the prose poem with the discourse of excluded groups and their struggle against the authorities that control this discourse.45 In addition to the textual indications and implications, Murphy identifies the genre with a new system of values. Hence, she considers the reaction of ‘the system’ towards the new form as a demonstration of the failure of traditional aestheticism and values.46 However, while Beaujour identifies the literary and extraliterary struggles of the prose poem with its ambition to be a ‘transcendental’ genre, the other three critics considered it a manifestation of its direct involvement in the major problems of human society. Iteration and repetition Recurrent sentences, phrases, words, syllables and letters are considered to be some of the principal formal and semantic techniques that are used by prose poets. Repeating certain linguistic units through the text, or part of the text, creates what Bernard calls ‘prose rythmique’. Kirby-Smith notices that some critics writing in English, long before Bernard, introduced the concept of ‘organic’, and

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‘personal rhythm’ as opposed to ‘imposed rhythm’ and recognized it as central to modern poetics.47 In her article about the basics of reading and interpreting a prose poem, Hermine Riffaterre states that this process involves observing that certain elements of the text are repeating themselves. This repetition ‘may be total or it may be partial’.48 The first includes a straight repetition of a word or a phrase, the second occurs in anaphoric form. With these types of repetition, the text says the same thing repeatedly in various modes and creates the phonetic and acoustic rhythm that is found in prose poems. Due to its auditory musical impact, Riffaterre finds repetition to be comparable to rhyme in the versified poem. James Lawler uses this approach in his textual analysis of Paul Valéry’s collection ‘The ‘Alphabet’.49 He follows the repeated occurrence of certain linguistic units, through which the poem establishes and amplifies its tone. In his study, he talks about different types of semantic repetitions such as ‘phonetic echoes, syntactic inversions, rhythmic regularities and semantic iteration’. The aim of using these devices is ‘to elaborate a distinctive tone’ and to turn ‘functional prose’ into ‘ceremonial’. In her study of the Arabic prose poem, Jayyusi states that the rhythm ‘is varied and new, depending on parallelism, repetition, accent, sound pattern, assonance and alliteration’.50 Moreh also explores in his chapter about prose poetry the application of the formal and semantic repetition by prose poets to create prose rhythm. The techniques of formal repetition included ‘parallelism’, and ‘reiteration of phrases and sentences’.51 He also quotes Jabr, who defined the new poetry ‘that is free of metres and rhyme and depends on assonance, poetic images and internal music’.52 The term ‘internal music’ indicates the tendency of non-metrical poetry to compensate for the rhythm of metres and rhymes. In Arabic poetic studies, this tendency was, and is still, largely associated with non-metrical poetry. Moreh’s book gives extensive definitions of the main modes of formal repetition which can help in recognizing these techniques. In the glossary of terms attached at the end of his book he provides a detailed list of scores of poetic terms and their definitions, including alliteration, assonance, parallelism, and repetition.53 Khouri enthusiastically argues that the reader should be taught how to recognize the structure and techniques of the prose poem. Explaining how to carry out this task, he goes on: ‘that is, to train him to look within the whole complex of structures of the prose poem for parallelism, alliteration, assonance, irregular return and subtle rhythms’.54 Some more modern Western studies of the genre recognized the application of semantic techniques and formal repetition in the prose poem. However, they crucially challenged the claim about the genre’s dependency on these techniques to generate rhythm. These new approaches which will be considered at length in the second part of this chapter. The new approaches investigate the application of formal techniques in their relation to other non-formal ‘thematic and discursive’ preoccupations of the genre. Significantly, Kh\lida Sa‘#d was one of the earliest

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Arab critics to observe that the rhythm generated by semantic alliteration of letters and words is not a prerequisite of the prose poem.55 Intertextuality This feature refers to the capacity of a text to refer us to other texts and cultural models through using recurrent images, themes, and descriptions. In this view, Fredman defines ‘the poetic creativity’ in a prose poem as turning the text into ‘an endless play of subtexts’.56 Michael Riffaterre recognizes two types of intertextuality: optional and obligatory.57 The first one consists of two simultaneous readings of the text and the intertext. In this type of intertextuality, the intertext adds significance to the linearity of the sentences and enhances the unity of the text by supplying compatible and harmonic imagery and themes. In obligatory intertextuality, the meaning of certain words in the text has nothing to do with what they should mean in language and can be understood only with the assistance of an intertext. Accordingly, interpreting a prose poem depends directly on the linguistic and literary competence of the reader and his ability to identify and understand the intertext. Some studies considered intertextuality as merely borrowing and dependence, and the intertext as a ‘foreign element’.58 Hermine Riffaterre considers Bertrand’s Gaspard de la Nuit ‘no great poetry’59 because it is ‘borrowed’ from Chateaubriand. Though admitting that intertextual relationships complicate the citing text’s claim to autonomy, Richards, in his book dedicated exclusively to Gaspard, considers this judgement a failure on Riffaterre’s side to recognize the intertext, and the parody that Bertrand aimed to create through his references.60 More recent semiotic studies have placed more emphasis on this feature and examined it as the main poetic practice of the prose poem. Metzidakis, who devotes his whole book to the study of the intertextual links of the genre, will be examined in detail in the second part of this chapter. Disfiguring poetic language Barbara Johnson has studied the ways in which the prose poem can be read as a poem of ‘dis-figurement’. The procedure, as she analyses it, is achieved by ‘displacing’ certain traditional poetic figures and dramatizing the structure and the function of figure.61 By using rhetorical and typographical techniques, the writer of the prose poem invents his paradoxical figurative language. In the light of this application, Johnson reads the prose poem as an ironic reflection on the nature of poetic language. To analyse the function of ‘figural paradox’, Johnson takes one phrase ‘to kill Time’ from Baudelaire’s ‘Le Galant Tireur’ and analyses the methods and the purposes of the figural paradox implied in it. The italics, she says, restore to the verb to kill all its literality. Thus, paradoxically, the ‘dead figure’ is resuscitated through the verb to kill. The capital ‘T’ is used to increase the word’s personification. Hence, on the one hand there is an increase in literality; on the other there is an increase in figurality. The paradox

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lies here in the fact that ‘the figure endows “Time” with life only in order to take it again’. Mimesis In his research on the formal and thematic features of the prose poem, Michel Beaujour62 develops M. H. Abrams’ historical and analytical study of ‘poetics’ from classical periods until modern times, ‘The Lyric as Poetic Norm’.63 Abrams defines two norms of poetics which come into play in the evolution of poetry: expressivity and mimesis. Expressivity is associated with the poet’s ‘ability to project his passion into art’ by using his powers of ‘imagination’ and ‘enthusiasm’. In the course of time, the mimetic function was minimized whereas expressivity was emphasized. Modern poetics, which is at the basis of many poetic trends such as symbolism, imagism and Surrealism, broke away from other traditional characteristics of ‘poeticalness’. It dissociated poetry from reliance on ‘rhythmical and metrical devices, from genre, diction and topic’, and associated it largely with imagery and broken rhythm. Though exploiting the achievements of modern poetics, especially concerning imagery and open forms, the prose poem ‘did not break away from mimesis’. It reworked all the inherent fortunes of the lyrical energy in modern and classical poetics alike. Therefore, the thematic and formal features of the Euro-American prose poem have their roots in the long rich heritage of poetics. Examining mimesis in the prose poem, Beaujour finds it represented by the descriptive mode of verbal pictures, typical scenes and picturesque happenings, as also with the close connection with visual art and the art of print that the prose poem maintained throughout its history.64

Comprehensive Strategies: Towards a New Theory of the Genre In their attempt to study the genre and its endeavour to challenge the poetic conventions, modern theorists concentrated on providing approaches that challenge traditional concepts about poetry and poetics. Alongside the ‘singular approaches’, some studies introduced new methods that apply more comprehensive perspectives to studying the genre. These methods are mainly introduced by critics who devoted their books, or major parts of their books, to studying the genre. In these studies, critics draw on a wide range of established schools in historical, linguistic, literary and cultural studies. Some critics approached the prose poem as a text; others approached it as a cultural practice. A third group developed new strategies that combine both approaches. These studies introduced new textual and contextual approaches to studying the poetic and the cultural functions of the genre. The critics who constructed these new strategies progressed on two levels. On the one hand, they created their models and studied them. On the other, they categorized their findings and established general

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approaches to reading and interpreting the prose poem. Hence, they contributed to establishing the prose poem as a trans-cultural text and practice. Comparing these strategies, it is possible to classify them in four main categories: textual studies, narrative studies, cultural studies and studies that combine approaches from different disciplines. This section will attempt to provide an analysis of the four strategies as applied in the selected books in each category. It will also examine the potential for applying these strategies to studying the Arabic prose poem in general, and the prose poem of Shi‘r in particular. The Prose Poem and Textual Studies

As frequently quoted and referred to, Michael Riffaterre’s semiotic studies of poetry and poetics are pioneering works on the subject. In his renowned book Semiotics of Poetry65 he studies a wide range of poetic forms including the prose poem. His main achievement is to shift the focus away from previous textual approaches in the study of the prose poem, which concentrated on analysing what he calls ‘pronounced stylistic devices’. Though he acknowledges the significance of these ‘pronounced stylistic devices’, such as ‘alliteration’ and ‘metaphor’, he believes that these features are not related or specific to the poem’s prose poetic quality.66 Instead, Riffaterre claims that the poetic features and traits of the genre operate in a manner that is totally different from other poetic and literary practices. Reading and interpreting a number of representative texts, he applies the semiotic method of following the repetitive letters, words, phrases and sentences only to reveal new types of repetition. He proposes that what characterizes the prose poem is what he calls the ‘matrix’ of the text. The matrix, as defined by Riffaterre, is a central motif or theme which turns the text into a number of variations on this motif. The flow of these repetitive variations, he argues, is bound to the existence of this central unit. Unlike the matrix in other poetic practices, the matrix in the prose poem has two functions instead of one: ‘it generates significance as in all poetry, and it generates a particular formal constant, such that the constant is coextensive with the text and inseparable from significance’. Since every pertinent sentence or phrase is a variation on this matrix, Riffaterre concludes that the text owes its distinctive unity to this repetition. In his book, Text Production,67 Riffatterre searches for ‘universals’ of the prose poem and elaborates on the concept of ‘the matrix’. Hence, he expands on his previous theory of ‘the matrix sentence’ by introducing the concept of ‘the nuclear word’. Studying some prose poems of Francis Ponge, he argues that the text is an expansion of a matrix sentence that itself is generated by the nuclear word. Hence, the text repeats the variants of the matrix sentence and progresses through transformation from one variant of the nuclear word to another. In this view, the text’s formal and semantic characteristics are derived directly or indirectly from a word.

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Riffaterre’s concepts of the ‘matrix sentence’ and the ‘nuclear word’ were introduced into Arabic and applied to studying the Arabic prose poem by Kam\l Abu Deeb. These two concepts were referred to by Abu Deeb in his approach to examining the ‘the gap’ as a generator of the poetic tension in the prose poem. Studying a poem by Adßn#s, Abu Deeb concentrates on examining the repetitive dualities that are concentrated around one nuclear phrase, and the gaps between these dualities.68 The semiotics of the prose poem Stamos Metzidakis considers Riffaterre’s work on the prose poem as the most significant contribution since Bernard’s work. Metzidakis dedicates his whole book Repetition and Semiotics: Interpreting Prose Poems, to studying the prose poem and declares in the first chapter of the book that he intends to expand upon Riffaterre’s research and to clarify the notion of repetition. Explaining his methodology, he states that his work would be, like Riffaterre’s, grounded on the Russian formalist principles of literariness. However, as a ‘modern descendant of Russian formalism’, he acknowledges that he is also guided and influenced by other modern theories and approaches of textual studies that were developed by structuralists, post-structuralists and deconstructuralists. Thus, his work is based on analysing the concept of repetition as explained by Riffaterre and other critics and then expanding it by identifying other modes and purposes of repetition in the prose poem. In his introductory section Metzidakis stresses that ‘the vast majority of critical attempts to describe the literary event depend on the perception of repetitive textual traits for their epistemological grounding’. Hence, he considers recurrent images, themes, words and rhythms among the hallmarks of literature. However, like Riffaterre, he argues that examining the function of these features goes beyond studying them as merely ‘stylistic aspects’ of the prose poem.69 The new strategy of observing repetitive traits proceeds through four stages: (1) how repetition works, (2) when repetition works, (3) what is repeated, and (4) why some are noticed while others are not. In view of his strategy, he starts his reading by tracking the ‘fixed topoi’70 that are repeated within the text. Metzidakis defines the ‘topoi’ as ‘the established, immobile models of a given society’. Describing some topoi at work, Metzidakis explains them as ‘well-anchored places or concepts’ that ‘impose themselves in the reader’s mind as what the poem is about’. His methodology combines the two different traditions of interpreting repetition: the one that perceives the poet’s words as an echo of ‘his personal interests, fantasies and obsessions’ and the other that examines these repetitions as being ‘copies’ of the society in which the poet lived. Therefore, he asserts that repetition obliges us to take our fixed knowledge of the poet’s life, linguistic and literary heritage, and historical epoch as the measure of both defined and potential features of the text.71

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This new strategy of reading encompasses the application of several approaches to reading the prose poem by examining its major established features. Its system attempts to comprise all formal constituents of poeticity and designate them into two major types of repetition: intertextual and intratextual.72 Hence, defining the dual nature of repetition corresponds to the inherent dualism of the genre. The first type covers those parts of a text which remind the reader of various things from outside this text. These ‘things’ are defined as ‘past’ and ‘external’ models. The second type refers to elements that are repeated within the text without calling any external past model to the reader’s mind. Accordingly, Metzidakis defines his focus of studying the semiotics of a prose poem as follows: seeking out the intertextual model it is repeating, or the intratextual model it institutes. Intertextual repetition

The critic defines the process of examining intertextual repetition as follows: ‘A past model is first recognized by a given reader in a present textual copy, later seen by the same reader to be copied by other elements of the present text.’73 Metzidakis recognizes three modes and illustrates them as follows: 1 Discursive repetition: in this type several clues give the reader the idea that a certain literary tradition or specific genre antedating the text generates its structure. The exemplary text, as chosen by Metzidakis, is Baudelaire’s ‘Les Bons Chiens’, which reflects how quite a few prose poems function. In the opening paragraph, the narrator calls for aid to help him sing his nascent text about ‘good dogs’ which gives the poem an ‘anti-ode form’. Through repetition of ‘odic language’, the invocation of a muse and a description of the historico-geographical setting of its action, Baudelaire converted these positive paradigms into negative ones. He removed ‘the shroud of awe and grandeur’ from the practice of praising noble and royal figures and praised instead the filthy dogs of poor people.74 Metzidakis identifies the repetition with openings of odic poems by Keats and Ronsard. Surprisingly, he did not see the link with the most renowned prototype of the Homeric Odyssey in which the poet invokes the muse in the opening to help him write his praises of the historical incident, courageous heroes and the pretty princess. 2 Phrasal repetition: Metzidakis builds and elaborates here on Riffaterre’s concept of the poetic ‘matrix’ which he calls ‘the bush’. The bush generates a series of relevant words and phrases that would help the reader to recover the past model. The bush that is represented in the title of Rimbaud’s poem ‘Après le Déluge’ refers to the time period that followed the biblical flood. It conjures up the vision of a newly cleansed, reborn world. But it also copies the well-known phrase ‘Après moi, le Déluge!’ The poem ends with the narrator imploring ‘the Floods’ (Les Déluges) to wash everything

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again. Hence, it undermines the status of the event as history’s single greatest disaster.75 3 Lexical repetition: this is represented by the repetition of certain terms, words or letters. Metzidakis argues that when the discursive intertextual repetition is recovered during the reading, this reader starts to concentrate on finer levels and to scrutinize smaller unities and fragments such as phrases and words. Metzidakis studies Baudelaire’s ‘Le Port’ as an elaborate type of lexical repetition where the central word ‘port’ brings with it extensive lexical associations. The port is described in a fashion that seems very consistent with its denotations like the sea, lighthouse and ships. However, it also repeats the metaphoric usage of the word ‘port’ as man’s final destination which is death, and, further, it rhymes with ‘mort’, the French word for death. Though the poem never actually voices the term ‘death’, Metzidakis believes that it has a dominating presence in the poem.76 As for letters, some letters will appear during the readings as significant. Observing the visual and semantic features of the letters, a reiterated ‘s’, for instance, will recall to some readers the word snake. Metzidakis argues that it is impossible to find a perfect intertextual repetition. These imperfections arise from the difference between the present form of the copy as it is presented in the formal environment of the text on the one hand, and its past model on the other. The present copies in the text result from a dialectic between the author’s desire to forget what he already knows and his inability to do so. Nevertheless, regardless of whether these different forms and copies are intentional or not, ‘their effective existence is much more the reader’s affair than it is the author’s’.77 Intratextual repetition

When the reader fails to identify a certain linguistic unit with an external past model he will start to follow the repetition within the text itself. During this process, a present model is first identified through its copies within the present text, and is later recognized as a less evident copy of a past model.78 In this view, an interatextual model is the sign of an undiscovered intertextual model. Though these two types of semiotic repetition progress through similar lines, they differ in their references. Thus, whereas intertextuality is related to the text’s capacity to refer us to external past models, intratextuality is grounded on the text’s capacity to refer us to internal models. This process is based on following phrasal repetition, lexical repetition or a third component which Metzidakis calls ‘sublexical repetition’.79 The third mode is also called paragrammatic repetition and it includes any recurrence of a single letter, a letter cluster with no meaning and an anagram.80 Though the elaborate theoretical description provided by the book sheds a clear light on the concept of intratexuality, describing it as a textual practice

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proves to be far more difficult. This is because all the elements of the text have the potential to act as a model for another repetition within the text, especially in ‘the paragrammatic repetition’. While the book succeeds in making clear the concept and practice of intertextuality, the description of intratextuality falls short of putting this process into plain words. This could be due to the fact that the first intertextuality is a common practice in all literary genres, and an established term that had been a popular topic in modern literary theory. As for intratextuality, it is a new concept that is introduced by Metzidakis himself.81 On the other hand, the term is used by another critic to refer to different connotations.82 Nonetheless, the textual analysis of the intratextual repetition in several prose poems brings it into clearer focus. The first mode of phrasal intratextual repetition follows the same process of identifying repetitive phrases in the text. These linguistic units have to be related to other ones within the same text before being linked later on to an intertextual model. In his semiotic analysis of Rimbaud’s poem ‘Enfance’,83 Metzidakis states that the relationship of the first part of the text to ‘childhood’ is not immediately obvious. However, he finds that the repeated phrases petite morte, jeune maman and petit frère in the second section of the text mimic children’s speech and suggest a ‘decidedly childish choice of vocabulary’. Similar repetition of phrases and words in sections III and IV makes the reader go to earlier parts and repeat the reading to discover eventually that other thematic and linguistic features of the text ‘reflect’ childhood. This phrasal repetition connects the formal and linguistic features of the text directly to the theme, which realizes one of the main achievements of the prose poem. Following the lexical intratextual repetition in a prose poem takes the same procedure of following the phrasal repetition.84 The repetition of these words will eventually help to recover intertextual past external models that exist outside the present text. Since it might prove more difficult to follow the repetition of these finer components and to connect them to an external past model, Metzidakis suggests that the process could be extended to involve other texts that are written by the same poet. Furthermore, he mentions very briefly the possibility of seeking some help from the biographical sources of the poet. However, as a text-oriented critic, Metzidakis expresses his reluctance to rely on these sources, except for collecting information about the lexicon of the poet. Metzidakis believes that many readers and critics tend to group together the poems of Rimbaud that include the word ‘Ville’ in their title, whenever they attempt to study one of them. Metzidakis restricts his statement about Rimbaud’s poems to this remark and does not give any examples of studies that apply the collective methodology of looking into a series of poems or collections of poetry. However, looking at other books that study Rimbaud’s prose poems can provide a crucial supplement to Metzidakis’ theoretical approach. Two books that were published prior to the publication of Metzidakis’ book can serve as examples of Metzidakis’ approach. In his study of Rimbaud’s

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collection, Illuminations, Nathaniel Wing identifies a category that consists of six poems: ‘Les Ponts’, ‘Ville’, ‘Villes I’, ‘Villes II’, ‘Métropolitain’ and ‘Promontoire’.85 He describes this group of poems as ‘a distinct series’ in the collection that portrays ‘urban landscape and architecture’, and he calls them ‘The Metropolitan Poems’. Marc Eli Blanchard studies all Rimbaud’s poems that include direct or indirect reference to ‘city’ including the six poems that were grouped by Wing in his chapter ‘Rimbaud and the City’.86 However, unlike Metzidakis, neither Wing nor Blanchard consider this methodology to be specific to studying the prose poem. Furthermore, they concentrate on the thematic approach and do not explain the semiotic methods that directed them to the grouping of these poems. The groundbreaking development in the application of this methodology was to follow in the hands of the younger generation of critics who published their books in the last decade of the twentieth century. These critics combined thematic and semiotic approaches to studying collections of prose poems as narratives. This approach will be studied at length in the following section of this chapter. The last mode of repetition defined by Metzidakis is paragrammatic repetition. One of the examples that Metzidakis presents is recovered from Rimbaud’s prose poem ‘Vies’.87 He suggests that the term ‘lives’ presupposes the preposition ‘of’ as it is typical to speak of lives of individuals, nations, etc. Hence, the term signals the genre ‘biography’ or ‘autobiography’. In the nostalgic opening of the poem, the word ‘saint’ occurs. Then the narrator admits that he is ‘Exilé ici’ (exiled here). Given the earlier signs that point to the lives of saints, the phonemes in the words ‘Exilé ici’ bring an additional informational unit. The two words anagrammatically repeat the core of the name Alexis. The saint Alexis, whose life in spiritual exile is the basis of a famous biographic text, ‘could not be more applicable to this context’. Metzidakis’ reading assumes that the ghost of St Alexis is present in the body of the whole work. This methodology has its crucial challenges and drawbacks, some of which were partly highlighted by Metzidakis. Following the semantic and semiotic repetitions of a prose poem requires a sufficient knowledge of what Metzidakis called the ‘intertextual heritage’; that is, the society, the epoch, the writer, the language he used and the literature he reads.88 However, this demanding reading will prove inaccessible to a wide range of readers, which undermines the fundamental claims of the prose poem to universality. On the other hand, Metzidakis focuses on studying how the functioning of a repetition depends on replicating an assumed, stable model which necessarily comes from the past. However, he mentions very briefly how, at the same time and in this very process of replicating, some sort of difference is created. Moreover, he interprets this tendency to create difference with the original past model merely as a basis for bringing in the possibility of more different repetitive ‘copies’.89 This tendency to create difference with the external reference is one of the main characteristics of the prose poem as a discursive and subversive

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genre. The conflict between what Metzidakis calls ‘the present text’ or ‘the copy’ and its prototype is considered to be the carrier of the discourse of the genre. The discursive practices and potentials of the prose poem were the focus of several studies that will be reviewed in the following pages of this chapter. Metzidakis’ study was vital in freeing the genre from the conventional poetic methods that were originally developed for studying verse poetry. Hence, it leads the way in establishing a firm ground for studying the prose poem as a text. This strategy of studying the genre will guide the textual readings of the Arab pioneers’ poems that will be carried out in the fourth chapter of this book. It will be given a greater emphasis in the parts of poems that are rich in terms of their intertextual relations and repetitive patterns. However, this strategy to the study of the Arabic prose poem should be carefully applied within the limits defined by the critic himself. Metzidakis acknowledges repeatedly that no critic could presume to see all possible intertextuality and repetitions. Throughout his book he asserts that while it is a semiotician’s goal to be objective in his study, he can never escape a certain subjectivity. In this respect, he recognizes that the critic’s ‘ideological stances’, ‘sex’, ‘nationality’, ‘class’, and ‘economic, psychological and even physiological heterogeneity’ determine which of a host of iterative signals in a text will be considered worthy of consideration.90 Nonetheless, his study introduces new approaches that are indispensable for the textual reading of the prose poem. As stated by Metzidakis: ‘while models selected by individual readers vary according to the makeup of their respective psyches, one thing never changes: the manner in which they arrive at their hermeneutic conclusions’. Incorporataing this ‘manner’ into a reading strategy is the task that was efficiently accomplished in his book. The Prose Poem and Narrative Studies

In his preface to Petits Poèmes en Prose, Baudelaire described his poems as ‘fragments’ and ‘segments’, and the collection as having ‘neither a head or tail, on the contrary, everything is at once head and tail’. Elaborating on this image of a snake that is biting its tail, he wrote his dedication to the publisher: ‘I dare dedicate the entire serpent to you.’91 Baudelaire’s remarks were picked up by many modern theorists who, though they agreed on considering the prose poem as a genre, focused their efforts on studying its modes and techniques of narrative. Speaking about ‘the poetic novel’ in his book Le Roman et la Poésie, Michel Butor, who is a novelist and a prose poet, suggests the viability of reading the prose poems of certain collections as parts of a longer narrative. Certain passages in a collection of prose poems, he believes, sound as if they are texts extracted from an unknown or unwritten novel.92 The example he gives is Baudelaire’s Petits Poèmes. His assertions, as paraphrased by Beaujour, show that ‘poetry is not a localized phenomenon, and that it can be achieved and modulated through a large literary structure such as the novel’, and that ‘the poetic novel’ could be considered as an extension of the prose poem.93 In fact, Butor made his

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whole argument to emphasize the poeticity of the novel. However, his innovative views were of immense inspiration to the many theorists who used his arguments to emphasize the narrative side of the prose poem. Reading the same work of Baudelaire, Beaujour found it to be a transition from ‘a commonplace of lyrical expressiveness to the suggestion of structural mimeses’.94 Fredman considers that the ‘block-print form’ affiliates the prose poem to prosaic types of writing. Each prose poet, he believes, incorporates a storyteller who is able to employ the poetics of the novel but with more elegance and consolidation.95 Fredman’s Poet’s Prose, which was extreme in maximizing the distance between the prose poem and lyric, represented a landmark in the study of the subject. He studied the genre in the light of the views and comments of several prose poets who participated in the debate about the nature of the prose poem. Some of these poets hinted at considering their prose poems as prosaic works for different reasons, such as the possibility of employing facts within poetic discourse and the different usage of language which employs sentence instead of verset.96 In the light of these groundbreaking observations, Fredman accommodates the prose poem within the historical change in the poet’s tasks and in the way he views himself. He believes that by choosing to write with prose, the poet sacrifices his historical prestige and proceeds ‘from an initial position to alienation’, from ambition to ‘impose orders’ to ‘a space of permission in which the world is allowed to appear through language’. The scope of language used in the prose poem allows the poet to be engaged in, and to interrogate, what has been thought of as the ‘antipoetic realm of fact and argument’. Hereupon, by joining imagination and intellect, prose poets were seen as privileged by having the freedom to construct what they had been told to exclude. One of the major preoccupations of the prose poem as perceived by Fredman is represented by the range of the political stances inscribed in the works of prose poets.97 Though he did not study the prose poem textually as a narrative, Fredman’s book was one of the earliest in English to view it as a prosaic work. In the following decade, some writers adopted the same perspective of studying the prose poem as narrative, including those that are mentioned in this section. He seems to have inspired those subsequent books which studied in a more elaborate and profound way several points raised by him. The prose poem and the new novel In ‘Réflections ou Sentences et Maximes’,98 Roland Barthes describes two ways of reading assembled short prose units. The first is to read them individually ‘in isolation’, and the second is to read them ‘all together’. Though Barthes applied his theory to collections of maxims and reflections, the new approach that he introduced was made applicable to other genres of short prose works. In a roundabout way, another critic made another relevant remark that was also to capture the attention of poeticists.99 Originally discussing the unity of novel and

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epic, and setting up a comparative approach, Gérard Genette passes a comment about the unity of the collection of poetry. However, Genette points out a possible ‘thematic unity’ in a collection of poetry and overlooked the role of the formal elements in building up this unity. Talking about formal unity, he disregards poetry and focuses his research on the other two genres. However, Genette’s approach was later rendered applicable to the example that he had excluded. His analysis of elements of the formal unity in novel and epic, especially the paratext, and their role in enhancing the unity of the work provided a prototype for a new reading for the prose poem. Reading a collection of poetry as one long text opened new ground in the literary theory of the prose poem. These earlier remarks of Barthes and Genette were picked up and developed by some critics involved with the modern theory of the prose poem. Critics were also encouraged by some relevant comments that were made by prose poets who viewed their collections in a similar light. Baudelaire saw the prose poem ‘as closer to novel than to poetry’.100 Furthermore, in the dedication that prefaced his collection Petits Poèmes en Prose he highlighted both the independence of each poem and the interdependent relation between poems. Some critics applied this type of reading along with other approaches. Others dedicated whole studies to the construction of a comprehensive theoretical scheme for this type of reading. Mary Evans’ Baudelaire and Intertextuality and Marvin Richards’ Without Rhyme or Reason build a consistent reading strategy for collections of prose poems. Evans applies mainly Barthes’ approach and studies Baudelaire’s collection of prose poems Petits Poèmes en Prose. She examines closely how this collection employs the conventions of the novel and the moral fable such as the unitary narrator, the extended fragmented plot and the artifice of beginnings and endings. Evans also explores the relation between the various prose poems and the interconnections that turn the collection into an interrelated whole. On the other hand, she explores the intertextual relations between Baudelaire’s prose poems and some famous longer prose works, especially novels. She argues that by recalling and invoking other longer prose texts, a collection of prose poems emphasizes the potentiality of being one text. Marvin Richards applies the same approach to reading another collection of prose poems. In his book Without Rhyme or Reason, he mainly applies the theoretical writings of some French critics, most notably the writings of Gérard Genette and Jean Ricardou, on the nouveau roman (the new novel), and studies Bertrand’s Gaspard de la Nuit as one text. Richards pinpoints what he believes to be ‘story lines’ created by Bertrand between his poems. Accordingly, he believes that the poems are not independent, ‘but rather parts of longer narrative chains’.101 His study establishes three ‘unifying principles’ which unify the collection: the story, the setting and the narrator.102 On the other hand, he studies Bertrand’s use of dialogue and ‘the carnivalesque and popular aspects’ of the prose poem which enhance the wholeness of the collection. This new approach of reading collections of prose poems emphasizes the role of the ‘paratextual apparatus’,

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which frames a collection, in uniting it.103 The paratextual elements of a collection include the design of the book cover, the titles, the introduction, the notes, the epigraphs, the typography and all other relevant information related to the work. The approaches and methods that are used by Evans and Richards in reading collections of prose poems provide a new perspective for reading the genre. This reading involves a twofold reading strategy which recognizes the independent character of each poem and the viable integrity of the collection, or what Evans calls ‘the apparent plurality’ of poems and ‘the potential oneness’ of the collection. In Richards’ words, this reading emphasizes both ‘the autonomy’ of each poem and ‘the pluralistic unity’ of the collection. This reading strategy is applicable to other types of selections of prose poems and the approaches that are applied could be adjusted and modified to derive other models and patterns. For example, it helps to build a similar strategy which could be applied on a narrower scope such as a section of a collection. A minor model might be also tailored to fit a set or a series of prose poems that usually appear in periodicals. This strategy is appropriate for reading the Arabic prose poem at this stage and for providing a new perspective for reading the Arabic prose poem in general. During the Shi‘r’s period, several collections of prose poems were published by D\r Majallat Shi‘r. The list of publications includes some of the most renowned collections in the history of the Arabic prose poem such as al-M\ghßµ’s ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar (Sadness in the Moonlight) and al-∂\jj’s Lan (Will Not), the first of which will be the subject of the last section of this book. On the other hand, prose poems with varied numbers were published collectively as series on the pages of the Shi‘r journal, such as al-∂\jj’s series that will be studied in the penultimate section of this book. Since the prose poem of Shi‘r has provided a role model for the Arabic prose poem, these techniques of assembling poems in series and collections must also have provided a model for subsequent collections and series of Arabic prose poems. Hence, studying these techniques is clearly relevant to the prose poems of Shi‘r and the Arabic prose poem in general. The Prose Poem and Cultural Studies

Modern theoretical approaches to literary studies have delved into new territories that were considered previously as being outside the field of literary studies. In the last decades of the twentieth century, new theories of studying literature were developed by employing the language and methods of socio-cultural studies. These theories introduced approaches taken from socio-cultural history into literary history and theory. In their application of these new methods critics ‘encourage readers to look outwardly at the social, artistic, political, economic and linguistic mélange’ in the literary work.104 The application of these new theories to poetics has shifted the focus away from the conventional concept of perceiving poetry as an aesthetic production independent of its historical, social and economic contingencies. To study poetry within its context, critics have adopted and adjusted

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methods of cultural studies that have originally been developed and used to interrogate modes of popular culture. In this view, the procedure of reading and interpreting a literary text functions in a similar way to interacting with ‘works in visual or aural media like film, television, popular music or advertising’. Defining itself as ‘a genuinely international phenomenon’, cultural theory stresses the need for comparative knowledge of many cultures to answer the questions raised by readers and critics. Using comparative approaches, the reading of the literary work is based on ‘exploring the cultural codes’ of the work. This procedure involves investigating the circumstances of textual production, examining a wide range of ‘sociological, historical and ideological contexts’ as well as ‘the institutional, linguistic, historical and sociological forces that inform the work’s publication and critical reception’. In his article, ‘Art as Cultural Production’, Alan Sinfield examines closely the impact of the approaches of cultural and cultural materialist studies on the study of the literary text. He observes that in the light of cultural theories, literature becomes a set of practices within the range of cultural production. In this view, studying literature, like studying other modes of cultural production, tends to examine its function in the social order.105 On the other hand, reading and interpreting the literary text are grounded on perceiving it as a discourse ‘of those involved in those practices, together with the institutions that sustain them’. Going through a similar procedure of evaluating other modes of cultural production, and analysing their discourse, involves looking into the texts mechanisms of interacting with ‘power relations’ and of promoting certain ‘kinds of human possibilities’. Sinfield’s theoretical approach broadens the focus of literary criticism to include, besides the text, two other areas: the groups that are involved in the production of the literary text and the channels they use in this process. Several studies examine modern poetic culture by carrying out their investigations in these three areas – the group, their media and their writing – and we apply this strategy usefully to studying the Shi‘r movement. Studying the avant-garde: groups, media and practice By introducing contextual approaches to studying poetry, these socio-cultural methods prove particularly successful when they are applied to studying poetic movements, groups and their texts and media. Since they are usually characterized by sophisticated and complex networks of external and internal relations, avantgarde movements and avant-garde literature are two areas that have been often treated in this manner. In these studies, poetry is treated as a cultural practice that is subject to the same forces of production, administration and regularization that operate in culture at large.106 Though these critics concentrated on certain poets or movements, they perceived avant-garde poetry as an international cultural practice. The lists of these poets’ names contain many who were major practitioners of the prose poem. Though they did not concentrate on studying the poetic writing textually, these studies provide an indispensable source about

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the historical background of avant-garde literary practices, including the prose poem, and their social, cultural and economic environment. The main contribution of these studies lies in drawing a theoretical ground and a strategy for studying avant-garde poetic culture in general. By examining different groups in different cultures, they provide comparative approaches that enrich and guide research about similar poetic practices. In these studies critics classify poetic movements and groups according to two categories: the mainstream and the avant-garde. The first is regarded as being conventional and dominant whereas the second is characterized as being experimental, innovative, marginal, alternative and countercultural. The cultural conflict between these two territories is a principal focus in modern Western studies about poetry. With regard to modern poetry in English, there seems to be an agreement on identifying the mainstream with the ‘academy’. As for the avant-garde, it is predominantly represented by the famous group of poets known as Language poets or Language poetry. The leading figures of this group are also considered among the main representatives of the contemporary prose poem in English. In his pioneering book about the prose poem in English, Stephen Fredman picks Language poetry as one of the main case studies for his research. He declares in his preface that he initially started his book as a research into ‘the poetry scene in San Francisco in the seventies’.107 He states that one of the main questions that guide the inquiry in his book concern ‘the place of prose in poetry’. He conducts an inquiry into a number of poets ‘who have conceived prose as central to their writing of poetry’. His research leads him to the group of poets who gathered under the rubric of ‘Language poetry’. Besides studying the prose poems of some of the leading Language poets, Fredman followed closely their dynamic activities and provocative debates that marked the early stages of the founding of their ‘poetic community’. He attended some of their talks and meetings – held in lofts, galleries and museums – and followed their journals and publications. As well as studying individual writings of the chief Language prose poets, Fredman also focused on their communal practices and the common dominant issues raised in their poetry in general. He argues that Language poetry puts into question traditional assumptions about poetry, language and discourse. Having a collective project helped the Language poets to accomplish this poetic task in a variety of poetic forms and practices. Fredman maintains that the experiments of this poetic community led them to the prose poem as an ultimate representation of their aspiration to bring about a ‘disruption of habitual patterns of linguistic control’. This disruption, they hoped, could initiate ‘the liberation of the committed reader from the whole matrix of social mechanisms defining late capitalism’.108 Besides Fredman’s book, several major works in English concerning the poetic avant-garde took ‘Language poetry’ as their main case study. In these studies, critics portrayed the elaborate institutional structure that supported Language poetry from its very beginning. They defined several approaches to

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studying avant-garde poetic culture, the main areas investigated include an analysis of the role of the internal media in the evolution of avant-garde poetic groups. They observed that the emergence of a group or a movement is usually represented by a poetic journal, and very commonly by a small magazine. In their studies of avant-garde poetry in English, these critics associated the beginning of Language poetry with the appearance of the bimonthly journal L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (1978–81).109 Linda Reinfeld gives further information about the role of the media in shaping the Language poetry movement and its practices. She observes that with the appearance of their journal L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, marginal writing emerged strongly on the literary scene. Following the historical progress of the movement, she defines the different roles of the main editors in founding the magazine and its intellectual project.110 In his study of the avant-garde, Geoff Ward gives a chronological account of the development of Language poetry from its inception in the late 1970s. His book provides a précis of ‘the heavy emphases of this movement’, which are identified as theory, discussion, teaching, and the opening of possible avenues from poetry to politics.111 Ward also concentrates on studying the divergence of the Language poets from the more conservative tradition of American poetry, and their relation to other avant-garde groups. He defines the four targets of his research on the movement as: ‘its origins, personnel, stated aims and distinguishing features of methods and content’. Comparing different American avant-garde poetic groups, he investigates their relations to several elements in their socio-cultural contexts such as social structure, cultural atmosphere, institutions and trends of art, literature and thought. By investigating these elements, Ward shows how some groups built an image of a counterculture by associating themselves with certain regional traditions.112 Ward’s study reveals certain common tendencies in the work of avant-garde groups, such as searching for alternative forms of writing and reading, forming collective projects to write, formalizing movements by founding journals and their antagonistic but balanced coexistence with an ‘establishment literature’. His study of these mechanisms provides a comparative approach to studying the Shi‘r movement, which adopted similar strategies. In his study, The American Avant-Garde Tradition,113 John Lowney reveals other common tendencies of the international avant-garde. Lowney studies the writing of William Carlos Williams, the pioneer of the American prose poem, as an illustration of his topic. He defines the key avant-garde traditional practices in Williams’ texts, such as experimentation, destruction of the traditional forms, ‘reintegrating art with social praxis’ and combining ‘the international’ and ‘the national’ experiences of modernity. Christopher Beach, in his book Poetic Culture, develops many issues raised by other critics, focusing on the socio-cultural surroundings and the organizational systems in which poets live and work. He defines two typical

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environments in which poets gather and build their networks – ‘the poetic community’ and ‘the poetic institution’ – as the two principal representatives of the avant-garde and the mainstream, respectively.114 Beside these two traditional patterns, he observes that there exist some avant-garde communities that build their own organizational system and institutional networks.115 Beach focuses on the Language poets in his research on the poetic avant-garde and the extensive network of systems that support the production and dissemination of poetry. His book highlights the vital role of the internal media and other related forums of administration and publishing. His approach to constructing the areas of his investigation will be applied to define and investigate the main areas of studying Shi‘r in the following chapter. Susan Venderborg, in her study of the Language poets, examines their efforts to go beyond a small circle of fellow poets to a poetic community. Analysing the writings of the main figures of the movement, she focuses on studying their collective project of innovative writing. Hence, she observes that their achievement in ‘altering textual roles’ was in fact ‘altering the larger social roles of which textual ones are only a feature’.116 Reviewing the writing of the Language poet John Ashbery – a major practitioner of the prose poem in English – she discerns an attempt to create a public space for experimental poetry.117 Her book provides a theoretical approach to explore ‘the politics of a poetic form’ in the prose poems and the writings of avant-garde groups – an approach that will help us address one of the challenges of studying the Shi‘r group relating to the political implication of their project and practices. In his book The Poetic Avant-Garde: The Groups of Borges, Auden, and Breton, Strong chooses to focus on the European and Latin American poetic avant-garde. He considers the political inclinations of the main figures of these groups and the impact these inclinations had in deciding the progress of the movement.118 His study provides a perspective to view and reassess the political connections of avant-garde groups, and in light of it, Shi‘r appears as a part of the universal avant-garde culture that experienced common circumstances and were subjected to similar judgements. The writings considered above opened new ground for studying avant-garde poetic groups and the influence of their practices on the cultural scene. Tackling the subject from different angles, these critics enhanced the concept of poetry as a cultural practice and established it as central feature of poetic studies. On the other hand, they emphasized the significance of studying the historical as well as professional context of the poetic practice. The methods they applied represent predominant approaches in the literary theory of the twenty-first century and provide a strategy for studying the history of Shi‘r and its practices, including its relation to the genre, in a new light. Language poetry can also provide a comparative case study for examining Shi‘r as a journal, a group and a movement. However, this comparative approach will be particularly appropriate for bringing a new understanding of Shi‘r and introducing different definitions. A new reading

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of Shi‘r will thus be conducted in the following chapter. In this reading, special emphasis will be laid on the communal and organizational practices of Shi‘r, which are usually downplayed in perceptions and studies of the topic. Combined Theories: Text, Context and Practice

Alongside the three different modern strategies which view the prose poem as a text or as a cultural and literary practice, a group of writers developed a new strategy for studying the prose poem that incorporated approaches taken from all three previous strategies. In various influential studies on the genre they adopted several textual and contextual approaches rather than restricting themselves to certain recognizable schools in literary theory. They viewed the prose poem, in other words, as both text and practice. Both in defining their new theoretical methods and in their textual analysis of poems, they drew on a wide range of established schools in various fields, adjusting and developing methods taken from a variety of disciplines, as they outline in the introductions to their books. Four books that are considered to be representative of this strategy are widely quoted. Richard Terdiman’s Discourse/Counter-Discourse: The Theory, Practice of Symbolic Resistance in Nineteenth-Century France, which was the first of the four books to be published, dedicates two chapters to the study of the prose poem. The book introduces itself as being ‘situated on the challenging border between cultural history and literary criticism’ and as ‘combining the insights of Marxism and semiotics’.119 The other three books are devoted entirely to the study of this genre. Jonathan Monroe’s, A Poverty of Objects: The Prose Poem and the Politics of the Genre, is a study of the prose poem, the evolution of the avant-garde, comparative poetics and comparative literature.120 Writing the history of the Anglo-American prose poem, Margueritte Murphy’s book A Tradition of Subversion: The Prose Poem in English from Wilde to Ashbery combines textual and historical approaches and establishes ‘links between the formal and the ideological’.121 The most recent title, The American Prose Poem: Poetic Form and the Boundaries of the Genre122 of Michel Delville, aspires to provide a critical and historical study of the prose poem in its relation to modern poetics, aesthetics and ideologies. In consolidating their theoretical approaches as well as in the textual analysis of texts, these critics benefited from the general established semiotic approaches to reading and interpreting the prose poem. However, their investigation of the formal and linguistic features of the text is not restricted to examining their poetic function. They also applied methods of narrative studies to highlight the affiliation of the genre to other prosaic types of writing. However, they perceived the employment of the narrative mode as one of the techniques used by the prose poem to mark its difference. On the other hand, they incorporated methods taken from historical and cultural studies to analyse the ways in which the prose poem expressed itself differently in different situations in human history. These books construct comparative paradigms of

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studying the genre which can provide approaches and models for research papers that study the genre in different contexts. Constructing crosscultural models In his study Terdiman chooses to locate the prose poem in the context of the history of discourse and counter-discourse as represented in the history of modern prose in general. Hence, he dedicates one of the three parts of his book to studying the prose poem in its early stages as representative of ‘the absolute counter-discourse’ in cultural history. In his book, he brings into focus what he believes to be major turning points in the history of prose, represented by the novel, newspaper culture, Marxist theories and the prose poem. The prose poem occupies a ‘privileged position in his argument’, as described by Monroe who expands on Terdiman’s study. Terdiman explores the discursive conflict between different genres and modes of expression and examines the prose poem as an avant-garde text which creates a major departure from the conventional concept of avant-garde writing. His study shows that during its self-conscious process of formation, the prose poem followed the avant-garde tradition in sustaining the line separating the artistic text from the social world. However, by absorbing other forms of prose production into the honorific category of the literary, the prose poem reduces ‘subjectivity’ which represents the main crisis of the avant-garde and high-cultural practices in general. Though, as an avantgarde text, it is preoccupied with itself, the prose poem during its own process of formation produces its own writing against the dominant discourse. Terdiman’s perspective involves a negation of the doctrine of selfreferentiality, which is attributed traditionally to avant-garde texts. Instead, he believes that the prose poem achieves what he calls ‘displaced referentiality’. This type of referentiality works simultaneously on two levels. Thus, though the prose poem wants as an avant-garde text to be understood as ‘referring to nothing but itself’, it functions against ‘the elements in the social formation whose dominance threatened its own existence’.123 Drawing on Marx, Terdiman shows how by rewriting the social world and reversing discourses in an avant-garde manner, the prose poem creates ‘a realm of mystery and evokes the aura surrounding the fragility and the gratuity of the Beautiful’.124 Hence, the genre represents one of the major developments in avant-garde culture. In Terdiman’s vision, the prose poem’s history represents the ability of the discursive dynamic to produce itself in forms which escape all types of control of hegemonic domination and fight for space.125 Though Terdiman’s study is restricted to studying the genre in its foundational stage, it establishes the ground for a new strategy which combines studying the discourse of the genre together with its cultural function. Terdiman’s book emphasizes the importance of locating the prose poem in its historical context in order to analyse its discursive relations. Following the guiding principles in his study, the present book will observe the

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discourse of the pioneers’ prose poem and examine its cultural function in the context of the post-colonial, post-1948 era. Terdiman’s seminal research into the prose poem was expanded by Monroe, who constantly refers to Terdiman’s book. Whereas Terdiman’s study revolves around discursive practices and functions of the prose poem in its early stage, Monroe focuses on exploring the genre as an ‘international phenomenon’ which undermined traditional views of literature. The question of the prose poem, he asserts, allows him to catch a glimpse of all the contradictions which shatter modern aesthetics.126 Studying the prose poem in the light of the theories of the novel as developed by Mikhail Bakhtin and Frederic Jameson, he compares the impact of the emergence of the prose poem to that of the novel in the context of the historical conflict between poetry and prose, and applies to the prose poem Bakhtin’s analysis of the ‘dialogicity’ of the novel. As a locus of interaction between poetry and prose and as an ultimate combination of the poetic and the prosaic, which brings together ‘the individual’ and ‘the collective’,127 the prose poem appears as a better representative of this dialogicity. Hence, due to its nature, the prose poem surpasses the novel in representing the interaction between different forms and different discourses. Investigating this dialogical nature of the prose poem, Monroe explores the simultaneous interplay of a variety of discourses from both high and low cultures. As ‘a fusion of genres’128 which unites different forms and discourses in one compact space, the prose poem characteristically gestures towards unity and fragmentation at the same time. This represents the aspiration of the prose poem to a breakdown of generic, textual and socio-political boundaries for ultimate heterogeneity and diversity. By analysing the work of different prose poets, Monroe focuses on showing how the prose poem attacked the tendency to exclude from poetry such prosaic motifs as urban life, crowds, poverty and class conflict, by dramatizing those prosaic aspects of human experience which were long considered unworthy of literary attention. His research revolves around exploring the formal struggle between the prose and poetry which was accompanied by a thematic struggle between the prosaic and the poetic. Whereas the first is preoccupied by ‘the real, the everyday, and the material world of diffusion and discord’, the second represents ‘the transcendent, spiritual, ideal harmony’.129 Monroe finds this dialogicity to be manifested throughout the history of the genre and represented by all its textual and extratextual relations. Therefore, he tries in his analysis of the works of various prose poets to maintain a balanced evaluation of aesthetic characteristics and social relations of the genre. Through its direct engagement in the struggle of genres, he argues, the prose poem was a forum of continuous confrontation between various sociolinguistic practices which include literary and extraliterary speech types. Monroe treats these ignored and marginalized forms of discourse as a representation of the social groups associated with them. By employing this language, he argues, the prose poem

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immerses itself in the ‘poetic’ word and at the same time it maintains a critical relation to it.130 Through its innovative aesthetics, the prose poem questions the traditional myth surrounding the poet’s image, and the idealist/lyrical self, and rejects the privilege and exclusiveness from which other genres derive their identities.131 Monroe succeeds in presenting the prose poem as a trans-generic text. On the other hand, his strategy establishes it as trans-cultural genre which resists the tendency ‘of national and generic literary canons toward certain safe and all-too predictable critical exclusions and marginalization’.132 The third writer, Margueritte Murphy, applies the same method of approaching the prose poem as an avant-garde narrative with a dialogical nature. With approaches borrowed from Bakhtin’s and Genette’s studies, she forms her models and conducts her individual readings of the interaction between the prose poem and other sorts of prose such as novels, fairytales, anecdotes, parables, descriptive sketches and fragments of prose. In the section entitled ‘The Narrative Tendency’,133 she explores the mechanisms of the prose poem, which use two narrative techniques: the plot structure, and the imitation of a certain reality related to human life and society. Murphy, who declares in her introduction that her version of Bakhtin is not a specifically Marxist one,134 argues that Bakhtinian theory offers a better application when its Marxist traits are reduced to a minimum. Hence, she tries for the most part in her book to restrict her politics to textual relations. However, she turns to the extratextual conflicts on several occasions in the parts concerned with the battles and the debates that surrounded the emergence of the genre and influenced its progress. Though her title suggests that the book will cover about a century of the history of the prose poem in English, Murphy’s study does not claim to document the development of the genre extensively. Instead, Murphy focuses on a group of texts that, she believes, represent important trends for the genre, and explores their social, ideological and aesthetic functions. Combining textual and historical approaches in studying these texts, she investigates the evolving definitions and perceptions of the genre as they affect its reception. The main focus of Murphy’s study is researching the prose poem as a subversive genre. This subversive function is realized through the continuous drive of the genre to use and deform well-established discursive modes, traditions, conventions and genres. This process, in return, shapes the nature of the prose poem and defines it as ‘a consciously experimental form’ that is ‘affected and infected by traditional forms’. Studying different patterns of the genre in European and American contexts, Murphy argues that the struggle with tradition and convention accompanied the genre throughout its history and is still ongoing. However, Murphy’s study is not restricted to studying the impact of the genre in literary history. She argues that this subversive poetic genre intervened instrumentally in the process of social, political and ideological history. Therefore, studying the history and aesthetics of the genre is central to general questions that confront modern literary

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studies, and particularly questions about the struggle of marginal texts, form and voices against the literary, social and political status quo. Murphy’s perception of this cultural struggle draws on Edward Said’s observation of culture as ‘a system of exclusions legislated from above but enacted throughout its polity, by which such things as anarchy, disorder, irrationality, inferiority, bad taste, and immorality are identified, then disposed outside the culture and kept there by the power of the state and its institutions’.135 Along these lines, Murphy investigates the role of stigmatizing the genre during early stage as ‘anarchical’ by political and cultural authorities in driving the genre ‘out of the academy’ to the margins of the avant-garde for half a century. In her study of the chosen texts, Murphy applies modern linguistic and textual approaches to studying the prose poem. Hence, she examines syntactic construction and devices that are employed by prose poets, such as repetitions, refrains and clichés, traditionally studied as rhythmic devices. Murphy significantly opposes the widespread concept about the structural dependence of the genre on these rhythmic devices. Instead, she examines the prose poem techniques of repetition and of mimicking certain traditions for other reasons. When the prose poem, she argues, mimics and repeats certain models such as the Bible, the fairytale, allegories and dream narration, it develops its own discourse by subverting the formula of these traditions. By playing off these traditions, the prose poem also builds up its intended poetic effect. In this respect, Murphy argues that the prose poem’s most productive resources lie in ‘the play offered by prose as prose, not in prose distorted to mimic the musical qualities of verse’,136 and that the prose poems that are stylized through reliance on these musical qualities ‘imply that the language of verse poetry is superior to that of prose, and hence they poorly imitate verse’. In her book, she examines the major potential of the genre and the wide range of prose techniques it exploits. Thus, in Williams’ writing she studies the techniques of improvisation, in Stein’s prose poems the techniques of generating parodies through fragmenting and mimicking authoritative discourses, while in her chapter on Ashbery she analyses the polyphonic structure in his prose poems.137 Expanding on the application of Monroe, Murphy develops the strategy by exploring the lines of progress along which the genre develops in different cultures and new contexts. Her textual study provides wide-ranging models for reading prose poems irrespective of language or national literature. The American Prose Poem by Delville is considered as ‘the first full-length work to provide a critical and historical survey of the American prose poem from the early years of the twentieth century to the 1990s’.138 In this book, Delville follows the same lines established by Monroe and Murphy. Though it is dedicated to the American prose poem, the book extends its scope to investigate the European origins of the genre and reassess the work of the representative poets in relation to the history of modern poetry in general. Delville does not attempt to provide an extensive account of the history of the prose poem in question,

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nor does he claim to cover in detail all the poets studied. Working on similar ground to that laid by Monroe and Murphy, he focuses on a limited number of works, each of which ‘epitomizes a crucial pattern of development in the history of the genre’.139 Proposing a full investigation of the genre-testing potential of the prose poem, Delville’s research combines methods of both textual and cultural studies. In view of that, he explores the intertextual and discursive function of the prose poem on one hand, and accounts for the circumstances of its composition and reception, labelling and publishing, on the other. In investigating the narrative tendency of the prose poem, Delville follows in the steps of the three books discussed earlier. However, whereas the novel is taken as a master model for the narrative mode of the prose poem, Delville studies shorter literary narratives such as novelistic fragments and the different patterns of short story and short popular narratives such as the fable and the parable. By deconstructing and subverting different types of prose narrative, the prose poem demonstrates its potential for reclaiming a number of functions and modes usually considered to be the privilege of prose literature. Besides the narrative mode, another mode is brought by Delville into view as central to the poetics of the genre. Reclaiming the lyrical mode of the prose poem, which is remarkably downplayed in other studies, Delville reassesses its major role in defining the genre and its poetics. The lyrical mode, which is represented by several major features of the genre such as the fascination with language and the presence of the lyrical ‘I’, interferes with the progression of a story or an idea or a character beyond the text and defines the prose poem as a poetic genre. By involving stronger lyrical elements in their structure than that implied in novels, short narratives provided better master models for Delville’s study. In this view, the book examines the prose poem as a fusion of ‘lyrical concentration’ and ‘narrative expansiveness’.140 In his textual analysis, Delville examines the prose poem’s tendency to subvert generic boundaries as an indication of its aspiration to challenge the power of genre which represents authority. By poeticizing the prosaic, the prose poem bridges the gap between lyrical and critical discourses, between ‘high and low culture’, and ultimately between ‘art and life’.141 Besides recovering the role of the lyrical in the prose poem’s poetics, Delville’s study upgrades and enhances the strategy developed by the other critics. In his study of the prose poem as an avant-garde text, Delville investigates the influence of the international avant-garde movements and their journals on some American prose poets.142 He also brings into view some modern types of the prose poem, which he classifies as the fabulist prose poem, the neo-Surrealist prose poem and the miniature. With reference to the linguistic structure of the prose poem, Delville considers the semantic and rhythmic qualities displayed by the texts. However, as maintained by other critics who work on this strategy, he asserts that these qualities are non-specific to the prose poem. Instead, he foregrounds the heightened use of metaphoric structure and the interplay of the lyrical and narrative modes.143 However, a major accomplishment of Delville’s

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study is the conceptualizing of several views that were implied and expressed by the other three writers. In this respect, he emphasizes the foregrounding of ‘the discourse itself’ in the prose poem. He underlines this focus on ‘discourse’ as opposed to ‘the content’, and on ‘the narrative’ as opposed to ‘the narrated’. His study maintains that by calling attention to the signifier, a trait that is associated with poetry, the prose poem establishes itself as a poetic genre.144 The present book will draw upon these four books in various respects. It follows Terdiman’s book in its emphasis on the importance of locating the initial stage of the prose poem in its historical context in order to analyse its cultural and discursive relations. Hence, the early Arabic prose poem will be placed in the context of the post-colonial, post-1948 era. Since the other three books are comparative studies on the prose poem, they will provide the guiding critical principles for the research in the present book. Monroe’s comparative study establishes crosscultural paradigms for exploring the prose poem as a cultural ground for the formal and thematic struggle between various genres and discourses. The book will draw upon Monroe’s treatment of ignored and marginalized forms of discourse as a representation of the social groups associated with them. Murphy’s and Delville’s books offer models for combining the historical, cultural and textual approaches for studying the genre. Being among the most recent studies, they provide modern views and approaches to this study. This book will follow the strategy of these two critics in researching the historical period of the genre through choosing limited representative texts and exploring their functions.

N OTES

1 See M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), preface. 2 Michael Riffaterre ‘The Prose Poem’s Formal Features’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), pp. 17–18. 3 Hermine Riffaterre, ‘Reading Constants’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), p. 115. 4 Stamos Metzidakis, Repetition and Semiotics: Interpreting Prose Poems, p. 113. 5 See Murphy, pp. 112–13, and Terdiman, p. 343. 6 See Riffaterre, ‘The Prose Poem’s Formal Features’. 7 Perloff, Poetry On and Off the Page, p. 127. 8 See Murphy, pp. 31–62. 9 Delville, p. 108. 10 See Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’. 11 Abu Deeb, F# al-Shi‘riyya, pp. 117–19. 12 Murphy, p. 66. 13 Kirby-Smith, p. 271. 14 Robert Greer Cohen, ‘A Poetry–Prose Cross’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), p. 193.

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15 Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 80. 16 See Fan of Swords: Poems (by al-M\ghßµ), translated by Mayy Jayyusi, Introduction, written by Salma Jayyusi. 17 Fredman, preface to second edition, and Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’. 18 See Delville, p. 117. 19 See Michel Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies: Two Contextual Approaches to the French Prose Poem’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), pp. 38–49. 20 Bernard, p. 36. 21 See Murphy, pp. 65–6. 22 Kirby-Smith, p. 271. 23 M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), preface. 24 See Perloff, p. 138. 25 For more details about Ashberry’s Three Poems see Murphy, p. 41, and Fredman, ch. 3. 26 See al-∂\jj’s introduction to Lan, Adßn#s’ ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, and Kh\lida Sa‘#d, ‘F# ‘Atam\t al-Jasad’ in ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, Dir\s\t f# al-Adab al-‘Arab# al-∂ad#th. 27 Some of the early long poems of these two pioneers are examined in the following chapters. 28 See al-Mun\§ira, p. 8. 29 Whereas the term ‘brevity’ principally points towards the size of the text, ‘conciseness’ and ‘succinctness’ indicate the skill of eloquent writing that avoids ‘ish\b’ (digression). 30 ™al\© Fa@l, As\l#b al-Shi‘riyya al-Mu’\sira, p. 219. 31 Tzvetan Todorov, ‘Poetry without Verse’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), p. 61. 32 Monroe, p. 20. 33 See Richards, p. 48. 34 Todorov, ‘Poetry without Verse’, p. 64. 35 Perloff, Poetry On and Off the Page, p. 125. 36 See Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’. 37 See K. Sa‘#d’s ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, p. 77. 38 See Abu Deeb’s section about Adßn#s, in his book F# al-Shi‘riyya, pp. 116–22. 39 See Fa@l’s essay about al-M\ghßµ, in pp. 218–19, 225. 40 Ontology: ‘a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of existence’. See Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, A. S. Hornby, under ‘Ontology’. 41 Todorov, ‘Poetry without Verse’, p. 56. 42 Ibid., p. 49. 43 See Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies’, p. 50. 44 See Monroe, p. 26. 45 See Terdiman, ch. 7. 46 See Murphy, pp. 86–7. 47 See Metzidakis, p. 77. 48 See Riffaterre, ‘Reading Constants’, pp. 99–101. 49 See James R. Lawler, ‘The Alphabet of Paul Valéry’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), pp. 163–79. 50 See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, pp. 631–2. 51 See Moreh, pp. 393, 396. 52 See ibid., p. 309. 53 For al-Rai©\n# and Jibr\n’s prose rhythm see ibid., pp. 290–301, and for definitions of terms see his glossary, pp. 319–25. 54 Khouri, p. 111. 55 See K. Sa‘#d’s study about al-∂\jj ‘F# ‘Atam\t al-Jasad’, p. 78. 56 See Fredman, pp. 136–7. 57 For more definitions and textual examples of these two types of intertextuality see Riffaterre, ‘The Prose Poem’s Formal Features’, pp. 123–6. 58 See Richards, p. 53.

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83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101

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See H. Riffaterre, ‘Reading Constants’, p. 101. See Richards, p. 53. See Barbara Johnson ‘Disfiguring Poetic Language’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), p. 79. See Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies’. M. H. Abrams, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition, ch. 4, quoted in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds). See Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies’, See Michael Riffaterre, Semiotics of Poetry. See ibid., pp. 117–22. See Michael Riffaterre, Text Production, tr. Terese Lyons. Abu Deeb, pp. 116–22n, 158. Metzidakis, pp. 1–4. ‘Topoi’ is used by Metzidakis as the plural form of’ topos’. Other critics writing in English, such as Evans in Baudelaire and Intertextuality, also use the two terms. Topos is a term used for a concept, a theme, a common place or a topic. See Metzidakis, pp. 3, 14, 22. See ibid., pp. 21–6. Ibid., p. 23. See ibid., pp. 43–4. See ibid., pp. 53–4. See ibid., pp. 57–60. Ibid., p. 43. See ibid., p. 23. See ibid., pp. 71–2. Anagram is a word deduced from rearranging letters of a certain word; for more see ibid., pp. 86–7. See ibid., p. 39n. Murphy used it once in her introduction as a synonym for extratextual and extraliterary, in the context of examining the extraliterary conflict that surrounded Wilde’s writing taking place out of the text in the larger social context. For more details see Murphy, p. 4. Intertextuality will be used in the book in accordance with Metzidakis’ application only. See Metzidakis, p. 77. For more details about intratextual lexical repetition see ibid., pp. 83–4. See Nathaniel Wing, Present Appearances: Aspects of Poetic Structure in Rimbaud’s Illuminations, ch. 4. See Marc Eli Blanchard, In Search of the City, ch. 3. See Metzidakis, pp. 88–90. See ibid., p. 14. See ibid., pp. 20–1. See ibid., pp. 1, 2–20, 120, 131. See Richards, p. 30. Quoted by Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies’, pp. 43, 44. See Beaujour, ‘Short Epiphanies’, pp. 43–5. Ibid., p. 44. See Fredman, p. 161. See ibid., preface to the second edition. See ibid., pp. 8–10. This section which is included in his book Le Degré Zéro de L’écriture is quoted by Evans see the preface and p. 161n. Quoted and applied by Richards see pp. 50–1. See Evans, preface. Richards, p. 49.

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102 See Richards, p. 89. 103 See ibid., pp. 50–1. 104 Kenneth Womack, ‘Introduction: Theorizing Culture, Reading Ourselves’, in Literary Theories: A Reader and Guide, ed. Julian Wolfreys. 105 Alan Sinfield, ‘Art as a Cultural Production’, in Literary Theories: A Reader and Guide, ed. Julian Wolfreys, pp. 632–3. 106 For more details about the new applications in socio-cultural studies see Christopher Beach, Poetic Culture (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1999), Introduction. 107 See Fredman, preface to second edition. 108 See ibid., pp. 150–2. 109 For more details about L=A==N=G=U=A=G=E see Linda Reinfeld, Language Poetry: Writing as Rescue, pp. 1–2, Susan Venderborg, Paratextual Community: Avant-Garde Poetry since 1950 (Illinois, Southern Illinois University, 2001), pp. 1–2, and Geoff Ward, Language Poetry and the American Avant-garde, p. 14. 110 See Reinfeld, Introduction. 111 See Ward, Introduction. 112 See ibid., pp. 6–8. 113 See John Lowney, The American Avant-garde Tradition: William Carlos Williams, Post-modern Poetry and the Politics of Cultural Memory, Introduction. 114 See Beach, Introduction. 115 Ibid., pp. 6–7. 116 See Venderborg, pp. 1–2. 117 See ibid., Introduction. 118 See Berete Strong, The Poetic Avant-Garde: The Groups of Borges, Auden, and Breton, pp. 13, 213–15. 119 See Terdiman, preface. 120 Monroe, Introduction. 121 Murphy, Introduction. 122 Delville, Introduction. 123 See Terdiman, p. 307. 124 See ibid., pp. 321–2. 125 See ibid., pp. 341, 393–4. 126 See Monroe, p. 75. 127 Ibid., pp. 152–4. 128 Ibid., pp. 268–70. 129 See ibid., pp. 38–9. 130 See ibid., p. 35. 131 See ibid., pp. 19, 42, 53. 132 Ibid., p. 41. 133 See Murphy, pp. 69–74. 134 See ibid., Introduction. 135 From Edward Said’s The World, the Text and the Critic, quoted by Murphy, p. 60. 136 See ibid., 68–9. 137 About these three prose poets see ibid., ch. 3, ch, 4, and ch. 5, respectively. 138 Delville see book cover. 139 See ibid., preface. 140 Ibid., p. 106. 141 Ibid., 181. 142 For more details see ibid. (the part about Stein and her relation to the journal Transition), pp. 41–7. 143 See ibid., p. 97. 144 See ibid., p. 135.

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3

S HI ‘ R AND THE P ROSE P OEM : C ONTEXT AND P RACTICE

Introduction There is a certain degree of common ground for researchers writing about modern Arabic poetry, poetics and journalism, and about the prose poem in particular, in that they draw extensively on the achievements of the poets and critics of Shi‘r and on the Shi‘r journal. Contemporary writers from different disciplines agree on the major contribution of this journal and its writers to modern Arabic cultural history. However, they hold different viewpoints when defining and evaluating this contribution. Given the current preoccupation with modernity among Arab writers and intellectuals, Shi‘r and its pursuit of innovation and change is closely associated with this movement of modernity in the Arab world. In writings, and in discussions about modernity, Shi‘r is emphasized as one of the main motivating factors that raised the issue of Arabic cultural modernity and brought it to the light of day. However, because of its undefined political implications, the issue of modernity is a continuing debate in the Arab world, and attempts to arrive at common definitions of modernity are still surrounded by controversy. Therefore, its association with Shi‘r makes studying Shi‘r and its practices somewhat complex. The socio-political atmosphere of the post-colonial and post-1948 era played a major role in shaping intellectual and literary life in the region. It had a bearing on the general course that Shi‘r followed, and on the engagements of its main writers. It also had a drastic impact on some official and public negative reactions towards Shi‘r. However, the most aggressive reactions were those which arose in other literary circles. These complications engulfed the journal Shi‘r and its associates in one of the most ferocious literary battles in modern Arab history. The anti-Shi‘r campaign was made more obscure with the involvement of a wide range of forces including conservatives and progressives. It involved individuals, groups, institutions, parties and governments of different and contradictory interests and involvements. However, what makes the topic particularly complicated is the position of several eminent writers and other avant-garde journals, most notably Al-£d\b and its associates, who were at the head of the anti-Shi‘r campaign. In these ferocious battles, all the literary practices that were associated with the journal came under attack. Being a principal focus of the journal, the prose poem was at the centre of the battle, and its practitioners were the major targets. These challenges made it difficult for the journal and its writers to defend themselves and to progress. They also proved to be an obstacle for researchers seeking a clear vision on the subject. The process left an enormous polemical legacy which

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still casts a dark shadow on the image of Shi‘r and the writings about it. Furthermore, it blurred and complicated the overall outlook towards literary modernity and modernity in general. The anti-Shi‘r campaign cooled off after the closure of the journal and the disintegration of the group. However, it was never brought to an end. At the time and later, several studies attempted to correct some misconceptions and to bring a different view to bear. Some writers introduced new approaches and gave different readings of the topic.1 In compiling information, studies about Shi‘r show no shortage of historical data. However, serious common shortcomings in studies about Shi‘r arise from the way in which this information was managed and manipulated, and the repercussions of the old legacy still have a strong presence. By combining socio-cultural and linguistic approaches, Western literary theory has introduced new methods of studying literary and poetic movements.2 In the light of these new findings it is possible to describe the origins of the shortcomings and difficulties that have become associated with studying Shi‘r and its practices, to acquire new perspectives in regard to this subject, and to search for alternatives. The main disagreement among writers stems from their definitions of ‘Shi‘r’ in the first place. In their writings, it is clear that the name ‘Shi‘r’ has three major connotations. It was created originally as a name of the journal. Accordingly, this was and still is the main reference of the name. Later on, the founders of the journal and its main writers were called ‘the group of the Shi‘r journal’. In the course of time, the activities of the group represented in the journal, or linked to it, were consolidated in what was called ‘the movement of the Shi‘r journal’. Sometimes, the name ‘Shi‘r’ occurs alone, mainly, in reference to the journal. There is no official document or original approved record that keeps a strict account of the establishment of the journal, the formation of the group or the launch of the movement. Therefore, writers rely on different sources and use their own judgement and speculation. Their writings show that they frequently confuse references to the journal, the group and the movement. They generally link these three areas on the one hand, and modern poetry and poetics on the other. These writers varied in their approaches and methods. Regarding the journal, critics give different views concerning its editorship, its operating dynamics and its modes of conduct. When writing about the group of Shi‘r, they give different views on defining the concepts of the group and the groupmembership. Hence, they disagree on identifying the names of members and other associates. They also differ in defining the roles of these individuals in the various activities of the group. Furthermore, they vary their terms of defining the movement and its preoccupations. Writing about the movement of Shi‘r, they give different readings of its main practices and achievements. Moreover, they vary drastically in their definition of the three areas (the journal, the group and the movement) and in their evaluations of the connections between them.

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This chapter is divided into two sections. The first, ‘Definitions of Shi‘r’, investigates the predominant approaches in the leading studies and the ongoing argument about Shi‘r. It reviews the methods that are applied to studying Shi‘r as a journal, a group, and a movement, and examines the findings and inputs of these studies. Special attention will be paid to complications arising from the misapprehensions that surround Shi‘r and that lead to misreading the writings of the group? By drawing upon recent leading-edge achievements in cultural studies, the second section will attempt to construct and follow an alternative strategy to study the history and practices of Shi‘r in a new light. These new theories combine approaches taken from cultural studies and literary theory in order to study literary movements, groups and their practices and writings. These include methods and approaches that were originally developed to study popular culture and arts. In cultural studies, poetry is treated as a cultural practice that is subjected to the same forces that operate in society as a whole.

Definitions of Shi‘r The Journal (1957–64; 1967–70)

The journal Shi‘r is a quarterly that was founded in Beirut in 1957 and was dedicated to poetry and poetic studies. Both early and more recent writings view it as a professional avant-garde journal that was founded in support of poetic experimentation and innovative poetic forms.3 The journal was founded by Yßsuf al-Kh\l and a small team of young poets who gathered around him and participated in the process. Alongside the journal, an art gallery and a small publishing firm were established. The journal was at the centre of various types of cultural practice, involved in establishing and organizing different types of activities that carried the name of Shi‘r, such as ‘the Shi‘r Thursday’, and ‘the Shi‘r poetry award’. ‘The Thursday’ was a weekly meeting that consisted of various social and poetic events ranging from inclusive soirées, meetings, workshops and seminars, to public lectures and informal meetings. The journal also had a wide international network of correspondents and contributors. Al-Kh\l was a poet and a critic, and was known for his innovative views, writings and lectures about al-shi‘r al-©ad#th (modern poetry).4 Some writers cite al-Kh\l as the founding father and editor in chief, whereas others name him along with Adßn#s as one of the two founders, owners and main editors.5 In fact, the journal featured the names of both, as owners and editors in chief, for about two years before it closed down in 1964. The other issues carried the name of al-Kh\l alone as owner and editor in chief. Al-Kh\l and Adßn#s were joined early on by a few young poets, who are named by Bazzßn as being Kh\lil ∂\wi, Nadh#r al-‘A$ma and Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ.6 Those five poets were described by Bazzßn as the ‘nucleus of the Shi‘r tajammu‘’ (gathering). Al-∂\jj could be added to them for several reasons. References concerning the foundation and the

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founders point to a circle of young poets who gathered around al-Kh\l at that early stage. This included al-∂\jj, who was part of this group of young poets from the beginning. Furthermore, the permanent features in the first year show that al-∂\jj, the literary editor of the prestigious Al-Nah\r at the time, was part of the close circle of Shi‘r.7 The early issues of the journal carry several poems and studies written by him that fit in well with the general orientation of the journal, especially its focus on modern poetry and poetics. The volume and the nature of his contributions suggest that he was one of those who were involved in efforts to start the new journal. Though he was excluded by Bazzßn from the list of the founding team, his prolific contributions to early issues, and his subsequent role as one of the principal editors of Shi‘r for several years, place him as a member of the team at the foundation stage. All six in this team were young poets with similar interests in experimentation and innovation.8 Furthermore, all of them were to become renowned poets in modern Arabic poetry and in Arabic cultural history in general. The internal politics of the main writers of Shi‘r had a big impact on the life and the performance of the journal. In addition to political and financial pressure, internal tensions contributed to the first closure of the journal (1964). It returned for two years (1967–69) but then closed again permanently. Some critics observe that during its second short appearance, the journal had a different character and orientation, but most fail to give any further explanation, ignoring this second period of Shi‘r and focusing almost exclusively on the first, longer period.9 In fact, the change in the journal was dramatic, placing it alongside the more extravagant cultural journals that were circulating around the Arab world at the time. With its new ornate cover and focus on visual arts, fiction, interviews and private news of writers, the character of the old avant-garde journal, with its historical project and organic relation to the prose poem, seemed to have disappeared.10 Critics tend to assume that the same pressures and tensions that resulted in the journal’s first suspension led to its permanent termination,11 seeming oblivious to the impact the journal’s new character may have had on this. As the published material in the journal shows, al-Kh\l is the only individual who stayed with the journal throughout its lifetime. The credits in all issues present him as the owner of the journal, the manager and the editor in chief. The names of the editorial manager and editorial secretary changed and sometimes disappeared altogether. The second name in order is Adßn#s’. It frequently appears along with al-Kh\l’s name as the editorial secretary or as the editorial manager. In the remaining issues, different names appeared on the editorial board including Uns# al-∂\jj, Shawq# Abß Shaqr\, Fu’\d Rifqa, ‘I§\m Ma©fß$ and Riy\@ Naj#b al-Rayyis. Other than the editorials signed by al-Kh\l, several editorials were signed by ‘the board of editors’, and others again with different names. Other names associated with the journal can help in reconstructing a probable list of those who participated in running it at different stages. Besides the names of the founders and editors, the first three issues carried the name of

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Kam\l al-Ghar#b as the manager and one of the sources mentions a number of additional names as participants in administering the journal: Kh\lida Sa‘#d, ∂al#m Barak\t, ‘£dil ®\hir and As‘ad Razzßq.12 Modern Arab literary theorists recognize the organic relationship between the journal Shi‘r and modern poetics, although they manifest their understanding of the relationship in different ways. Moreh used the journal as the main reference source from which he quoted, often stating the numbers of certain volumes in his footnotes. However, he only once mentioned Shi‘r – in a brief comment in his book Modern Arabic Poetry.13 This sounds peculiar for a book that is considered one of the most significant books in English on the topic. Jayyusi and Badawi refer frequently to the journal in their writings about modern Arabic poetry. They greatly appreciated the journal’s contribution to the evolution of Arabic literary modernity and placed it at the centre of the modern Arabic literary scene. Jayyusi revisits the topic of Shi‘r several times in the context of other subjects and every time she gives new insights. However, both she and Badawi tend to treat the journal as a passive instrument that was used by Shi‘r’s members to express their views and to experiment with new forms. Defining the journal, Jayyusi writes: ‘On the pages of Shi‘r, also, avant-garde poets and critics found an open platform for their creative experiments and literary ideas.’14 Similarly, Badawi values the journal’s ‘role in the development of Arabic poetry’. However, throughout his book, he also views it as a passive venue for the activities of the group. Evaluating the role of Shi‘r, Badawi believes it was ‘the rallying ground for most of the avant-garde poets in the Arab world’.15 Bazzßn adds new historical information about the establishment of the journal, and goes beyond others in emphasizing its relationship to the prose poem. In this respect, he believes that the journal Shi‘r ‘carried in its folds all the discussions that crystallized the theoretical history of the prose poem, and which became an Arabic reference for all researchers into the nature of this poetic genre’.16 In Al-∂ad\tha al-%l\, B\rßµ bases parts of his extensive research on materials that were published in and on the journal. However, he concentrates his research on the movement and treats the journal as a publishing context for the movement. More recent studies about the journal repeat similar information and emphasize similar points. The following section will draw upon some data of these books and will examine them in view of new approaches and comparative case studies to bring about a new understanding of the journal Shi‘r. The Group

Studies of the prose poem and the Shi‘r journal often refer to ‘the group of the Shi‘r journal’ or ‘the group of Shi‘r’ but no definitive list is provided of the names of the members, nor do those who employ these terms seem certain of the identity of the group’s members.17 However, most of the above-listed fourteen founders and administrators of the journal18 are found in such studies,

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usually in proportion to the profile of the name in question and their contribution to modern poetry and poetics. This contribution is emphasized when it relates to the poetic experimentation and innovative writing advocated by Shi‘r, in which the prose poem occupies a central position. Alongside those assumed to be the movement’s founders, other poets and critics associated with modern poetry and the prose poem were extensively quoted and studied in connection with the journal and the movement. The primary list of those seen as the main figures of the group includes al-Kh\l, Adßn#s, ∂\wi, al-‘A$ma, al-M\ghßµ, Abß Shaqr\, al-∂\jj, Rifqa and Kh\lida Sa‘#d. There is no official date for the breaking up of the group but there were divisions within it that led to the break-up, and the first closure of the journal in 1964 was a pointer to its ultimate disintegration. By that time, some of the main figures had already gone their separate ways, including ∂\w#, Adßn#s, Kh\lida Sa‘#d and al-M\ghßµ. Critics have adopted the conventional method of profiling members and studying their achievements individually. Thus, when they studied the group they searched for ties between the members in the individual backgrounds of the main figures. While all the main figures listed above are Syro-Lebanese, all but al-‘A$ma belonged to one of the religious minorities in the region. Al-Kh\l, al-∂\jj, ∂\w#, Abß Shaqr\ and Rifqa were Christians; Adßn#s and Kh\lida Sa‘#d were ‘Alawis and al-M\ghßµ was Ismaili. Al-Kh\l, Adßn#s, Kh\lida Sa‘#d, Rifqa and al-M\ghßµ all came from the Syrian countryside, which emphasizes their position on the socio-cultural margins. This fact is generally overlooked by Arab critics whereas modern studies of Euro-American avant-garde literature emphasize its vital connection to such margins. The prose poem, which is studied as one of the main practices of the avant-garde, is viewed by Western theorists as the quintessential text of the margin.19 Al-Kh\l and Adßn#s both sought and obtained Lebanese nationality, which again emphasizes this marginal connection. The concept of exile, both optional and forced, is highlighted by theorists in their studies of the social connections of the avant-garde.20 During the anxieties of the post-colonial period and the turmoils of 1948–67, Shi‘r had all the necessary ingredients to inspire one of the most dramatic conspiracy theories of the time. On one hand, the key figures in the group maintained close connections with notable Western individuals and institutions. Whereas Adßn#s represented Shi‘r’s connection with the Francophone world, al-Kh\l represented its Anglophone connection. Most of the volumes in the first longer phase contained references to their tours and lectures in the West, and correspondences with, and receptions of, friends and guests who were Western literary figures.21 Furthermore, at some points in their lives, most of the journal’s main figures had a connection with the Syrian or Lebanese Nationalist parties. Most of them joined the party briefly, quit at some points and shifted their orientations completely.22 The political and ethnic connections between the members were the subject of much speculation, most of which was negative. There affiliations were treated sometimes as clannish bonds.23 Other critics went

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further and the aspirations of the group were viewed as a part of a hidden political agenda.24 However, from the beginning, the group extended its framework to be representative of all shades in the political and social spectrum. Hence, the close circle included several Palestinians, Iraqis and Egyptians. Shi‘r associates also included different kinds of political and intellectual trends that were popular at that period: Arab Nationalism, Marxism, Mediterraneanism, Phoenicianism, and existentialism.25 In spite of the partial and judgemental nature of most of the literature that was written about Shi‘r, it nevertheless provides a rich primary source for any study about the topic. The substantial amount of information in the individual biographies concerning backgrounds and affiliations contains good material to study the roots of Arabic modernist movements in the light of modern socio-cultural theories. I will draw upon this information here and attempt to give potential answers to long-standing questions that still haunt Arab intellectuals about the complicated concept of identity in the Arab world and the disparate reactions to modernity and cultural change among different Arab ethnic, political and cultural groups. The second section of this chapter attempts to embark upon some of these debates and engages in exploring them in the light of modern socio-cultural theory. Membership of the group, or affiliation to it, was measured by the type of connection with the journal. The sources give different accounts in naming the individuals who were connected with the journal and in evaluating their contributions. Using the information that is provided by these accounts, it is possible to collect all the possible names and classify the different roles of these individuals. Since most of them undertook more than one role, or changed their roles, it is helpful to start by suggesting definitions of these roles. Following the information provided by the journal, as well as the writings about it, it is possible to identify several sub-groups. Those who established the journal can be called ‘the founders’, those who ran it ‘the editors’ and those who administered its policies ‘the administrators’. Other categories can be established, such as ‘the correspondents’, ‘the writers’, ‘the critics’ and ‘the poets’. The key prose poets who are now called ‘the pioneers’26 fall within the last category. Alongside the above listed names,27 the sources refer to some prominent poets who were considered among Shi‘r’s most prolific poets. Such poets participated in Shi‘r’s experimentation from the very beginning, such as al-Sayy\b, Jabr\ and ™\yigh. Writers on Shi‘r tend to differ in their evaluation of the impact of the group on the individual achievements of poets and critics. Moreh only once mentions the group as ‘the poets and critics of Shi‘r’. However, he writes more extensively about some of its main figures as individual poets. Some critics carried out their investigations of the group on a wider scale. Jayyusi, one of the poets acquainted with Shi‘r, revisits the subject several times in her writings about modern Arab poets and poetry. She gives detailed biographical accounts about Shi‘r’s most prolific writers and about their writings. However, she tends to study these

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members of the group and their achievements on an individual basis, treating them like all other poets who did not work within the context of a group or a journal. In a similar way, Badawi treats the members of the group according to his own definition, viewing the writers and poets of Shi‘r as ‘varying talents’. In their studies, these critics had their own criteria in choosing their selections of individual poets. Consequently, they researched in depth several poets of Shi‘r, and ignored others. A key poet like al-M\ghßµ, who was recognized by many as a pioneer or ‘the pioneer’28 of the prose poem, was ignored or even dropped completely from some selections.29 Furthermore, in some studies, al-M\ghßµ was labelled as a free verse poet.30 Writers of more recent studies had access to wider-ranging records of the group and their activities. For example, Bazzßn provides some detailed information about the gradual formation of the group and the biographies of its main writers, including the pioneers. Understandably, since membership was not official, critics and theorists give different accounts of the group. However, they follow each other in concentrating on the individual profiles of certain names that they select. This method has a drastic impact on the strategies and approaches that were applied to reading and evaluating the achievements of the journal and the group. One of the achievements of modern literary studies about Western literary organizations and groups is to distinguish between approaches to studying individual writing and discourse on the one hand, and those concerned with institutional discourse and group writings on the other.31 Arab critics who explore the work of any one of Shi‘r’s writers treat the work as an individual accomplishment, and consequently, the journal was seen merely as a meeting venue and a medium for individual publications and personal careers. The group has also been seen as a political and sectarian gathering which was dominated by a clannish spirit. These conventional methods of exploring the journal and group have led to endless misleading allegations and misconceptions. To a great extent, this outlook still dominates the theoretical studies that research Shi‘r and the prose poem. The Movement

From the early issues of the journal, it was obvious to observers and critics that here was a movement in progress. Referring to the ongoing procedure, the editors of Shi‘r used different terms like ris\la (message/mission), tayy\r (trend), mashrß’ (project), ittij\h (tendency) and ©araka (movement). Gradually the term ©arakat majallat Shi‘r (the movement of the Shi‘r journal), was introduced into the cultural scene and used equally by the Shi‘r’s group and other parties. The phrase ‘the movement of the Shi‘r journal’ seems very broad and undefined, but the term ‘movement’, along with its synonyms, continued to be used, mainly in the permanent features that were usually prepared collectively by Shi‘r’s main figures, including the editorial board, the correspondents and the close associates. These permanent features were ‘the editorials’, ‘the list of contributors’

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and ‘the news section’, which included ‘the poetry mail’. A great number of these permanent features were usually left anonymous. During the period of its publication and afterwards, critics and theorists who studied Shi‘r as a movement neglected these sections to concentrate on the articles and essays by the main writers of Shi‘r. In comparison with the elaborate writings of the main figures of Shi‘r, these common and regular sections must have appeared insignificant and less prestigious. Nonetheless, they are worthy of closer examination and more appreciation. Their merit is derived from their potential to be a substantial source of different types of information about the journal, the group and the movement. Unlike the articles and essays, these scattered statements and comments were produced collectively and they carry the collective stamp of Shi‘r. On the other hand, the mechanisms of producing these sections might have been a driving force behind the movement, for the spontaneous flow of information and statements which seems to have had a life of its own might have dictated to some extent the rhythm of the movement and contributed to sustaining it. For example, it is unlikely that the poetry or the literary criticism published in the first three issues was chiefly responsible for the banning of the journal in some countries.32 Rather, this was triggered by the regular sections which gripped the attention of the wider audience and governmental censors across the Arab world. These sections reveal what was discussed in meetings and seminars, and also incorporate the contributions and feedback of readers, supporters and opponents. The early statements of the editors published in the permanent features indicate the range of activities and the course that the movement followed. The editorials, the news sections and the mail reports give a transparent illustration of how the infant movement was consolidated, declared and promoted. Editors reported on the conduct of communications, the forging of connections and on lectures delivered in the Arab world as well as the international scene. Through the joint efforts of the group, these activities were displayed in all sections, and hence, the movement gradually defined its main focal points. From the beginning, the movement of Shi‘r defined itself through the involvement of the group and the journal in the issues of modern poetry and poetics. Increasingly, it made clear its interest in reinforcing modern poetics and experimenting with innovative poetic forms. With the turmoil that was caused by al-M\ghßµ’s first poem, the prose poem occupied a central position in Shi‘r.33 This interest was demonstrated by the abundant publications of prose poems in the following volume and theoretical studies about the genre in the journal, and in books that were published by the publishing house of Shi‘r.34 However, the critics vary in their stress on the main endeavours of the movement: some associate the movement of Shi‘r with free verse, some with the prose poem and some with both. However, the movement was also associated with other practices derived from its interest in Western poetry, Western literary theory and literary events around the world. This interest was manifested through the creation of an

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international circle of contributors to the journal. In addition, abundant translations of Western poetry and poetic theories appeared on the pages of Shi‘r, and figured prominently in the editorials, where space was usually given to central issues. While Westernism generally meant Francophonism in that period, Shi‘r was also accused of Anglophonism in its early stages.35 This might be due to the fact that several of the chief figures studied and/or taught in British and American universities, most notably Al-Kh\l, ∂\w#, Jabr\ and ™\yigh. This was enhanced by the abundance of materials that were translated from English and published in Shi‘r, which very often outnumbered translations from French. The amount of information that is disclosed by literary critics and theorists about Shi‘r’s ‘political position’ is far more abundant and different from what one expects to find in works of literary criticism. Critics introduced certain ideas about Shi‘r and ways of reading its practices that are still circulated around the Arab world. Moreh and al-Mun\§ira provide samples of the common understanding of Shi‘r. Al-Mun\§ira attributes a Euro-American political reference to Shi‘r’s group and considers the prose poem as ‘the text of globalization’36 which flourishes ‘within the culture of the new world order, where video clip songs, McDonald’s restaurants, privatization and globalization dominate’. Further demonizing images are provided by Moreh. Discussing the precursors of the movement, Moreh provides in his Gothic version enough details and inspiration for those who are looking for a Masonic conspiracy.37 There are no dates to mark the birth or the termination of the movement. However, the progress of the movement follows that of the journal. After the closure of the journal and the disintegration of the group, the movement survived through its main writers who occupied eminent positions on the Arab cultural scene. Those writers are still referred to as members of the group or the movement of the Shi‘r journal. In the course of time, different approaches were developed for researching the nature of the movement and evaluating its significance, and extensive research on this topic has been carried out and is still going on. Nonetheless, more recent writings on the subject38 show that conventional methods still dominate research into the experience of Shi‘r, as critics who search for clues to analyse the dynamics of the movement still depend on direct statements from prolific figures of the group during talks, lectures or individual interviews. As their studies show, critics pick on up political statements that were delivered by the writers of Shi‘r and tend to use them as a main approach to study the movement. They also differ in their preferences when it comes to selecting their case studies and do not provide a clear idea about their selection criteria. Moreover, they study their selected poets as independent geniuses who assembled and competed in the venue of Shi‘r. In the following section, a different reading will be attempted in the light of the new methods and approaches of cultural studies, whereby a different reading of the topic will be proposed and a new image of Shi‘r will come into view.

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A New Definition of Shi‘r : An Alternative Literary Institution Modern socio-cultural studies have given rise to new theories of studying literature, and these have shifted the focus away from the conventional concept of perceiving poetry as a merely aesthetic production independent of its historical, social and economic contingencies. Studying poetry within its context, critics have adopted and adjusted methods of cultural studies that were originally developed and used to interrogate modes of popular culture such as film, television and music, and these socio-cultural methods prove particularly successful when they are applied to studying poetic movements, groups and their texts. Since they are usually characterized by sophisticated and complex networks of external and internal relations, avant-garde movements and avant-garde literature are two areas that have been treated in this manner. In these studies, poetry is treated as a cultural practice that is subject to the same forces of production, administration and regularization that operate in culture at large.39 In his study about modern ‘poetic culture’, Christopher Beach focuses on the social environments and the organizational systems in which poets exist and work. In his investigation, he delineates two models of framework: ‘the poetic community’ and ‘the poetic institution’.40 He defines the poetic community as a number of poets with similar interests, goals, orientations or backgrounds who gather into a network of mutual support. He also defines the institution as a form of social organization structured by some forces outside the immediate control or jurisdiction of poets themselves and usually in the service of something other than their own private needs. In the first case, he investigates several avant-garde groups as examples. As for the second, he investigates the university in general, and academic programmes of creative writing in particular. However, he also includes a basic description of a third model by indicating that some poetic communities evolve within an institutional framework.41 Though institutions are usually identified with mainstream culture, references indicate that poetic avant-garde communities can also work within an institutional framework. Hence, avant-garde and experimentalist poets can create forms of structure that attempt to set up an alternative institution. Applying these three models to the organizational systems of modern Arabic poetic cultures suggests that different forms of the first and the second models have always existed side by side. As for the third model, there are fewer examples. However, Shi‘r fits in well with this last model and gives an exemplary presentation of the alternative institution. Beach and other authorities do not provide a consistent approach to studying alternative institutions, but by combining the methods and approaches of Beach, Strong and other critics42 who used socio-cultural theories to study avant-garde groups and their usage of institutional structures, we can develop an approach to study the third model of the alternative institution. This approach can be applied to Sh‘ir as well as to other groups which attempt to build an institution that is independent of the official and

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the mainstream. The new definition of Shi‘r that is suggested and constructed in this section does not aim at abolishing or replacing the old references and definitions described in the first chapter, but to complement them and to bring new insights. In Beach’s book, as well as in several leading studies on the poetic avant-garde, the group of ‘Language poetry’43 is often studied as the main representative of the modern poetic avant-garde in English. These studies also refer to this group by using other terms such as: Language poets, Language poetry, Language writing and Language poem. Their studies include references to ‘the group’, ‘the community’, ‘the writings’ of Language poetry, and the methods and devices that they use. However, the two terms ‘Language’ and ‘Language poetry’ commonly occur alone as comprising all these areas. In these studies, theorists portrayed the elaborate institutional structure that supported Language poetry from its very beginning. Investigating all the references that carry the name of Shi‘r, a similar elaborate institutional structure of the poetic avant-garde comes into view. The Institutional System: A Miniature of the Establishment

According to modern theorists, institutional structures in current poetic culture, can grow and develop around different contexts such as creative writing programmes, workshops, publishing houses, literary magazines, newspapers that review poetry and cover poetry events, literary organizations, funds and granting agencies.44 In order to explore how cultural production takes place within an institutional framework, Beach studies the network of institutional systems. This area includes the internal media and other related forums, and has two functions. It administers ‘the commodification and circulation of poetry’ on one hand and interacts with the wider social context on the other. Through the work of the internal media of Shi‘r and its related forums, the institution defines itself and creates a sense of poetic community. Moreover, the media shapes and evaluates poetic canons and taste by means of poetry writing, reviewing and criticism. These practices influence professional achievements and determine poetic status. Other institutional systems operate through networks of teaching, prizes, anthologies, fellowships, writers’ circles, academic teaching and publication.45 Investigating the ‘institutional system’ of Shi‘r and its operations, a new and different image of Shi‘r will emerge. Thus, the journal, the group, the movement and other forums and practices can be observed within this new image of Shi‘r as an institution. In this light, Shi‘r stands up as an institution within which and through which poetic culture operates and poetic production takes place. Accordingly, a new understanding can be brought to the long-debated cultural and poetic practices and products that took place in Shi‘r, including the prose poem. The main source of information about the foundation of the institutional structure of Shi‘r exists in the biographies and accounts of the founders of the journal, and here al-Kh\l is a primary example. The brief accounts about him

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report on his work experience with eminent institutions like the UN, the AUB and the Arab–American Mahjar# magazine al-Hud\. Furthermore, it is clear that he had sufficient resources and extensive experience in business, investment and management. On the other hand, his renowned views and his interests were centred on modernity and modern literature and this explains his aspiration to invest in a consistent cultural project. As those writings on him and by him show, the focal point in his cultural endeavour was ‘language’.46 His statements and articles suggest that he perceived the crisis in the Arabic language as an indication of a cultural crisis. Thus, modernizing the culture in decline had to be based on modernizing the archaic language. The salvation of his culture was the main preoccupation of his poetry, and of the poetry of the rest of the Tammßzi group of poets to which he belonged.47 These aspirations were shared with the second founding member of Shi‘r, Adßn#s, who was another Tammßzi poet with similar views and concerns. Adßn#s had a similar obsession with modernity and with the salvation of his culture. He perceived the poetic crisis to be indicative of a cultural crisis and aspired to modernize culture by modernizing poetry. Such ideas of cultural salvation are common among avant-garde groups. Linda Reinfeld dedicates her entire book about the Language poetry movement, Language Poetry: Writing as Rescue, to the study of this topic. As the title of her book shows, she considers the ideas of salvation as central to avant-garde projects. Studying the poet Charles Bernstein, who was the co-founder and main theorist of the movement, she considers his own intellectual project and his belief in poetry as one of the driving forces behind the foundation of the movement.48 Adßn#s’ major focus was ru’ya (vision) which he defines as ‘the shape of thought and sensitivity’ and the ‘rebellion against old poetic methods and forms, and a rejection of its outdated outlook and methods’.49 This was to complement al-Kh\l’s central endeavour regarding language. The two endeavours of ‘language’ and ‘vision’ intertwined to provide the theoretical basis for the form and discourse for this movement of modern poetry, and the prose poem in particular. The profound knowledge of Arabic language and literature, and the articulacy and eloquence of the young poet, who had just left prison and gone into exile, were manifested clearly in his early publications. This captured the attention of al-Kh\l, around whom young poets started to gather. Al-Kh\l, the mentor of the evolving community, must have found in Adßn#s the assets which he needed to launch his project. Other talents and skills were to inspire and devise the historical and cultural project that functioned through elaborate institutional systems. As in other avant-garde projects, the poetic media was the core of the system.50 The evolving structure created a centre of attention for many young talents with similar skills and interests, who were seeking to channel them into a wider project. The community and the institutional structure had a mutual impact on each other’s evolution and on the orientations of the poets afterwards. In other words, the

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project attracted the proficiencies that suited its different areas: administrators, managers, editors, journalists, critics and poets. Furthermore, it attracted supporters, friends and benefactors. At the same time, the collective effort of these members shaped the structure of the institution and determined its practices. Besides individual aspirations and incentives, the creation of Shi‘r as an alternative institution was a response to certain historical requirements. On the one hand, institutions always include an infrastructure that interacts with the wider cultural context. On the other hand, the infrastructure of poetic institutions provides an environment of marketability and readership.51 In this respect, the emergence of the institution of Shi‘r was a response to the imperatives of the Arabic project of literary modernity. Beach notices the vitality of the institutions and their roles in sustaining and promoting infant movements: ‘Institutions are thus in many cases a catalyst for a given community, or a means of perpetuating a community beyond the life cycle it would otherwise have had.’52 The roles that were played by different individuals placed the internal relationships of Shi‘r within a pyramid with Al-Kh\l at the apex and Adßn#s in close proximity. There were wide disparities between different members in terms of their positions, responsibilities, times of joining, and the scope of their participation in founding the journal. They had different capabilities and talents, and varying degrees of efficiency in accomplishing different tasks. These disparities created a hierarchy of relations between different members and provided a dramatic climax for the critics who wrote the story of Shi‘r. The tension that was created by the chain of command was overemphasized by certain references and constituted a focus for others.53 The hierarchical structure was detested by critics, who found it indicative of the dysfunction of Shi‘r as a collective project. This understanding had a considerable impact on the studies which perceive Shi‘r as a venue for solitary talents. However, the modern socio-cultural approach to literature requires a different assessment. In his analysis of the internal politics that accompany the evolution of communities and institutions, Beach states: ‘While communities generally begin as collective and egalitarian enterprises, every community will at some point in its history develop hierarchical relationships that may lead to a more permanent institutional framework.’54 Certain elements of the institutional structure of Shi‘r are mentioned briefly and occasionally in some accounts and by collating these scattered descriptions it is possible to draw a rough sketch of this structure. The tasks and enterprises put into operation by Shi‘r indicate an elaborate institutional structure consistent with the definitions of the modern poetic institution. First of all, there was the journal of Shi‘r – the main ‘internal institutional media’. Next was the publishing house of the Shi‘r journal within which numerous books were published. In his study of the avant-garde tradition of using different channels to acquire ‘reputation’ and ‘recognition’, John Lowney underlines literary journals and book publishing as the two main channels.55 The literary journals, he states, bring intellectual recognition, and book sales provide public recognition.

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Reviewing the lists of its publications shows that the publishing house followed the same preferences and cultural strategy as the journal.56 Alongside, the poetic journal of Shi‘r, a twin literary journal called Adab was issued for two years and was dedicated to other literary genres. To incorporate the visual arts in the set of cultural connections, an art gallery called ‘Gallery One’ was added. This well-designed façade suggests competent organizational skills and a profound expertise in institutions. It also gives an impression of a cultural institution that is resourceful and versatile. Whether premeditated or not, this multifaceted structure recalls the chain complexes of interlocking official institutions that were emerging in the newly independent Arab states. After all, avant-garde culture tries to resemble the official establishment, against which it sets itself. This drive is a part of avant-garde culture around the world as explained by Strong in his study of English, French and Latin American models of poetic avant-garde projects.57 In fact, this is also the very factor that downgrades avantgarde projects and brings them to an end. Around the journal, Shi‘r developed an elaborate institutional system. Through this network, it interacted with the wider social and cultural context on the Arab as well as international level. In the course of time, Shi‘r expanded its systems and policies and developed what Beach calls ‘institutional power’.58 The journal reported on Shi‘r’s various activities, such as establishing ‘the annual award of the Shi‘r journal’ which granted one thousand Lebanese pounds to collections that were nominated by a committee of poetry judges.59 In regular sections, the journal also reported on fund raising, the organizing of valedictions for deceased poets and establishing a library.60 The news sections drew a picture of an institution that participated dynamically in wider Arabic cultural life and with strong connections. The second issue, in which several permanent features were incorporated, could be cited as an example. Items in the permanent features in this issue reported on the performance of Shi‘r in the preceding three months: the organizing of a lecture by al-Kh\l, publishing a collection by Adßn#s, appointing three correspondents in Baghdad, Cairo and North America, hosting a poetry reading by Niz\r Qabb\n# and preparing a poetic anthology. These five enterprises and practices are underlined by Beach as the typical operations of poetic institutional systems.61

The Institution as a Catalyst: Three Areas of Investigation As shown in the theory, as well as in the case of Shi‘r, literary institutions define themselves mainly through the groups that are associated with them, the literary practices of these groups and the systems that facilitate these practices.62 These three areas are condensed within the institution of Shi‘r, and the name Shi‘r comprises references to all of them. Thus, a new poetic institution or counterinstitution appears as a ‘catalyst’ that engenders and sustains a new community,

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a new writing and a new media. Along these lines, investigations into poetic organizational structures are carried out on three levels. Some critics focus their investigations on poetic communities that work within institutional frameworks, some investigate how the literary institution operates through new writing and different discourses, and others study the operations of institutional systems which function through the media. Combining the three areas allows a more thorough examination. Accordingly, the institution of Shi‘r can be seen as the catalyst that formed and sustained certain ‘groups’, ‘media’ and ‘writing’. The first includes ‘the pioneers of the prose poem’. The second includes the ‘journal Shi‘r’, and the third includes ‘the prose poem’. These three areas constitute the triple focuses of the study of poetic institutions. This approach defines ‘the community of Shi‘r’, ‘the new writing in Shi‘r’ and ‘the media of Shi‘r’ as the three areas for investigation of the literary institution of Shi‘r. The Community of Shi‘r: The Counterculture

Writing about modern poetic movements, critics lay varying degrees of emphasis on the different sections of the movement. One of the focuses is usually the human resources, which are classified under different names. The evolution, the progress and the termination of a literary movement is commonly associated with the same line of commencement, evolution, development and disintegration of a literary group. Due to the complex networks of relations that characterize avant-garde culture, some recent books about the subject widen their focus to include all the associates of the movement and the group in question. Thus, they focus on studying communities rather than groups.63 Alongside the several sub-groups of Shi‘r that are listed under ‘the group’ in the first part of this chapter, a bigger group existed. Several poets, writers, intellectuals, benefactors and supporters do not fit properly into any of these sub-groups. Nevertheless, they had strong affiliations with Shi‘r. A few of these names are scattered in books and articles. However, scores of them are mentioned in the pages of the journal and portrayed as having different types of connection. The regular sections in the journal reported on communications with ‘adherents’, ‘friends’, ‘officials’, ‘fans of poetry’ and participants in Shi‘r’s activities and experiments. The frequent attendees of the Thursday meetings are referred to as having close connections with Shi‘r. Several European and American writers are mentioned among the friends of the Shi‘r journal, its correspondents, editors and its contributing writers. This variety of individuals played a major role in the evolution of Shi‘r and in supporting it throughout its existence. Nevertheless, the references that acknowledge the contribution of some of these figures either list the names without going into detail, or treat them as individual contributors to Shi‘r. Hence, these accounts seem completely oblivious to the historical significance of this gathering around the group. Combining all the names and groups that were affiliated with Shi‘r constructs a wide circle around Shi‘r that is as significant and worth studying as the journal

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and the main group. In the modern socio-cultural theory of poetry, the large gathering within and around a poetic movement is called the ‘poetic community’. The concept of ‘the community’ is not meant to replace the concept of ‘the group’ but to complement it. Therefore, the poetic group is mentioned as the core part of the poetic community, and the circle that includes its most eminent poets and critics. The tradition of developing communities is an inherent part of modern poetic movements and of avant-garde ones, in particular. As Beach notices, evolving communities could be a characteristic of an evolving institution or a step towards the evolution of an institution.64 Recent studies of literary communities around the world provide a comparative perspective to study the community of Shi‘r. This perspective brings more understanding to the subject, especially concerning some controversial points which still stir debate. The disagreement between critics on the membership of some figures and about the undefined relationships within Shi‘r can be worked out by bringing all these names into what might be called ‘the community of Shi‘r’. Furthermore, this will release the group of Shi‘r from the constant debate about establishing a definition for it. As these studies show, to study the historical course of a literary community, investigations have to be carried on both the levels of the internal and external relations of the community. Combining literary with socio-cultural methods, literary critics investigate both the interconnections within the community on the one hand, and the community’s interactions with the wider context on the other. Investigating Shi‘r through the same perspective sheds a new light on its institutional structure. The implications in the first area provided, and still provide, a basis for the common conceptions about Shi‘r and misconceptions about it. Political, ethnic and regional affiliations provoked the various speculations and misinterpretations that still surround Shi‘r. Furthermore, the literary and cultural practices of Shi‘r, including its engagement with modernity and the prose poem, were criticized as being a manifestation of a political project. These speculations were based on the connections and backgrounds of the main members that did not fit in with the common stereotypes that dominated the cultural scene at that time. As mentioned earlier, Western connections, as well as the political and ethnic backgrounds of the individuals, were subject to different kinds of speculation and interpretation, most of which were characterized by suspicion. The network of relationships in Shi‘r were treated as sectarian and clannish bonds. Furthermore, the aspirations of the group were viewed as cover for a hidden political agenda. The most common views about literary groups agree with Strong’s definition of them as ‘spontaneous comings together of like-minded people’.65 However, these views acknowledge that political connections and movements form part of the overall environment of these groups and influence their programmes. Venderborg acknowledges that the political connections of American avant-gardists triggered one of the long debates that surrounded them. However, she views these debates as an inherent feature of the avant-garde culture.66 Studying European and Latin

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American avant-gardism, Strong considers that some literary groups share similar political inclinations that range from political empathy to a clear political ideology.67 So, whereas Auden’s Oxford Group shared a leftist anti-Nazi and anti-fascist orientation, the French Surrealist group was characterized by its organizational affiliation with the Communist party.68 Studying ‘the personnel’ in various post-war American avant-garde groups, Ward investigated a wider range of interconnections. His study shows that eminent literary groups such as the Language, the Beats, the New Yorker, the Black Mountain, the West Coast and the East Coast were divided according to geographical regions. Furthermore, each of these groups was associated with several elements in that socio-cultural context such as certain social groups, cultural atmospheres, institutions, movements and certain trends in the fields of art, literature and thought. By associating themselves with certain regional traditions of political dissidence, some groups, such as the Beats and the East Coast, built an image of a counterculture.69 In the same way, the long-debated affiliations of Shi‘r with the Syrian National Party and ethnic minorities might have been highlighted by some of the members to emphasize the countercultural character of Shi‘r. Through this approach, Shi‘r‘s practices and accomplishments should be reviewed and re-evaluated. The second area in the investigation brings the organizational operations and the institutional systems of Shi‘r into view. The regular sections that profiled Shi‘r’s writers, correspondents and contributors give a clear picture of their relations and connections. Through its close associates, Shi‘r maintained strong connections with several newspapers, institutions and organizations, including distinguished Arab and Western universities. Furthermore, it had strong connections with international writers and writers’ associations. These connections involved Shi‘r in institutional practices and consolidated its image as an institution. For example, the first published list of contributors includes the president of the Andalusian League in Brazil, Al-‘U§ba al-Andalusiyya, and two editors in chief of two renowned newspapers in the region. It also includes twelve graduates of Cambridge, Harvard, the AUB, and the Sorbonne. Most of those are described as having teaching posts in distinguished Arab and international universities, including the AUB and Bonn University. Since Beach associates academic positions with the mainstream institutions,70 highlighting the academic connections could be viewed as an attempt to acquire recognition in the mainstream. The news section in the same issue reported on different Arab and international poetic events and activities. The news includes details about a lecture by al-Kh\l and information about appointing ‘Umar Pound, the son of Ezra Pound, as a correspondent of Shi‘r in the United States and Canada. Alongside its internal relationships, Shi‘r’s external network was just as sophisticated. Therefore, the performance of Shi‘r in the wider local, national and international context was to prove equally provocative. Its relentless effort to establish itself on the international level set it at odds with its Arabic

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counterparts. In the era of post-independence and post-1948 which was marked by anxiety and fear, Shi‘r was accused of Westernism, Francophonism and Anglophonism, and of not paying enough concern to national issues, most notably the issue of Palestine. This profiling left a negative impact on the performance of the institution of Shi‘r and its community. New Writing and Shi‘r: Creating Divisions and Definitions

The perspective that dominated studies on the members of Shi‘r was extended to include their literary practices and activities, certain conventional and rigid methods habitually being employed. During the period in which Shi‘r appeared, ‘committed poetry’ emerged as a principal poetic category. Its preoccupation with direct expression, its declamatory tone and its alignment with the political aspirations of the majority made it popular in the post-1948 era. Committed poetry was accompanied by a matching poetic theory that overstated content and the adherence to national issues. Poetry that did not fit within this territory was excluded as elitist, individualistic and that of the outsider. Hence, the criteria that were put into practice implied dividing Arabic poetry into two: committed poetry and non-committed. Different divisions come into play in modern literary theory. Critics classified poetic movements and groups according to two categories: the mainstream and the avant-garde. The first is regarded as being conventional and dominant whereas the second is characterized as being experimental, innovative, marginal, alternative and countercultural. This ‘great divide’71 between these two territories is a principal focus in modern Euro-American studies about poetry. With regard to modern poetry in English, there seems to be agreement on identifying the avant-garde with Language poetry.72 Modern literary studies in Arabic incorporate some avant-garde streaks, but this great divide is less clear and the two territories are less well defined. Interestingly, when comparing Shi‘r with Language poetry there seems to be a similar consensus on identifying the movement of Shi‘r with poetic avant-gardism and its attributes. Thus, Shi‘r and its practices can be studied in the light of methods applied to its counterparts. These methods revolve around using the journals of poetic groups as the principal source to investigate its practices and strategies instead of looking into personal statements and comments thrown out individually by members of the groups. This alternative perspective will focus on identifying the main features of the new writing in Shi‘r. From its outset, the journal was identified with modern and new writing through its founder and its main co-founder. The invention of the two terms al-shi‘r al-©ad#th (modern poetry) and al-shi‘r al-jad#d (new poetry) is attributed to al-Kh\l and Adßn#s respectively.73 Afterwards, the movement of Shi‘r associated itself with new poetic forms and a new poetic outlook. In studies and reviews, Shi‘r emphasized the interrelation between form and content in modes of expression. Like its counterparts in Europe and America, Shi‘r maintained the

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avant-garde perception which perceives literary innovation as the basis of broader cultural change.74 As Ward notices with regard to Language poetry, the main writers of the movement developed their combined theory of poetry and sociopolitics. In the same manner, the main writers of Shi‘r attempted to create their own combined theory. Their aspiration to link poetic innovation to wider cultural change was represented by turning ‘modernity’ into the central issue of their movement. In its understanding of modernity, Shi‘r associated literary modernity with cultural modernity. In the course of time, Shi‘r has come to be identified with Arabic modernity in the writings of its advocates as well as its polemicists. The project of literary modernity implemented by Shi‘r was defined through its main objectives: motivating experimentation in manners of expression, liberating Arabic literature from rigid frameworks and connecting it to world literature.75 These three objectives were defined by Adßn#s and endorsed by critics who followed closely the journal, the publications and the activities of Shi‘r. However, by scanning the regular sections of the journal, it is possible to recognize that these objectives were indeed the three essentials of Shi‘r. Instigating cultural change through innovative poetry brought two tasks before the group of Shi‘r. On the one hand, they wanted to bring their project into the cultural marketplace. On the other, they had to engage the community in their project and to encourage wider affiliations. These became the main tasks of both the poets and the critics of Shi‘r. Engaging the audience is defined by some theorists as one of the practices of avant-garde poets.76 Hence, literary and cultural modernity became the focus of the collective voice of Shi‘r pronounced through the regular sections of the journal. The editorials called repeatedly on poets to experiment and practise in new forms. In each issue, the news section reported on different activities to integrate Arabic poetry with world poetry. In the main pages, priority was given to publishing unconventional poetry that experimented with new forms of free verse and the prose poem. Supporting those new experiments was thus made the main concern in poetry reviews and articles published in the journal. Moreover, selections of translated modern poetry were published regularly. This main policy was extended to the poetry and theoretical books printed by the publishing house of Shi‘r. In early issues, experimentation with new poetic forms was identified with experimenting with free verse. By the fifth issue al-M\ghßµ’s prose poems appeared at the beginning of the journal and the new genre was put at the forefront. The following issues witnessed a collective endeavour to launch the new genre and to give it great support. In the poetry section, prose poems were given considerable space and several collections of prose poems were published by the Shi‘r publishing house. Both the poems and the collections were accompanied with discussions, reviews and studies written by writers and critics of Shi‘r. These were reported and published in the journal. However, the breakthrough came with the article of Adßn#s’ ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ (On the Prose Poem),77 an article which is still considered a landmark in the history of the genre. The main

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achievement of the article was to give the new genre its name. The reading of al-M\ghßµ’s poetry in the Thursday meeting, and the publishing of two of his poems, was the first attempt to bring the genre to the centre and to raise it as an issue,78 but the official date of birth of the Arabic prose poem as a genre was fixed through Adßn#s’ article. With the two poems of al-M\ghßµ and the article of Adßn#s, the Arabic prose poem entered Arabic literary history. These two accomplishments reinforced the prose poem as a major focus of Shi‘r’s project of literary modernity. The collective interest among Shi‘r’s writers in the prose poem was due to the main characteristics of the genre. The prose poem stands for experimentalism, liberal poetics and universalism. These attributes represent the above-mentioned three objectives of modernity as defined by the writers of Shi‘r and other critics. Discussing this connection between the prose poem and modernity, B\rßµ argues that the prose poem was adopted by Shi‘r because it represented the decisive test of Shi‘r’s project of modernity.79 However, there were times when Shi‘r itself downplayed this connection. With the rise of the polemical campaign, Shi‘r tried to shift the focus from the prose poem and to claim that its project focused equally on all innovative poetic forms. Furthermore, it increasingly highlighted its interest in free verse. In fact, free verse had already been integrated into the mainstream. It was supported and represented by Al-£d\b, which was involved in the renowned cultural and literary contest with Shi‘r. Therefore, the counter-institution of Shi‘r started to be identified gradually with the ultimate counterdiscourse that is historically represented by the prose poem.80 Through attacks, criticism and polemics, Shi‘r started to be associated with the prose poem. Interestingly, avant-garde theorists view anti-Shi‘r campaigns as an inherent feature of the history of avant-gardism. Their observations of these encounters show that they were always conscious of the role played by polemics in defining and substantiating avant-garde movements.81 As far as Shi‘r is concerned, the polemics helped to define and consolidate Shi‘r’s twofold project of the prose poem and modernity. Nowadays, most critics agree, in principle, on the vital connection between these two endeavours.82 However, the nature of this connection is still discussed and debated among people of letters as well as writers who deal with issues of modernity. The overview of the journal provides a comprehensive view of Shi‘r: its institutional system, group, community, movement, new writing and media. The regular sections, and in particular the editorials, shed light on the collective voice of the institution and its collective plans. Therefore, exploring them will bring more understanding of the main practices and strategies that were implemented by Shi‘r in the course of defining its project of poetic modernity. The Media of Shi‘r: New Tasks of Poetic Journalism

As defined by Beach in his approach to investigating the structure of modern literary institutions, the internal media stands at the centre of the institutional

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system. The internal media of avant-garde poetry is usually represented by a poetic journal, and very commonly by a small magazine. Due to this interaction between journalism and avant-garde writing, literary journals, as stated by Kendall, play a new and vital role in literary progress and work as a nurturing environment for unconventional writing.83 In their studies of avant-garde poetry in English, theorists associated the beginning of Language poetry with the appearance of the bi-monthly journal L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (1978–81).84 Furthermore, the precursors of Language poetry were traced back to the first issue of the little magazine This.85 The association between Language poetry and the two journals was made clear right from the outset. Reinfeld, Vernderborg and Ward made it the focus of the very first page of their books. This is straightforward evidence of the centrality of journals in poetic culture, and the poetic avant-garde in particular. In a similar manner, the founding of Shi‘r, as a group and as a movement, is associated with the founding of the journal Shi‘r.86 In fact, as mentioned earlier, the group was called ‘the group of the Shi‘r journal’, and the movement ‘the movement of the Journal Shi‘r’. Furthermore, the journal itself demonstrated clearly from its outset that it was a part of a greater evolutionary process that went beyond the journal. When the journal Shi‘r appeared, it was still going through a process of evolution. This process went on for a significant period of time afterwards, due to the journal emerging as a nucleus of a literary group and a literary movement. The elaborate system that revolved around it from the beginning proves that the journal was part of a literary institution, more specifically a counter-institution, in progress. The difference between the early issues of the journal gives a strong impression that it was going through a period of experimentation. Regular sections were gradually consolidated. The first issue did not carry the section of ‘The contributors to this issue’, which became regular afterwards. This section introduced every new contributor and offered a synopsis of his/her profile and achievements, updating this information when the name appeared in subsequent issues. There was no ‘poetry mail’ and the news section was limited to two pages. Furthermore, instead of the editorial, a short article about poetry, written by Archibald Macleish87 and translated from English, preceded the edition. It was divided by brackets into several paragraphs which made it look more like a collection of quotations than an opening item. The next two issues carried neither an editorial nor an opening item. This tentative period might have been determined by the need to develop the performance of the journal by organizing the group, establishing contacts, implementing policies and making use of feedback. However, it might also have had crucial consequences on the overall reception of the new movement, which in turn determined its future course.

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Evolution: the mission and the message By the end of the first year, the board of editors seems to have realized the need for an editorial. Apparently, with the anti-Shi‘r campaign beginning to intensify, the staff gradually started to sense the need for their journal to address its audience directly. Therefore, editorials of various lengths began to preface most of the issues. Some of them were signed collectively by ‘the Board of Editors’, and entitled ‘To the Reader’. Others were entitled ‘From the Editor in Chief’ and signed by al-Kh\l. Several editorials carried different titles and were signed by different editors. Though the battles that surrounded Shi‘r from its launch were very politicized, especially when they focused on its relation to the prose poem, the political dimension in Shi‘r’s editorials was kept to a minimum until its first closure. Hence, editorial space during this long period was given to other issues, which were all related directly to poetry. During its brief reappearance, the journal’s overall policy changed in line with the major changes in the Arab cultural scene after the 1967 war. During these two years, the editorials became less frequent but were highly political. The first editorial, which appeared a year after Shi‘r’s launch, declared the growing determination of the journal to accomplish its ris\la (mission) for Arabic poetry.88 The editorial made two similar references to the collective practice of the group and the journal. In this respect, it used the terms tayy\r (trend) and ittij\h (tendency). In a brief comment in the final regular section of the same issue, titled ‘The contributors to this issue’, the term ∂araka (movement) made its first hesitant appearance. Commenting on the contribution of Henr# al-Qayyim, an anonymous statement pointed out that the poet chose to publish his poem in the journal of Shi‘r because ‘he believes in its movement’. The occurrence of the word seems more like a journalistic lapse than an official declaration of the birth of a movement. In another final permanent feature that, at first glance, seems equally secondary and insignificant – the news section, also placed at the end of the journal – the following volume made another reference to the movement of Shi‘r. However, it was represented with more conviction and in more detail. Reporting about one of the Thursday meetings, the anonymous comment proclaimed: ‘The trend that is launched by the movement of Shi‘r is not just a theory any more. It has started to be displayed in critical and strategic studies of modern poetry in addition to actual poetic products.’89 Whether it was an implementation of a conscious strategy or an accidental leak, similar throwaway statements in the regular sections of early issues put on view what was happening in editorial meetings, exclusive discussions and unrevised drafts. Unlike the refined calculated language of the articles and essays in the journal, statements in these sections took the shape of spontaneous rather than premeditated comments. However, these basic definitions did not declare a clear structured programme. Within the fixed definitions and conventional classifications, the new movement seemed difficult to characterize and label. The movement was still evolving and the group might

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have felt it rather early to be engaged in the intricate task of giving a well-defined agenda. Nonetheless, several writers who rallied to the ongoing feverish anti-Shi‘r campaigns started to articulate their own definitions and to impose them. Shi‘r’s response was to announce repeatedly in the permanent sections that the movement of Shi‘r was merely a poetic movement and that it was involved in no more than innovative and modern poetics. However, the overall discourse of the journal implied rather wider cultural claims. The journal repeated its emphasis on its ‘mission’ to implement a change in Arab culture and to modernize the life of Arab people.90 Therefore, the emergent movement was accompanied by a growing interest, both from the general public and official circles, to explore its nature. This interest manifested itself chiefly in the the two extremes of devoted adherence or severe antagonism. Thus, Shi‘r appears as a part of the universal avant-garde culture which was experiencing a similar critique at the time. In his study of the avant-garde tradition, Lowney observes that the 1950s and 60s were marked by ‘a renewed debate about the cultural role of the avant-garde’.91 Reviewing the issues of the first year casts a new light on the factors that triggered some of the early attacks on the movement. One could be related to the fact that the journal did not carry an editorial until the end of its first year. Afterwards, the early issues broke the long period of suspense and anticipation by repeating the word ris\la (message/mission) in reference to the fledgling movement. The conventional religious and political references of the word and the self-righteous superior tone might have provoked suspicions and fuelled insecurities. Nevertheless, the Shi‘r group believed they had a task to accomplish through their journal. As their writings show, they declared a duty towards poetry in general, and Arabic poetry in particular, that they had to fulfil. This ‘mission’ was twofold, and it was to be carried on on two levels, the national and the universal. Arabic literature: transforming history and culture In spite of all accusations, Shi‘r persisted in confirming its independence, liberalism and dedication to the issue of poetry, especially when addressing writers and poets. The task it set it to itself was to fight against what it called ‘the domination of ideological and political patronage of poetry’.92 The editorials were the ideal space in which Shi‘r addressed the broad audience of poets in the Arab world: ‘We repeat our call to all poets of the Arab world to contribute to this journal which is theirs . . . It belongs to all of them without any discrimination, and regardless of their political ideologies and intellectual tendencies.’93 To confirm that they practised what they preached, they introduced new poets, with different political affiliations and intellectual tendencies, and commented on their works regardless of their political positions. Thus, young poets like Sa‘d# Yßsuf, ‘Abd al-Wahh\b al-Bayy\t#, Salma Jayyusi and Ma©mßd Darw#sh, who had strong and different affiliations, were introduced and celebrated.94 The journal strove to show

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that it was their poetic skills that were highlighted and their achievements that were to be celebrated. It also put an enormous effort into maintaining open attitudes towards other counter-forums. For example, N\zik al-Mal\’ika, who turned into their most fierce critic, was quoted in one of the editorials and praised for standing up against poets who commit grammatical mistakes.95 The journal also quoted and endorsed Al-£d\b, its main rival journal, where Salma Jayyusi talked about the necessity of allowing poets full freedom to choose forms.96 Although it insisted that it catered mainly for poetry, Shi‘r’s regular sections broadened their discourse, by elevating poetry to be an indicator of the state of cultural life. The journal had its own response to the atmosphere of political disappointment and resentment during the middle of the twentieth century. It associated the poetic crisis with the crisis in other aspects of Arab life. When al-Kh\l said in one of his editorials that ‘Arabic poetry, just as other aspects of our lives, is going through a crisis of self-realization’,97 he was highlighting the connection between poetry and the world, which was coming out as a major focus in Shi‘r. Indulging oneself in attempting ‘to bridge the gap between poetry and the world’98 is defined by Ward as a primary endeavour of avant-garde poetry. Moreover, poetry was seen to be the representative of the main cultural concerns of that age. In one of the editorials, Uns# al-∂\jj admitted the difficulties that he and his generation were facing: ‘we have problems with language and with cultural identity, and difficulties in dealing with the past, the future and the external world’.99 On the other hand, centralizing the ‘problem of Language’ in the editorial was part of incorporating al-Kh\l’s main venture into what Venderbourg calls ‘communal vision’.100 Creating the communal vision, Venderbourg believes, is a primary task of avant-garde poetic journalism. The discourse of Shi‘r was sometimes highly idealized: ‘the Shi‘r journal still has the responsibility . . . to keep fighting against indifference, impotence and persecution . . . and to be the constitution of the generation of poets who undertook the task of changing their world, their reality, their life and their history’.101 The journal in its call for this revolutionary historical and cultural transformation sounds too ambitious. However, it reflects the aspirations of the era, and it implemented its project by dedicating itself to modern poetry and poetics and by connecting them to cultural modernity through studies, articles and regular sections. This pioneering step placed poetry at the heart of the cultural scene and assigned every poet to the task of being an active social actor. On every occasion, the journal reminded its Arab audience of its mission towards Arabic poetry and Arab readers and poets, elaborating more on what had been said previously. On the third anniversary, the editorial declared in a tone which bears a strong resemblance to a manifesto: ‘we are the heirs of the Arab heritage . . . there is no more need to emphasize the message of the journal . . . However, we want to mention again two principles of this message.’ These two principles were defined as:

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• The journal is superior to politics. It goes beyond parties and ideological conflicts. It is dedicated only to poetry. • It supports liberating poetic craft and liberating poetry ‘from all traditional inherited moulds which have been imposed on the poet’.102 In fact, it was in one of these editorials that al-Kh\l launched his famous and daring manifesto about the ‘barrier of language’,103 which was a pioneering step in pointing to a major obstacle that Arab writers and poets face. The barrier of the Arabic language was, as al-Kh\l said, in being an unspoken language though it is the language of writing. This concept was to be debated for decades and to be associated with all the practices of Shi‘r, most notably the prose poem. In three issues after June 1967 there was total silence on the editorial side. Then, from spring 1968 onwards, the editorials were highly politicized. However, both in the poetic texts and the regular sections, Shi‘r was unique in avoiding the tone of anger and self-pity which swept the Arab world at that time. The first editorial to appear after June 1967, described the defeat as ‘a cultural, rather than a military defeat’.104 The last editorial associated the political crises with the lack of freedom of expression and called for a comprehensive re-evaluation and self-criticism in the light of the 1967 defeat.105 During these two years, Shi‘r shifted its focus completely from poetry and widened its scope. For example, it started to give equal prominence to other parts of the Arab world, and especially North Africa. It was clear that Shi‘r was trying to promote itself in the western wing of the Arab world. The regular sections reported on seminars in the Tunisian media about the journal Shi‘r and modern poetry.106 Alongside this, the issue of Palestine started to be placed at the centre, and a whole volume was dedicated to Palestinian poets. It was entitled Qa§\’id min war\’ al-Asl\k al-Sh\’ika (Poems from beyond the Barbed Wire).107 Shi‘r also began to give greater priority to the visual arts and the narrative genres. Drawings started to occupy a considerable number of the pages, and numerous articles about the cinema, the theatre and paintings appeared in the last two years. Though Shi‘r attempted to concentrate on what was new and promising in these fields, it is easy to recognize that, in comparison with the old journal, there was no overall plan for this new project which seemed equally challenging. Accordingly, the journal appeared more like a standard cultural magazine of the mainstream media, against which it had created and set itself in 1957. World literature: the partnership Besides being the only Arab journal that was dedicated to poetry at that time, Shi‘r’s goal was to establish itself as ‘a free forum for all aspects of poetic activities of Arabic poetry in particular, and world poetry in general’.108 In the era which followed the wars of independence, and which witnessed the emergence of national ideologies, the colonial legacy surfaced and the Arab world was swept

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with anger and anti-Western sentiment. The media reflected the vigorous national spirit of the streets which was on the rise, and echoed the mounting feelings of resentment and suspicion among writers and intellectuals in the aftermath of 1948, and during the Algerian revolution. At that hectic time Shi‘r had the courage of its convictions and called on Arabs ‘to enhance their membership of the humanist partnership and not to be hindered by political disputes with some parts of the world’.109 However, due to the critical historical circumstances of the era, Shi‘r sensed the necessity of stressing its selective attitude in dealing with other cultural experiences. Accordingly, it was difficult to avoid the apologetic and patronizing tones that dominated the editorials, which claimed the ability to select what is ‘good’ for the Arab poetic experience.110 Defining the dual task of the journal, one of the editorials reads: ‘Its unique distinctive historical task is to be a real record for the avant-garde poetic experience in the Arab world, besides being a window which looks upon the good in human civilization.’111 To defend itself against the main accusation of being a vehicle for imported forms and trends, Shi‘r introduced the concept of al-Shar\ka (partnership). The collective voice of the editorials announced the journal’s ambition of establishing itself as ‘an actual and real partner in the human heritage’.112 This partnership was described as ‘a spiritual and intellectual humanist partnership’ which would resume the relationship that had existed during all stages of history until it was severed by the decline of Arab civilization ‘one thousand years ago’, due to ‘internal and external, theological and social historical events [which] weakened, if not crushed, it’.113 Through the dynamic characters of its editors and correspondents, Shi‘r moved around the world attending conferences and forged relationships with prominent poetic figures. To give prestige to the journal, without sounding pretentious, these connections were highlighted and celebrated in the regular sections rather than in the reviews and annotations that accompanied the translated poems published on the pages of Shi‘r. The regular sections updated their readers with the latest news of Shi‘r’s contributors, including non-Arab poets, and made every effort to create an image of an intimate universal poetic family. These sections included biographical details of poets, information about their relationships with the journal and its editors, and literary views and statements. Moreover, they sometimes included the poets’ own comments, disclosed to Shi‘r, about their poems and about their poetic experience in general.114 To prove that it was not merely a receptive passive partner, Shi‘r had to play an active role. Hence, Shi‘r announced its decision to attend to the requirements of this partnership: ‘[human] intellect and spirit have a common heritage . . . and we have a responsibility towards it just as in the rest of the world’.115 The first step in implementing this role was ‘fostering revolutionary poetry, here and in the world, which rebels against traditional content and style’.116 This ambition was demonstrated by publishing Arabic and translated poems side by side. Therefore, all translated poems were kept in prose and Arabic prose poems

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occupied a major portion of the poetry section. The similarity between the two forms gave the journal a coherent character and highlighted the ability of the prose poem to communicate on the universal level. Furthermore, the journal regularly published the work of Arab poets who wrote in other languages. Through these methods the journal attempted to introduce its concept of the unity of the human poetic experience. The second step in this procedure was represented by establishing a ‘dialogue’ between ‘modern Arab poets and their fellow poets around the world.117 This dialogue was carried out in several issues and was presented in many innovative ways. The regular sections documented many significant episodes of this unique poetic dialogue between Arab poets and their counterparts around the world. The fifteenth volume announced in its editorial that Shi‘r had established an Arab–International poetic partnership for the first time in the history of Arab journalism. Some well-known poets contributed personally and exclusively with their most recent poems to that volume. This issue included poems by Pierre Emmanuel, Pierre Jean Jouve, Claude Vigée and a poem written in French by the Lebanese poet Henr# al-Qayyim. Simultaneously, as the editorial declared, many journals around the world published translated Arabic poems contributed by Shi‘r’s poets. The event was celebrated in the editorial which commented: ‘this is one of the facets of the spiritual and intellectual humanist partnership which aims at the good of humankind’.118 Volume 17119 was a milestone in the history of Shi‘r, and perhaps in the history of Arabic journalism. Following an Arab journalistic tradition in dedicating certain volumes to cover significant events, this volume contained a special issue dedicated to Algeria. The issue commemorated the sixth anniversary of the Algerian revolution in order to confirm the stand and role of poetry in this revolution. However, the journal took pride in presenting its contribution in a unique way among its counterparts. Hence, it published for the first time the most recent poems written by the French poets Pierre Emmanuel and Alain Jouffroy in support of the Algerian revolution. The issue also contained two poems written by Henri Krea and Nordine Tidafi, two Francophone Algerian poets, to show that ‘French language itself is fighting the same battle side by side with the Algerian heroes’.120 In the eighteenth volume, Shi‘r went one step further. The editorial of that volume announced that the poets Pierre Jean Jouve, Jacques Prévert, Tristan Tzara and Rodolfo Usigli had participated in editing the volume. Their collaboration in Shi‘r was described as ‘unprecedented among Arab journals . . . it enhances the feeling of the unity of the human civilization, and helps to broaden the horizon of the Arab intellect far beyond territorial borders’.121 On the other hand, the editorial stated that Shi‘r ‘has practically achieved partnership, as the poets of this issue are addressing the world’. The editorial mentioned two examples: Ibr\h#m Shukrallah’s prose poem ‘Ghazaliyy\t ∂asan Mift\©’, which is ‘influenced by Eliot’, and ‘I§\m Ma©fß$’s poem ‘Wa A@@at Zulaykhatu ‘ala al-zahra’, which

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is a combination of prose poetry and verse.122 Thus, the journal credited, in its own way, the Arabic prose poem with the ability to address the world. Shi‘r and the prose poem: instituting the poetics of modernity

As a journal that is dedicated to poetry, the core part of the journal Shi‘r consisted of poems and poetic studies on one hand, and the regular sections that appeared in every issue on the other. These two categories were put to the service of Shi‘r’s central project of the prose poem and modernity: Poetry and studies The movement found its definition with the appearance of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poems in the fifth volume. The following issue reported in its news section on a feverish debate about his poetry even among the close circle of Shi‘r. However, the gradual involvement of some chief writers of Shi‘r in the ongoing experimentation strengthened the new emerging genre and put it in the centre of the project. The following issues witnessed intensive publications of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poems, along with some prose poems of Adßn#s, and al-∂\jj. Kh\lida Sa‘#d, who published her early articles under the pen-name ‘Khuz\m\ ™abr#’, wrote some of the most significant articles about the genre, including one on al-M\ghßµ’s prose poems.123 In this article, she made the prophetic announcement ‘I call these poems poetry’. This declaration triggered strong criticism by Shi‘r’s adversaries, who started to concentrate their criticism on the relationship between Shi‘r and the prose poem. These battles were recorded in the news sections of Shi‘r.124 The publishing house of Shi‘r played a major role in supporting the project of the prose poem in its early stages. It introduced into the cultural market some collections of the prose poem and studies of new poetics that became landmarks in the history of the genre. The early list of publications include al-Maghßµ’s ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar, al-∂\jj’s Lan, Kh\lida Sa‘#d’s Al-Ba©th ‘an al-Judhßr, and Al-Shi‘r f# Ma‘rakat al-Wujßd. These publications resulted in the publishing house coming under similar attacks. The news section recorded episodes of these attacks on the prose poem and quoted al-Mal\’ika who said ‘the publishing house of Shi‘r bears the responsibility of this invention and this awkward meaningless call’.125 Hosting modern poetic forms, most notably the prose poem, Shi‘r aspired to introduce a new poetic criticism that comprises universal strands to accompany its promotion of universal poetic forms. The project of creating a matching literary theory evolved in parallel to the gradual progress of the prose poem as a literary genre. The project’s main focus was to establish a link between these two literary areas. On the one hand, the journal and the publications introduced the writers and the readers to modern poetry and poetics that were written in English and French. On the other hand, there were relentless efforts to connect the prose poem with its regional ancestors such as the ancient texts of Phoenicia

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and Mesopotamia and the classical Arabic literature.126 Alongside the diligent endeavour to identify the Near Eastern roots of the Arabic prose poem, Adßn#s and Kh\lida Sa‘#d, who were highly informed about Arabic literature, started a sub-project of creating an Arabic genealogy for the new genre. The regular sections recorded their angry debates with some eminent poets of Shi‘r who ‘have a narrow mind when it comes to the Arabic heritage’127 and who are completely detached from Arabic literature’.128 The permanent features of the journal The regular sections of the journal shed light on the cultural challenges that Shi‘r faced, which were the same challenges that the prose poem had to face. Fighting against rigid constraints on human intellect and creating an atmosphere of freedom, they maintained that iconoclasm and internationalism were the main unifying factors of poetry and studies that were published through the journal or the publications of its printing house. In retrospect, the regular sections form an indispensable document for studying the history of Shi‘r and its relation to modern poetics and the prose poem. Over and above being a record for the policy carried out by the journal to encourage and bring about the new genre, they provide valuable references about the historical role played by Arab journalism in bringing about Arabic literary modernity. The prose poem was very rarely mentioned by name in these regular sections. In the editorials that declared Shi‘r’s tasks and principles, it was only mentioned once (in the editorial of volume 22). Furthermore, this came in the context of defending the Shi‘r journal against the accusation of ‘promoting the prose poem, which aims to destroy the Arab heritage’.129 However, Shi‘r repeatedly declared its unreserved commitment to the prose poem and confirmed its centrality to the issue of poetic modernity. In this respect, Shi‘r built on the tentative remarks, expressed earlier by the pioneers of comparative criticism, to emphasize its own concept of the prose poem as being a universal experience. ∑\h\ ∂usayn was quoted in the editorials, where he suggested the feasibility of applying the historical course of other world poetry to Arabic poetry in terms of abandoning rhyme and metres.130 Advocating this freedom in another editorial, al-Kh\l called on critics ‘to leave poets to their own devices in choosing modes of expression’. Literary critics, he advised, should not evaluate the success of a poetic experiment ‘by its conformity with conventional rules and regulations’. Arab critics, he believed, should come to terms with the idea that ‘what took place during the historical course of the literatures of other cultures can occur in the history of our literature because there is nothing in our literature that makes it distinctive or different, whether in a good or bad sense, from the rest of literatures.’131 Slowly but steadily, Shi‘r continued to identify its modern poetics with the prose poem. In his definition of the contemporary trends in Arabic poetry, al-Kh\l divided them into three as follows:132

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• the anti-modernity group; • the group who support modernity conditionally; • the group who support modernity unconditionally. The first group was described as ‘fading in the course of time’. The second was defined as being ‘the majority in terms of number . . . its adherents made maintaining metre and rhyme a condition. They are also tolerant concerning the issue of demolishing the classical form of the poem.’ Here, Shi‘r was referring indirectly to the free verse movement. As for the third group, the editorial defines it as ‘the group that the Shi‘r journal belongs to, it calls for the liberation of poetry from all restraints and confines.’ This example represents the overall strategy that Shi‘r implemented. This strategy aimed to stimulate Arab literary modernity by establishing the prose poem at the heart of the cultural scene. Affiliation to the third group was confirmed consistently in regular sections, but always alongside the welcoming of other forms and the declaration that Shi‘r was a forum for all trends and preferences. The journal published poetry of all forms and themes including some classical and a great deal of free verse. Moreover, Shi‘r’s diligent writers dedicated themselves to giving outstanding coverage to the modern poetry published by the journal as well as by the publishing house. In their Thursday meetings, they placed the genre and its theory as a priority in the programme and recorded their discussions in the regular sections to convey them beyond their limited audiences. The news section reported on the hosting of the English poet Steven Spender, who talked about modern poetry and the prose poem,133 although Shi‘r did not give any details about the seminar or about the poet. Stephen Spender, who was one of the most prominent members of Oxford’s avant-garde poets, otherwise known as the ‘group of Auden’, was a significant connection for Shi‘r. In practice, the journal identified itself with the prose poem. The Shi‘r journal was the journalistic twin of the prose poem and the prose poem was the poetic representative of the journal. Both were avant-garde, modernist, innovative, groundbreaking, subversive and anti-status quo. Both also made wide national and universal claims. In fact, all these characteristics were attributed personally to all the members of Shi‘r by their opponents and supporters alike. This identification between the Shi‘r group, Shi‘r the journal and the prose poem was implied in al-ris\la (the mission), the term which occurred again and again in the permanent features. The repetition of the term was the thread that bound together the different sections in the journal and united the different skills of the group. It created a strong bond, similar to the bond created by the prose poem. The message was delivered and the mission completed in 1970, the official date of the termination of the journal and the disintegration of the group and the community. In spite of the long-standing misconceptions and misinterpretations, the prose poem had found its way to the heart of modern Arabic cultural history, along with Shi‘r.

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N OTES

1 See the references about the Arabic prose poem that are used in this chapter, all of which were published after the closure of Shi‘r. 2 References will be given in the following pages and footnotes of this chapter. 3 See all references about Shi‘r in this chapter. For more detailed accounts see Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 1, pp. 599–604. 4 The term was invented by al-Kh\l himself and was adopted by Arab literary theorists afterwards. It is also translated as the New Poetry see Jayyusi, p. 569. 5 See Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry, p. 235. 6 See Bazzßn, p. 96. 7 For more details see the lists of contributors and the news sections in the issues of the first year in Shi‘r. 8 For more details about the early experimentations of these poets see Buzzßn, p. 11, 96, Jayyusi, p. 601, and Badawi, p. 225. 9 See Jayyusi, ‘Modernist Poetry in Arabic’, in M. M. Badawi (ed.) Cambridge History of Arabic Literature , pp. 156–9. 10 For a clear view see and compare the two covers of volumes no. 1 and no. 33–4 in Appendix 4. 11 Jayyusi, ‘Modernist Poetry in Arabic’, p. 158. 12 See Bazzßn, p. 12. 13 See Moreh, pp. 121–2. For a quick skim see the entry ‘Shi‘r [magazine]’ in the index of his book. 14 Jayyusi, ‘Modernist Poetry in Arabic’, p. 158. 15 Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry, p. 241. 16 Bazzßn, p. 14. 17 This applies to all the references about Shi‘r that are used in this chapter. 18 As shown, the list which is provided in this study is constructed by using all available names in references and by using the journal itself. 19 See Murphy, Introduction. 20 See Venderborg, p. 14. 21 For more details see ‘Akhb\r wa Qa@\y\’ and ‘Akhb\r al-Shi‘r’ in every volume. 22 See B\rßµ, p. 42, Bazzßn, p. 69. 23 See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, p. 603. 24 Most of the critics associated Shi‘r with the agendas of political parties, most notably the Syrian and the Lebanese Nationalist parties. For more details see B\rßµ, pp. 13–14, Bazzßn, pp. 160–2, and al-Mun\§ira, p. 9. 25 See B\rßt, pp. 126–8, and Bazzßn, p. 12. 26 See al-Mun\sira, pp. 7, 83. Bazzßn called them the pioneers of Shi‘r, p. 166, or the pioneers of the newer poem, p. 206. 27 See the primary list in p. 9 of this chapter. 28 For more details see the chapter about al-M\ghßµ. 29 For a quick illustration of that see the name al-Maghßµ in the list of index names of the main references: Badawi, Jayyusi, Moreh. Neither of them chose him as a case study. After more than two decades, Jayyusi changed her views and acknowledged his pioneering position. For more details see the chapter about al-M\ghßµ. 30 See Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry, p. 227. 31 See Terdiman, pp. 54–9, and Strong, p. 2. 32 Shi‘r was banned in Iraq and Syria in its first year see Shi‘r, no. 4, the editorial.

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33 See: Bazzßn, p. 10; Shuray© who is quoted by Bazzßn on the same page; and the News Section in Shi‘r, no. 6, spring 1958. 34 For more details see the advertisements and lists of Shi‘r published books that appeared in most volumes. 35 See the interview with al-Kh\l in Shi‘r, no. 9, winter 1989, ‘The News Section’. 36 See al-Mun\§ira, pp. 9–10, and the back cover of the same book. 37 Moreh recognizes one of the prose poem precursors in the writing of al-Shaykh Ibrah#m al-∂awran# who used ‘rhymed Islamic prose’ to convey his ‘religious and Masonic ideas’. For more details see Moreh, pp. 294–5. 38 For more details check the publication date of the different references about Shi‘r in this chapter. 39 For more details about the new applications in socio-cultural studies see Christopher Beach, Poetic Culture, Introduction. 40 See ibid., Introduction. 41 Ibid., pp. 6–7. 42 The works of these writers are discussed in detail in the previous part, in the section ‘The Prose Poem and Cultural Studies’. 43 See the references in this chapter to Beach, Reinfeld, Fredman, Venderborg and Ward. 44 See Beach, Introduction, and Strong, ch. 1. 45 See ibid., pp. 1–7. 46 See all his editorials in Shi‘r, including no. 31–2, summer–autumn 1964. 47 For more details about these themes see in particular his poems in Al-Bi’r al-Mahjßra (The Forsaken Well), and for this theme in the Tammßzi poetry see Jabr\ Ibr\h#m Jabr\, ‘Min al-Marji‘iyya al Gharbiyya il\ al-Marji‘iyya al ‘Arabiyya’, in Fakhr# ™\li© (ed.), Al-Mu’aththir\t al-Ajnabiyya f# al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# al-Mu‘\§ir. 48 See Reinfeld, pp. 9–10. 49 See Adßn#s, ‘Al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# wa Mushkil\t al-Tajd#d’. For more details see Shi‘r. no. 21, winter 1962. 50 See Beach, p. 6. 51 See ibid. 52 Ibid. 53 See Bazzßn, Introduction, and pp. 95–107. 54 Beach, p. 6. 55 See Lowney, p. 14. 56 For more details, check the journal. A list of publication is included regularly in the volumes of Shi‘r. 57 See Strong, pp. 277–96. 58 See Beach, Introduction. 59 Advertisements about the Award are printed in the journal from the ninth issue on. For more details see Shi‘r, no. 9, winter 1959. 60 See the advertisement in the frontal pages of Shi‘r, no. 6, spring 1958, and the following issues. 61 See Beach, Introduction. 62 See ibid., p. 6. 63 See Venderborg, and Beach. 64 See Beach, pp. 6–7. 65 See Strong, p. 164. 66 See Venderborg, pp. 8–9. 67 See Strong, p. 13. 68 See ibid., pp. 213–15. 69 See Ward, pp. 6–8.

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70 See Beach, Introduction. 71 Ibid., p. 82. 72 For more details about Language poetry as being avant-garde see Beach, Reinfeld, Venderborg and Ward, and for details about them as prose poets see Fredman. 73 See Jayyusi, p. 569, and Badawi, pp. 232–4. 74 Ward, pp. 15–18. 75 See Adßn#s, An Introduction to Arab poetics, Introduction. 76 See Venderborg, p. 15. 77 Adßn#s ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 75. 78 See Bazzßn, p. 10. 79 See Barßt, pp. 207–14. 80 Terdiman, studied the prose poem as the ‘Absolute counter-discourse’; see last section in the second part ‘Comparative Approaches and Theories’ in this book. 81 See Strong, p. 8. 82 See Murphy, p. 2. 83 See Kendall, Introduction, p. ii. 84 For more details about L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E see Reinfeld, p. 1, Venderborg, p. 1, Ward, p. 14. 85 For more details about the journal This see Reinfeld, p. 1 and Ward, p. 14. 86 See all the references about Shi‘r that are used in this chapter. 87 The critic was later introduced into Arabic through Muna© Khouri’s book Al-Shi‘r bayna Nuqq\d Thal\tha (Poetry between Three Critics) in which he translated and reviewed Macleish’s work Poetry and Opinion. The editorial of Shi‘r did not give any reference for the article. 88 Shi‘r, no. 4, September 1957. 89 Shi‘r, no. 5, January 1958. 90 Shi‘r, no. 29–30, winter–spring 1964, the editorial. 91 See Lowney, p. 15. 92 Shi‘r, no. 4, autumn 1957. 93 Shi‘r, no. 7–8, summer–autumn 1958. 94 Shi‘r, no. 1. winter 1957. 95 See Shi‘r, no. 10, spring 1959. 96 See Shi‘r, no. 10, spring 1959, and no. 12, autumn 59. 97 Shi‘r, no. 11, summer 1959. 98 See Ward, pp. 16–18. 99 Shi‘r, no. 27, summer 1963. 100 See Venderborg, p. 14. 101 Shi‘r, no. 29–30, winter–spring 1964. 102 Shi‘r, no.12, autumn 1959. 103 Shi‘r, no. 31–2, summer–autumn 1964. 104 Shi‘r, no. 38, spring 1968. 105 See Shi‘r, no. 44, autumn 1969. 106 Shi‘r, no. 37, winter 1968. 107 Shi‘r, no. 38, spring 1968. 108 Shi‘r, no. 12, autumn 1959, the editorial. 109 Shi‘r, no. 15, summer 1960, the editorial. 110 Ibid., 111 See Shi‘r, no. 12, autumn 1959. 112 Shi‘r, no. 12, autumn 1959, the editorial. 113 Shi‘r, no. 15. summer 1960. 114 As an example see the editorial of no. 15, summer 1960. Pierre Emmanuel’s comments about his poem is published in the same issue.

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Shi‘r, no. 15, summer 1960. Shi‘r, no. 19, summer 1961. See Shi‘r, no. 19, summer 1961. See Shi‘r, no. 15, summer 1960. See Shi‘r, no. 17, winter 1961. See ibid. See Shi‘r, no. 18, spring 1961. See ibid. Shi‘r, no. 11, summer 1959. For more details about these debates see Shi‘r, no. 22, spring 1962, the news section. See ibid. See the annotation of Arw\d in no. 10, spring 1959. See Adßn#s’ letter in the Poetry Mail, no. 18, spring 1961. See K. Sa‘#d’s argument in the Thursday as reported in the news section, no. 18, spring 1961. For more details see Shi‘r. no. 22, spring 1962. See Shi‘r, no. 10, spring 1959, the editorial. See Shi‘r, no. 12, autumn 1959. See Shi‘r, no. 10, spring 1959. Shi‘r, no. 18, spring 1961.

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4

S HI ‘ R

AND THE

P ROSE P OEM : T HE T EXT

Adßn#s: A New Structure for a New Vision Introduction

When Adßn#s started publishing his prose poems and his articles on the prose poem in Shi‘r, he was already recognized as a leading free verse poet and a critic with renowned writings on cultural and literary modernity. However, he stood as a committed mentor of the new genre from its inception, until it became one of the most practised forms in Arabic poetry. Adßn#s’ involvement with the new genre placed him at the heart of the ongoing feverish debates and disputes. However, it gave the Arabic prose poem more credibility and contributed to its acceptance into the poetic canon. In the light of Murphy’s observation highlighting the fact that the abandonment of the prose poem by illustrious poets like Eliot and Pound led to its marginalization for half a century,1 Adßn#s’ adoption of the genre may be seen as one of the forces that helped the survival of the genre in its Arabic context. Adßn#s’ understanding of this fact is evident in his study of the ‘first Arabic modernity’ in the tenth century. Throughout his book An Introduction to Arab Poetics2 he explored the conflict between innovative writers and the political and religious establishment. His book demonstrates that the innovative writers, al-mu©dathßn, were, and still are, considered political and intellectual dissidents. However, by reason of their genuine poetic achievements and cultural contributions, they were able to implement what Adßn#s calls ‘the first Arabic modernity’ and to inspire later generations of modernizers. Adßn#s must also have been aware through his readings of Western literature and literary theory that similar difficulties surrounded the early stages of the genre in its Western context. Literary critics observed that pioneering experiments in the prose poems by early Western practitioners were repressed and denounced by dominant institutions.3 Though his name was associated with the prose poem for decades, Adßn#s also continued to write with metrical forms and his reputation as a leading poet continued to rest mainly on his free verse. This fact raised questions about his interest in the genre and the relevance of his experimentation in the new genre to the project of cultural and literary modernity. Sources maintain that Adßn#s’ involvement in the new genre came through translating for the Shi‘r journal. Moreh quotes Adßn#s as saying that he wrote his first prose poem when he was translating a poem by Saint-John Perse,4 but neither Moreh nor Adßn#s specified which poem by Saint-John Perse it was. However, in the period before the publication of his first poem ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’ (Only

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Despair), Adßn#s had published only one translation of a poem by Saint-John Perse, ‘Étroits sont les Vaisseaux’.5 Perse’s poem published as ‘®ayyiqatun hiya al-Mar\kib’6 is most probably the poem in question. The translated poem is accompanied by an extensive critical study, written by Adßn#s, of Saint-John Perse’s three collections: Anabase, Exile and Amers. In his study, Moreh states that when Adßn#s translated Saint-John Perse’s poem, and wrote his first poem, he ‘discussed this new genre in the study group of Shi‘r’. One could assume therefore that extensive feedback from poets and critics, including those of Shi‘r, accompanied Adßn#s’ early experimentation with the new genre. Moreover, Shi‘r’s early issues carry two of the most important articles about modern poetry and the prose poem, written by Adßn#s, in addition to the important review of Saint-John Perse.7 The three articles show that Adßn#s was assiduously reading wide-ranging material related to the prose poem and its literary theory. As for the poet himself, he admits that the early Arabic prose poems were written under the influence of Western prose poems. However, he maintains that this engagement with Western models led him to rediscover other models in Arabic poetry.8 He argues that he aspired to establish his own cultural independence by embracing modernity as manifested in the writings of the marginal Arab modernizers of the 10th century. Nonetheless, he states that it was reading Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Rimbaud that led him to rediscover the older Arab modernity as manifested in the writings of Abß Nuw\s, Abß Tamm\m, al-Jurj\n# and the Sufis. Hence, exploring Adßn#s’ early prose poems provides important clues for understanding Shi‘r’s poetic and cultural project that found one of its manifestations in the new genre. In view of his leading position in Shi‘r, this reading can also shed light on that crucial stage in the evolution of the genre in an Arabic context. During the first four years of the Shi‘r period, Adßn#s published three prose poems: ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’ (Shi‘r, no. 7–8), ‘Arw\d y\ Am#rat al-Wahm’, (Arwad! Oh Princess of Illusion) (Shi‘r, no. 10), and ‘Marthiyat al-Qarn al-Awwal’ (Elegy for the First Century) (Shi‘r, no. 14). Searching and experimenting mark this fundamental stage of Adßn#s’ involvement with the prose poem. In comparison with the writings of the rest of his fellow prose poets, Adßn#s’ early prose poems seem more explorative and adventurous. Though his search for ideals and archetypes was always there, Adßn#s’ texts show an urge to generate poetic energy by seeking inspiration from all possible sources. In the highly competitive ambience of Shi‘r, where every poet was struggling for a head start, Adßn#s viewed himself as a patron and a theoretician for the infant movement which had unlimited literary and extraliterary ambitions and claims. He took advantage of his extensive readings of literature and literary theory, and exploited it to the extreme in his early poems. Being well informed of literary theory, cultural history and Arabic literature, along with having a good command of the French language, he had access to many varied sources and he used them to enrich his experimentation. In retrospect, it is evident that from the very beginning Adßn#s’

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prose poem was trying to take the lead by providing a highly sophisticated and challenging model. ‘Wa©dahu Al-Ya’s’9: A Journey between Forms and Epochs

This long text shows that Adßn#s’ major preoccupation is to put theory into practice and to test his ideas about the prose poem. Throughout the fourteen pages, he attempts constantly to experiment with the prose poem as a dialectic structure for constructing and subverting forms.10 Hence, he tries to create a new structure by experimenting with both new and old formal techniques. In fact, if poetic subversion is mainly achieved by repeating intertextual models in the text, and differentiating the text from these models by undermining their referentiality, then the openings of Adßn#s’ poems are excellent examples of this. Evaluating the genre by studying its extensive application of intertextual relations is one of the long-standing approaches to the study of a prose poem. Simon indicates that the prose poet consciously creates his differentiating features to avoid similarity to his model.11 More modern studies of the prose poem have viewed it as a text that starts through repetition and intertextuality and develops via difference and subversion. ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’ starts with the poet making a journey through a certain country. It opens with the following five lines (Appendix 1, p. 237):

Chariots of exile are crossing fences Between chants of exile and exhalation of fire Oh, poems Have departed With chariots of exile

The theme mimics classical poems written about departing caravans, and the tone is that of the animating singsongs, called ©ud\’, that used to be chanted by the caravan leader. The first two lines take the form of the classical twohemistich line, with the caesura in the middle and the rhyme at the end of the line. However, they do not have the typical symmetrical printed shape of the lines of the qa§#da on the page nor do they keep the metrical symmetry. The second hemistich of the second line is shorter than the other three hemistichs and the metre is broken completely in the first hemistich of the second line.

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Thus, the rhythm, which is derived mainly from al-Khabab metre, sounds more prosaic. In the following lines – three, four and five – the poem moves on with the same features: theme, metre, rhyme, tone and wording, except for the printed form which takes that of free verse. These lines represent an organic extension of the first two lines, and the last line repeats exactly the first hemistich of the first line, turning this stanza into a closed unit. Combining the two poetic forms at the beginning of the text suggests that something different is going to follow and cross these boundaries. The text advances through the double procedure of ‘intertextual repetition’ that is ‘to represent and at the same time to differ from (or defer) fixed external models’.12 The poem introduces itself from the beginning as an anti-qa§#da. Besides subverting the form in the opening, the poet undercuts its traditional thematics. Unlike ancient journeys, the parade of chariots is going into exile instead of heading towards water and pastures. The place from which the poet departs is surrounded by asw\r (fences) and suggests enclosure and siege. The zaf#r (exhalation or sighing) that echoes zafar\t al-©an#n, the yearning sighs of the classical lovesick poet, here is the fumes of a blazing fire. The rest of the text describes the places that the poet has lived in and is about to depart from. These places do not resemble in any sense the cherished places which the classical poet customarily described. The journey has its realistic, historical and biographical references. However, it is also full of meditative visions and fantasies. An imaginary journey is carried out side by side with the realistic one. This takes us back to the Sufi concept of ‘internal journey’, which seeks knowledge through suffering and meditation. After the opening stanza, the text introduces the new genre by switching directly to prose (Appendix 1, p. 237):

Seven small wounds in the heart, and another seven are twinkling on the chest. Striped human ghosts – faceless people are paving the streets with the rubble of wings and the city is yellow with hatred, and ships of sand are ploughing through the alleys.

Thereafter, the text proceeds by alternating prose and verse with a predominance of prose. From time to time, the poet goes back to verse in order to re-examine the boundaries between poetry and prose. However, the prose paragraphs are not printed in a compact block-like appearance. The text is crowded with superfluous punctuation marks, sentences are divided unnecessarily, and lines are broken in the middle by a comma in order to start a new line. Some

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of the prose lines are short and resemble free verse in appearance, and some lines of the free verse sections are long enough to look like prose lines. All this makes the text slide smoothly between prose and verse without disrupting the overall flow of language. It also illustrates, textually, Adßn#s’ own concept of the prose poem as ‘a vast dialectic structure and infinite dialogue between subverting and constructing forms’.13 The sand and the sea The text describes a turbulent journey that the poet takes through a country which is undergoing systematic destruction at the hands of relentless invaders. The invaders are introduced at the beginning of the text as ‘ships of sand’, which evokes the Arabic ancient description of camels as ‘ships of the desert’. Thereafter, the word raml (sand) is repeated along with another term, ba©r (sea), without clearly reminding the reader of any external previous model. This brings in the second type of repetition, called ‘intratextuality’ by Metzidakis,14 which indicates that following the lexical intratextual repetition will eventually help to recover intertextual past external models that exist outside the present text. Hence, it gradually becomes clear that the word ‘sand’ is repeated along with terms and expressions that denote drought and destruction. In contrast, the word ba©r (sea) – as in Saint-John Perse’s Amers, which Adßn#s was reading at the time – brings with it all its universal symbols: eternity, cleansing, freedom, and infinity. When it proves difficult to connect intratextual repetitions to an external previous model, Metzidakis suggests seeking help in the biographical sources of the poet. Thus, the sea stands as a symbol for the poet’s own homeland (Syria), which is a country by the sea. It is also a symbol of his own community and family who live by the sea. Therefore, the sea will stand as a source of identity, and a reflection of his own personality. The strong autobiographical element, increasingly evident throughout his texts, distinguishes it from its prototype in Saint-John Perse’s poetry. The symbols and connotations of the sea that are established in this text will be enhanced gradually in the subsequent prose poems of Adßn#s. The duality of sand/sea symbolizes bad and good (Appendix 1, p. 240):

Between our eyes and the sea, walls of sand rise.

The numerous repetitions of the two terms control the fragmented text and give it its unity. The duality of sand/sea is extended by the presence of their associations: mud, yellow, thorns, cement, clay, dust, dry grass and boxthorn; as against water, ports, marine chants, urjuw\n,15 islands, boats, green, waves, shores, stream, rain, water roar, washing, the scent of the sea and ink. The word

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raml, which is usually used with reference to the dry sand in the desert and the dry storms that bring drought and destruction, stands far from the words tur\b (soil), and ar@ (earth or land). The last two are used traditionally, especially in modern Arabic poetry and chants, with reference to the homeland. The second ’ – through an intertexual one, tur\b, is used with reverence in the text – ‘ use with a common Syrian expression that links rain with the ancient Syrian deity.16 The biblical intertextuality adds to the sense of reverence: 17

Your land Beulah18

The place is referred to by the poet as ‘my country’, and defined by several geographical references: ‘the Dead Sea’, ‘the Euphrates’, ‘Barad\’, ‘al-‘£§#’19 and ‘the Mediterranean’. The city is invaded by men who are ‘burning water, coming from a land which has no heaven, in a blood-shedding legion ja©fal’. The invasion is a military one as the word ja©fal refers specifically to a large army in modern Syrian military terminology.20 Adßn#s’ theoretical views are at work through the text. In accordance with his belief that ‘Words with their sounds and their rhythmic-visual relations reflect, for both the ear and the intellect, the experience of the poem’,21 his images flow from the rhythmic-visual description (Appendix 1, p. 238):

Cords of bullets are dragging victims

The four-word phrase includes six ‘A’ letters and three ‘L’ letters. The two have, in Arabic script, a long cord-like shape. The image is accompanied by the moaning (an#n) of victims. The phonemic structure of the word repeats the letter ‘N’, which echoes moaning and symbolizes moaning and groaning in colloquial Arabic. The phoneme N, and tanw#n occurs six times in the line, which enhances the vocal effect of the scene (Appendix 1, p. 238):

Moaning is piercing the earth and going deep down far from God and people.

Sovereignties of destruction and despair Images of the present invoke the analogous past images of the country. The contemporary situation recalls the historical destruction inflicted by old invasions. The word Maghßl (Mongols) is used to recall all its numerous symbolic

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references in modern Arabic poetry. The word is used to refer to all foreign destructive invasions. The new Mongols are described (Appendix 1, p. 240) as:

Men of sand with a yellow history in their eyes

Hungry for the wheat of sea, fruits of sea and spring of sea

Matching images overflow from all phases of history and intermingle in a way that makes it difficult, for both the poet and the reader, to pinpoint the setting of the scene. In his description of destruction, Adßn#s employs the narrative technique of the historical accounts. Fragmented, yet digressive, the text starts to resemble a collage of excerpts taken from historical books. In this view, the prose poem complies with the modern definition of the prose poem as a consciously experimental form that uses and deforms well-established discursive modes, conventions and genres.22 The word khar\’ib, which means ‘ruins’, is also the plural form of khar\b (destruction). To informed readers like those of Shi‘r, it would inevitably invoke all the famous historical accounts written about ‘khar\b Baghd\d’, ‘khar\b al-Ba§ra’, ‘khar\b al-Andalus’, and ‘khar\b Urshal#m’. In his description, the poet tries to compete with these accounts, suggesting that a more massive destruction is ongoing. Several echoes come directly from ‘Khar\b Urshal#m’ in the Old Testament.23 For example, ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’ (Appendix 1, p. 239):

Curls of black-burnt hair are getting larger, and are distributed over the houses

In the Old Testament, God ordered Ezekiel: ‘Take a few strands of hair . . . and throw them in fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel.’24 More echoes can be heard in these examples (‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’) (Appendix 1, p. 239):

They devour children

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Young people slaying their fathers

People eat each other

The Old Testament version is: ‘Fathers will eat their children, and children will eat their fathers.’25 The narrative voice changes when the poet shifts to his mystic journey. The tone becomes more intimate and the language more florid. In the following passages, the repetition creates ceremonial overtones and the word ba©r is addressed and repeated as if in a prayer. The technique recalls one of the Sufi practices in which ‘a great name’ or a Qur’anic phrase is repeated regularly.26 The persistent repetition progresses in a cyclical manner, in which a key word is used as a clue to generate visions, solve problems and unravel mysteries (Appendix 1, p. 247):

Oh Sea, friend of wound, Oh wound friend of salt, Oh White Sea.27

Past and present are interrelated, and they arouse ‘only despair’. What is left is the future, through which the poet tries to see. However, tomorrow looks no better. Instead of providing an answer, it only evokes questions (Appendix 1, p. 244):

Is a new wind going to rise against the sand?

The future is full of uncertainty, and the poet realizes that the only tangible thing he has now is his poetry and the sea (Appendix 1, p. 245):

Poetry is still with us, sea is still with us

The poet appeals for rain to wash clean the soiled history. He dreams of a powerful and affectionate saviour who will emerge from the sea. However, in the text he uses punctuation to define the flow of his thought. Hence, he puts this fantasy in brackets to separate it somehow from reality. The sea symbolizes life, and new life in particular. However, the new life here is sought in exile. The poet

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is tormented by his inner conflict and his inner self is shattered, desiring both homeland and exile, which represents a climax in the developing storyline. Eventually, the conflict seems to be resolved by a final decision taken by the poet (Appendix 1, p. 248):

I will not die from hope, here it is the sail of exile, here it is my travelling face

The poet crosses the sea starting another journey (Appendix 1, p. 248):

I go with nothing but my long sorrows . . . In my parade my beloved and my poetry . . . I go without camels, without a tribe.

The text proceeds with two simultaneous journeys. The first one can be identified in the biographical references about Adßn#s, who was travelling between different exiles at the time. The second journey represents a pursuit of discovery and revelation, which comes into view towards the end. In the final paragraph, the exiled poet is left with memories, silence and an unattainable desire to write. The sea took him in to exile and exile took him in a full circle back to despair, evil and sand (Appendix 1, p. 250):

Despair is a star on the forehead and evil is in its infancy, and silence is sweeping sand, and there are no papers

The protagonist is turned into an antagonist. All the symbols that the poem strove to build collapse along with their numerous references and the duality of good/bad is inverted. Another narrative voice, a harsh one with an unwelcoming tone, enters the last part of the text and terminates it abruptly (Appendix 1, p. 250):

– Which country did you come from, which nameless animal-pen?

Like a dethroned king, the poet answers:

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– No sovereignty is mine.

The climax is dislocated, and it undermines the whole plot by confusing its course. By starting with the most elaborate metrical form, and finishing with a fragment of a prosaic dialogue, and with all the forms that go between, the poem completes its own journey and turns itself into a locus where all forms meet, merge and transform. ‘Arw\d Y\ Am#rat Al-Wahm’28: The Poet as a Mythmaker

Adßn#s’ choice of myth as an archetype for his prose poem should be seen in the context of belonging to the Tammßzi group, which included the five poets: al-Sayy\b, Adßn#s, H\w#, al-Kh\l, and Jabr\. The group initiated the trend of employing mythical motifs in their free verse poems, and the trend was associated principally with free verse poetry. However, Adßn#s’ choice could also be viewed in the wider historical context of that period. Jabr\ considers poets as mythmakers who reveal the secrets of human existence. He believes that the popular use of myth in poetry during the late 1940s and the 50s was a ‘historical necessity . . . after the events of 1948’. Poets, he explains, found myth to be the right medium to ‘express the experience of the nation . . . and to go beyond the catastrophe in order to defeat evil and death’.29 Salma Jayyusi, who studies the use of myth by Adßn#s in his free verse, considers it an outcome of three personal attributes: his cosmic sensibility, his own vision which has a sustained mystical ecstasy, and his conscious feeling of time.30 Kh\lida Sa‘#d views the poet’s use of myth as a means that poets use in order to ‘avoid directness’ by ‘employing historical symbols’.31 Critics who studied myth in poetry, including the three critics quoted above, looked mainly at its application with regard to free verse poetry. Therefore, they concentrated more on thematic features and motifs than on form and technique. In fact, due to the form and structure of free verse, the application of myth in the free verse examples they studied was mainly restricted to meaning and content. Free verse poets employed stories, fables and symbols from the legends they adopted, but, bound as they were by the metrical form, their poems did not have the capacity to take in the unlimited formal and technical riches of the mythical tradition. Surprisingly, not one of them recognized this could be the very reason behind the decline of the mythical trend during the late 1960s. Besides being the name of the island and ancient Syrian princess, Arw\d is the name of Adßn#s’ first child. The poem is preceded by an epigraph in which Adßn#s declares that this poem is ‘the first part of a poem about childhood, woman and death’, and that his daughter Arw\d is his ‘first and last daughter’. The poet did not keep his promise on two counts. Not only did he have another daughter, N#n\r,32 shortly after, but he also never published, or even wrote, the

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second half of the poem, thus leaving his published text as a fragment of a longer work. The dates when ‘Arw\d! Oh Princess of Illusion’ was written are printed at the end of the text. They indicate that the poem was composed in Beirut over a relatively long period stretching from 5 October 1958 to 15 April 1959. It was the second of Adßn#s’ prose poems to be published in Shi‘r. In contrast to his first prose poem ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’, ‘Arw\d’ was completely ignored by critics and the poet alike. Whereas the first was mentioned, albeit briefly, in some studies dealing with Adßn#s and the Arabic prose poem, ‘Arw\d’ was never mentioned. Moreover, Adßn#s dropped it from the complete works of his poems.33 The poem is accompanied by a commentary. In these long annotations, Adßn#s defines the roots of his experiment as being the poetic tradition in ancient Syria-Mesopotamia, the Torah and the Western prose poem. The title itself offers a number of intertextual links: Arw\d the island, Arw\d the princess and his daughter Arw\d. The choice of the title plays a significant role in the reading of the text and interpreting it. By occurring as the first word in the title, Arw\d inaugurates the reading and leads the reader on. Starting the reading with one word, ‘Arw\d’, which refers intertextually to several models, heightens the complexity of the text and the wealth of intertextual relations it will offer. On the other hand, it raises the reader’s anticipation about the nature of the text and the type of reading it requires. Regarding its rich history and significant location, Arw\d the island symbolizes the Mediterranean connections of Syria and of the Levant in general. This connection had been viewed as a political and cultural ideal by several social, political and religious groups since the beginning of the twentieth century. The rise of the monolithic political parties in the second half of the twentieth century was sometimes viewed as jeopardizing the true cultural identity of the region, derived from and sustained by its cultural diversity. The dominant discourses which called for unity and solidarity evoked the historical traumatic experiences of concealment and assimilation. Within the active political scene in the middle of the twentieth century, the concept and the practice of what is called ‘the Mediterranean identity’ operated as a counter-discourse against reductionist nationalistic and religious discourses. From illusion to disillusion In the title, as well as in the poem, Adßn#s subverts the well-known popular expression in Arabic, am#rat al-a©l\m (princess of dreams), changing it to am#rat al-wahm (princess of illusion). Terms which refer to illusion and disillusion were very popular in the political as well as literary counter-discourse during that period. The word am#ra (princess) has a direct link to Arw\d the princess. It occurs again in the text with a different attribution, ‘am#rat al-shi‘r (princess of poetry), as a transformation of the established term shayµ\n al-shi‘r (devil of

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poetry), which refers in Arabic to the force that inspires creative poetry. The alteration of the term calls into question the gender-based usage of language and signifies a desire to honour and empower poetry and art against forces that denounce creativity and restrain it. It also questions the implications of associating poetry with the degraded spirit of Satan. The new term am#rat al-shi‘r sounds closer to the Greek concept of the divine Muse that is superior and feminine. The word might hint at Adßn#s’ real Muse, his own daughter, as the word am#ra in Syrian dialect refers usually to a little girl. Taking this view, the name ‘Arw\d’ provides an interesting plot for improvisation. With its triple references to the island, the princess and the poet’s daughter, the poem draws its thematic material from history, mythology and personal experience. The combined image of ‘the woman/the island’, which is implied in the name ‘Arw\d’ and enhanced by the epigraph, is a poetic Muse which stands behind the text. This personification of the island generates countless metaphors that comprise references to several women, some of whom are known to the reader while others are anonymous. Those known include the ancient Syrian princess, the poet’s beloved and his baby daughter. The island/woman image which is generated by the paratextual frame is taken and expanded in the poem. Through the text, this complex image of the female body and the island is approached in an amorous and devotional manner that infuses erotic expressions with parental overtones. The word wahm (illusion) relates more closely to the failure of conventional discourses and values. It tempts the reader to contemplate his own illusions and to face them. The title intends to take the reader through a process of disillusion while exploring the text. Hence, whereas the title is about illusion, the text suggests disillusion. From anti-qa§#da to anti-epic The first paragraph of the poem bears some resemblance to the opening of the Arabic classical qa§#da (Appendix 1, p. 251):

Poetry is burning its old papers, whipping its defeated progeny, and the coming poem is a country of rejection – Oh you words of dead people, Oh, you virginity of word; and the coming poem wears the eyelashes of childhood, and it cries and submits to the divinity of the breast.

Whereas the poet declares his intention to revolt against timeworn modes of speech, ‘words of dead people’, the place and the woman here are only the

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personification of his innovative poem itself: ‘the coming poem is a country of rejection’, and ‘Oh, you virginity of word’. The procedure of starting a poem by defining the poetic practice and tools recalls the pioneering innovation of Abß Nuw\s, who declared his rebellion against the restrictions of the old form and defined his new thematics in his poems.34 The rebellion of this Abbasid poet against the official discourse, and his experimentation with new forms, turned him into a mentor for avant-garde poets and poetic movements in the twentieth century. The group of Shi‘r venerated Abß Nuw\s, and Adßn#s revered him as one of the great initiators of the first Arabic poetic modernity. The project of Shi‘r, as Adßn#s always states in his writings, was to resume and continue this process of modernization by initiating what he calls ‘the second modernity’.35 The poet denounces the past as ‘old and defeated’, and looks to the future, ‘virginity and childhood’, and exalts it. In this manner, the poem opens by declaring that it is going to break away from the poetic status quo. Inaugurating a poem by a metaliterary36 motif is one of the thematic features of the prose poem. This type of opening informs the reader beforehand of the novelty and significance of what they are going to read. The narrator in Baudelaire’s ‘Les bons chiens’ seeks aid at the prologue to help him write his text.37 In a similar way, a text in Breton’s collection poisson soluble opens with a sentence that informs the reader about the type of literature he is about to read.38 Seeking inspiration in the prelude recalls the famous Homeric inaugural appeal for a Muse to inspire and help him in writing his epic. In the same manner, ‘Arw\d’ opens with al-shi‘r (poetry) as the very first word in the text. The short paragraph in the opening refers five times to poetry and writing: poetry, poem, words, word and poem once again. These two features give the reader a reason to interpret the text as a comment on the writing itself. The first sentence, ‘poetry is burning its old papers’, subverts a popular dictum:

Or

Going back to one’s old books, or searching in one’s old books, is a common oral metaphor that means intellectual bankruptcy or a social cul-de-sac. Therefore, burning old books would be interpreted as a desire to renovate and to liberate. The poem describes itself as wearing baby-like eyelashes, and crying for a nurturing breast. The image depicts the birth of a new genre that needs recognition and fostering. The duality of ‘old poetry/a coming poem’ places the present poem in opposition to the prevailing poetry. This antithesis is represented through a set of antonyms: qad#m (old), munhazim (defeated) and kalim\t al-mawt\ (words

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of perished people) on one hand, and raf@ (rejection), bak\ra (virginity) and µufßla (childhood) on the other. The contrasting words and images in the text suggest an intention to reject the conventional rules of poetry and call for a new poetic language and new aesthetic values. By taking a princess as a thematic figure, the text continues a popular practice in classical Arabic poetry where numerous poems were written praising the beauty of high-status women. However, the poem obscures this referentiality by choosing a disfigured and disowned princess. Yet, by choosing a princess as a central figure, this prose poem connects with its ancestral line of prose tradition in Arabic as well as universal myths, epics and folktales. The second connection is significant because the elaborate and genuine narrative techniques that are employed in these types of narration provide the prose poem with a rich source for structural and formal devices. This universal prose heritage played a key role in the evolution and development of the Western prose poem. Rimbaud and Dawson exploit the motifs and devices of universal fairytales and folktales in their prose poems.39 A famous poem by Dawson relates the tale of a princess who is imprisoned in an ivory tower. The poem’s title is ‘The Princess of Dreams’; however, the poem’s conclusion reveals that she is a false princess. Murphy interprets Dawson’s poem as an allegory for the artist’s attempt to discover and liberate poetry. In the light of Murphy’s interpretation, Arw\d as a tale of a confined and infected princess could be interpreted as an attempt to revive poetry, liberate it, and cure it. Adopting oral folktales and epics as models is the poetic evidence of Adßn#s’ concept of poetry as universal. The universal form and motifs of these traditions, he rightly believes, can provide Arabic poetry with a ‘bridge which connects it with its roots and with the contemporary world’.40 As in oral epics which were told or sung in ancient times by a poet–singer, the introduction of ‘Arw\d’ arouses a sense of anticipation. It makes the audience eager to hear the story which is to follow. Preparing the listener for a new story is another device employed in these traditions. In the hands of creative narrators, these epics are updated, transformed and filled with new folktales. However, Adßn#s completely undermines the relation of his new text to its original by using active verbs and their derivative forms in his opening. Burning (ya©riq), whipping (yajlid) and rejecting (raf@) are directed towards ‘old papers’ and ‘ancestors’ that carry all the referential links of his text. From landscape to seascape

Thereafter, the text enters into a poetic odyssey in a world of water. The sea dominates the text with its associations: washing, shells, island, diving, bay, shores, waves, surf, swimming, ship, blueness, seahorse, urjuw\n, rocks, waves, bays, surf, tide, sand, sails, sailors and mast. The link between the sailor/the lover and the island/the woman is represented by sea images (Appendix 1, p. 252):

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Here goes the lover crossing the bridge of nakedness, sinking in the bay of the breasts. Here is he knowing the woman and the island which is called woman.

The animated imagery of the striving man/sailor and receptive woman/island blend the images in an erotic scene (Appendix 1, p. 252):

Swimming under the corset

The association of woman/sea echoes the old Phoenician myths in which the sea represents the generative power of woman.41 Hence, the sea also represents novelty and childhood (Appendix 1, p. 255):

Oh Sea, Oh an eternal childhood

However, birth and childhood provoke fear and worries (Appendix 1, p. 252):

Here you come Childhood, you companion of horror, when we have nothing to give Arw\d except poetry

Childhood also brings back painful images of the poet’s own life as a child shattered with disappointment and suffering (Appendix 1, p. 258):

The moon of Syria is falling on the river, my brothers and sisters are at the dinning table sharing one small egg.

Through its mythical association, the sea journey takes the poet back to read a chapter of the history of his country. Here again, he is confronted with sand and mud (Appendix 1, p. 255):

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And you, Oh talking floods! Made of sand and clothes, you who have history crowned with mud.

He pleads with those ‘ ’ (people of leprous history) to seek a cure by connecting themselves again with the sea and its history (Appendix 1, p. 255):

Oh, Sea, Oh an eternal childhood, connect us with your interrupted tide, a thousand centuries of the life of urjuw\n and waves are roaring in our blood and anchoring.

The text establishes a direct intertextual link with the previous text ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’ represented by the same opposition between raml (sand) and ba©r (sea) which represents the conflict between Good and Evil. This duality gives Arw\d its own unity, and links it with ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’ at the same time. However, in contrast to ‘Wa©dahu al-Ya’s’, the sea/good controls the scenery here, and turns the text into a long ode praising the sea, its wealth and its symbols. The glorification of the sea echoes Jibr\n’s ‘Al-Ba©r al-A‘$am’ (The Greatest Sea).42 The poem also recalls Saint-John Perse’s nostalgic fascination with old civilizations and mythological female figures which dominates his poetry in general, and ‘Narrow are the Vessels’ in particular. The aesthetics of fragmentation

The poem is written completely in prose using predominantly the shape of the paragraph, which suggests a similarity to the narrative traditions used in tales and epics. However, just as in these traditions, where the narration is interrupted by songs, so the longer paragraph in ‘Arw\d’ are broken regularly by short-line stanzas (Appendix 1, p. 253):

The man is in despair like the rain The woman is strange like the rain Life is a ship crossing the strait And the strait is a hollow corpse and rain that did not fall yet.

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Adßn#s used this technique to apply what he explored in his theoretical writings; that is, revising and examining boundaries between poetry and prose. Redefining poetry vis-à-vis prose is the focal idea of his articles which were published in Shi‘r as well as in his subsequent books and publications. Therefore, the prose poem, with its dual nature that refers to two genres, was the ideal ground to test his ideas. The first two stanzas, written in short lines, are quatrains that employ the word maµar (rain) as an anaphora at the beginning of the line or at the end. The verse form and the motif of maµar suggest a parody of the free verse movement. However, the symbols of ‘rain’, which are associated with the Tammßz# free verse movement, are subverted. Whereas it was used to represent hope and revolution in the Tammßz# poetry, it is used in ‘Arw\d’ as a representation of despair and helplessness. This sudden change in the shape reactivates the progression of the text, which Adßn#s calls ‘the rhythm that is renewed constantly’. In his article ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ (On the Prose Poem), Adßn#s considers the revitalized rhythm to be an important feature of the prose poem.43 The changing shape defines the prose poem as a compact space which unites different forms and discourses, and gestures towards unity and fragmentation at the same time. Breaking down generic and textual boundaries is viewed as a represention of the socio-political aspiration to ultimate diversity.44 The variability of form in the prose poem gives it an ability to analogize its formal features with its thematic motifs. Some prose poems offer the most striking exploration of analogies between the shape of the depicted place and the architecture of the text itself.45 The variation of form in ‘Arw\d’ creates this analogy between the architecture of the text and its subject. The alternating rhythm of the text resembles the changing motion of waves and turns the text’s printed shape into a graphic image of sea. Starting the poem with the comment ‘This is the first part of a poem about childhood, woman and death’ gives the poem an open end. This end suggests that the reading does not stop here. However, since the second half has never appeared, the end also enhances the sense of fragmentation. Moreover, it suggests breaking and disruption and leads the text to recall many Syro–Mesopotamian legends and epics with certain parts, mostly conclusions, obscured or unknown because the clay tablets are broken or missing. ‘Arw\d’ represents the ideal overall shape of the prose poem as ‘a closed circle or semi circle’.46 The last sentence takes the poem full circle and brings it back upon itself. The conclusion repeats the trinity of the opening, however, with a different order. Changing the order, from ‘childhood-woman-death’ to ‘woman-death-childhood’, is of significance, for it enhances the optimistic tone which heightens gradually towards the end of the text. ‘Marthiyat Al-Qarn Al-Awwal’47: The Symphonic and the Polyphonic

In this ten-page text, Adßn#s continues his attempt to create new poetic structures and forms. Furthermore, he seems to have developed more understanding of the relation between the form and thematics of the new genre. This text shows that the

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poet’s search for the new form of the new genre is accompanied with his search for a new discourse and a new vision. The opening of this poem is a poetic representation of the diversity of forms in the prose poem as explained by Adßn#s: ‘The prose poem is free to choose forms that are inflicted by the experience of the poet.’48 The poem is divided into ten parts. This choice of a ten-part structure, which represents one of the basic mathematical units, is significant. To begin with, it gives the poem an appearance of unity and consolidation, and completeness. Yet, it also implies the possibility of continuity and integration. This takes us once more to the prose poem’s aesthetics of fragmentation, which are employed without threatening its two essential features: self-containment and self-sufficiency. The first part of the poem opens with a prosaic sentence, which is followed by one two-hemistich metrical line and then by a free verse stanza. In the second part, the poet shifts to prose again and maintains it until the end of part nine, after which the first part is repeated verbatim as part ten to conclude the poem. The first prosaic sentence defines the main motifs and techniques of the whole poem (Appendix 1, p. 261):

Distracted under the screen of prophecy, fascinated by the eye of the chameleon – Oh Man, tell us a coming \ya.49

The word ‘screen’ suggests a visual presentation, whereas the word ‘prophecy’ alludes to the real intention of the poet and to the poetic motivation that stands behind the text. The poetic voice at the outset addresses the poet and implores him to utter a prophecy. The poet starts automatically with the two most dominant forms and discourses (Appendix 1, p. 261):

Bells are on our eyelashes and the wail of the word The rain feast died In poets’ faces So we changed it for the stone feast I, rejection and the face of the word. And we left

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For the sparrows, for the fringes of the sky This defeated elegy.

After trying the two metrical forms, the poet finds prose to be the best medium to convey what he wants to say. The first prosaic sentence, with certain changes, is repeated four times in the openings of parts one, three, four and ten. Whereas the repetition of part one works as a major refrain, the repetition of the sentence works as an internal refrain. The combination of the three poetic forms recalls the Mallarméan poetic ‘reunion’ which the French prose poet reached through his experimentation with language and poetic forms. In those ‘synthetic’ texts, which are considered a landmark in the history of the prose poem, Mallarmé struggled against the conventions of the traditional syntax to combine the techniques of the verse and the prose poem in one structure.50 Narrative strategy: the multivoices Inspired by his own theoretical writing about the poet’s freedom to choose the forms that suit him, Adßn#s in the opening uses changes in the poetic voice. The first sentence in the text opens with a descriptive mode revolving around the third person singular ‘He’. However, after a dash in the middle, a poetic voice appears and creates an addressee, and the pronoun changes to ‘You’. The juxtaposition of the three pronouns within the same sentence – ‘I’, which is implied in the poetic narrating voice, ‘He’ and ‘You’ – takes place in a very intimate mode. The three pronouns do not seem to be referring to three different people. The opening recalls the openings of the two previous poems that start by appealing for inspiration. Addressing one’s own soul as ‘You’ has been a popular introductory devise in classical Arabic poetry ever since ‘qif\ nabki’, by Imru’ al-Qays. The introduction can be interpreted in the light of the traditional introduction of the qa§#da, in which the poet is believed to be talking to himself, and about himself, by imagining a companion or companions and projecting himself to them. The most popular terms are known as ‘§\©ib#’, ‘§\©ibaiyya’ or ‘a§©\b#’ (‘my companion’, ‘my two companions’ and ‘my companions’). Y\ rajul (Oh Man), which is used in this poem as a projection of the poet–narrator’s self, is no less popular in openings of Arabic poetry.51 In the following stanza the two pronouns of the first singular ‘an\’ and the first person plural ‘na©nu’ intermingle, suggesting that the following is going to be a combination of personal and collective accounts. The second part starts with the poet’s wish to be heard (Appendix 1, p. 261):

Migrate, Oh Poems, you swans of the heart, carry the homeland in your beaks, and leave us behind fighting with wind.

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The sentence also implies the poet’s wish to renovate and to distance himself from the foregoing poetic forms represented by the two metrical forms in part one. The lyrical romantic tone dominates the beginning of this part. It is enhanced by a specific choice of vocabulary and images that are traditionally associated with the romantic poetry which still existed at the time (Appendix 1, p. 261):

In the fluff of the day we hide. On the ladders of clouds we mount, we pierce the moon’s eyelids and we hunt the stags of night.

This is the very form of expression and discourse from which the poet is trying to break away. Thereafter, there is a sudden and radical change in the vocabulary and imagery (Appendix 1, p. 262):

By our eyelashes we collected the mosses of the earth

We were washing the smeared day

Search for the song in the temples of the dead

The song of the dead refers to timeworn modes of expression. The referential aspect is enhanced through its intertextuality with ‘Arw\d’, the previous poem which used the same metaphor. It seems that this part prepares the reader for a new and different experience. Polyphony and pluralism One of the aspirations of the poets of Shi‘r was to be able, as a team, to create new poetic structures and forms that accommodate a new discourse and a new vision. In his early articles, Adßn#s undertook the task of accounting for the collective experimentation and aspirations of the group: ‘Through the journal Shi‘r, Arabic poetry is tending towards a symphonic structure, which allows it to embrace all life and all reality.’52 In the light of this ambitious statement, which occurrs at the end of Adßn#s’ article ‘Mu©\wala f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, it is possible to read this poem as Adßn#s’ attempt to put this statement into practice.

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The polyphonic body of the text incorporates different types of prose forms. These forms are related to various modern and classical models of narrative. The text establishes its relation to these traditions through employing their devices and motifs, and through parodying and quoting them. One of the main sources is the Old Testament, which is one of Adßn#s’ favourite poetic sources and narrative models. The main influence of the Old Testament is syntactic. It is manifested in the short sentences of the text, and in starting the sentence with the object of the sentence instead of the verb, or with a preposition. These techniques help to revitalize the text, and save it from falling into a cold prosaic style which can result by using the common syntactic structure of the sentence in Arabic prose. In a complete parody, the poet sometimes combines the technique and the motif of his model and employs them together in the same passage (Appendix 1, p. 263):

A finger of silver I raised in the face of the Lord. A lamb I slaughtered on his altar. I said, Oh Lord.

‘ ’, ‘the hand of the wind’, recalls the popular biblical phrase which is widely repeated to express despair and nothingness: ‘ ’. This makes ‘All is null, and gripping wind’53 in Arabic. This repetitive phrase is used as a refrain in Sifr al-J\mi‘a (Ecclesiastes). The third part opens with ‘ ’ (whose is the widowed land). This exclamation echoes the first sentence in the biblical chapter, which bears the same title as Adßn#s’ poem. Mar\th# Irmiy\ (Lamentations) opens with a similar exclamation’: 54

How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she.55

The influence of mythology, which represents another source, is also visible in the numerous intertextual references to the Syro-Mesopotamian and Greek traditions (Appendix 1, p. 264):

Take me Oh Hell in your sacred river

The river in the text has a direct link with mythological rivers of death in the Near Eastern tradition and to Styx, the Greek river of death. On the other hand,

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images of life and death employ the symbols and themes of death and resurrection in the Near Eastern epics (Appendix 1, p. 264):

I hear a road bleeding anemones and shrouds

The line recreates the story of Adonis’ death during his fight with the boar. In the myth, anemones that grew from the blood of the Mesopotamian god of fertility symbolize hope for his return from the underworld, and faith in his immortality and resurrection. The symbols were transformed during history by projecting the values of faith, hope and immortality on to martyrs. Thus, anemones are used in modern times to commemorate national martyrs. However, Adßn#s subverts all these symbols at the beginning of this passage: ‘Hope has departed’, and by combining ‘anemones’ with ‘shrouds’. For him, anemones symbolize death and despair. Adßn#s exploits the open space of the prose poem to interact with different modes of modern and classical narrative. A paragraph, in part three, mimics news reports and war rhetoric. For example (Appendix 1, p. 262):

Under the flag of dust we were defeated, we filled our faces with graveyards and we wrote the will of hunger. No star twinkled in front of us. There were only ghosts of sand.

The distinctive accelerating rhythm which is characteristic of war reports, is created by the homoeoteleuton of the syllable ‘n\’. This syllable, which refers to the plural first person, dominates the paragraph. In addition to the syllable ‘n\’, there is an excessive incidence of the long vowel A. Long vowels in the Arabic language are an important poetic device for creating rhythm, as Adßn#s has noted.56 This may explain why vowels are usually stressed by speakers and orators. The vowel ‘A’ in Arabic, which is often more than twice its length in recited poetry, is one of the main devices for creating oratorical impact in public speeches. Nonetheless, here Adßn#s uses the same rhythm and phraseology to refer to defeat. The paragraph mocks the heroic language and tone that is often broadcast throughout the Arab world at times of ordeal and difficulty. In addition, the paragraph invokes the stereotypical images and metaphors of war in classical poetry. Using terms such as ghub\r (dust) echoes some famous versets that used the images of dust to describe martial scenes and vigorous battles.57 However, the dust in Adßn#s’ text is not an indication of a rigorous and hard

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fought battle; it is rather the dust of fleeing and withdrawal. Therefore, where there are no moving swords, the dust is starless. In the same fashion, Adßn#s’ prose poem interacts with the great classical narratives and histories which are another major source for his experiment. In part six, Adßn#s mimics the language of classical historical accounts which, by blending akhb\r with adab, combine documentary and literary aspects (Appendix 1, p. 265):

A man seeking blessing from the slippers of the governor . . . A man whose skin is stuffed with hay and is being exhibited in streets

The imagery, theme and language of this paragraph recall the images of oppression practised by authorities, and scenes of public torture inflicted on dissidents and heretics as portrayed in the narratives of historians such as al-∑abar# and Ibn al-Ath#r. Some scattered phrases bring into the text more echoes of old narratives: ‘Whale islands’ in the fourth part, comes directly from the wondrous tales of travel books such as Kit\b ‘Aj\’ib al-Hind by Ibn Shahray\r.58 This part echoes these popular accounts which combine information with mythology. ‘A©mad abß al-Faw\ris’ (Ahmad the Great Cavalier) evokes the oral heroic epics. ‘May God let the Sultan triumph’ mocks the tradition of using religious language and practice for political propaganda. By infusing the devices and motifs of all these narratives into his polyphonic text, Adßn#s turns his text into a complex structural forum for a diversity of discourses. The variety of voices combines history with myth, fiction with reality, and the ancient with the modern in an ongoing feverish dialogue. Through this multidiscursive narrative, Adßn#s directs his criticism towards old as well as modern political, religious and cultural institutions. By using mimicry and parody, he criticizes their propaganda, their manipulation of the masses and the fictional writing of history. He also stretches his criticism to include the widely held, yet untrue or unproven, beliefs and values, and people’s adherence to them. By exploiting these different types of narrative, Adßn#s creates what Murphy calls ‘discursive pluralism’.59 Through its plural discourse, which infuses a diversity of narratives and voices, the text aims to criticize and subvert the authoritative and dictating institutional monodiscourse. The visionary poet

Overcoming time barriers and seeing into the future is Adßn#s’ main motivation for writing the ‘Marthiya’. In this text, Adßn#s is trying to redefine the role of the poet as prophetic and visionary and the poem as a vision. His arguments about modernizing poetic vision and language enjoyed a focal position in his theoretical

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writings. However, these arguments continued to arouse debates and were subjected to different interpretations and misinterpretations.60 The concept is discussed earlier in an article published in Shi‘r and subsequent books. Nine months before publishing ‘Marthiya’, Adßn#s published his article ‘Mu©\wala f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, which enjoyed, and still enjoys, a great deal of attention from critics. In the article, Adßn#s’ ‘vision’ is based on the views of several Arabic and French poets. Adßn#s starts this article by saying ‘we can define modern poetry as a ru’ya/vision’. He ends by declaring that ‘Arabic poetry, through the movement which is represented by the Shi‘r journal, is creatively changing and progressing’. This turning point is represented by ‘the emergence of the al-qa§#da al-ru’ya, ‘the vision–poem’ or ‘the visionary poem’. Afterwards, he revisits the topic repeatedly in his books. In Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, he considers modernizing poetic vision as the focus of his poetic project.61 This process, he explains, involves ‘exploding the conventional poetic structure, which is the structure of the vision and its patterns, “its logic”, and its approaches. In brief, it is exploding the context of speech, and its horizon.’ In his following book, Al-™ßfiyya wa al-Sury\liyya, he explores this concept extensively. In this book, Adßn#s finds the concept of vision to be a point of convergence between modern poetics found in Surrealism, Symbolism and the prose poem on one hand and Sufism on the other.62 Applying a comparative approach, Adßn#s finds common ground between Sufism and Surrealism based on their vision of the world, their esotericism and main concepts. By identifying this common ground between these two movements, Adßn#s expands his argument about the unity of the world poetic experience.63 In his ‘Marthiya’, Adßn#s introduces himself as a visionary poet, turning his poem into a poetic adaptation of his theoretical writings and readings about ‘vision’. The first sentence in the poem, which is used as a symphonic refrain, is a key element in the poem. This repetitive sentence includes the main elements of ‘vision’ that were defined and explained by Adßn#s through his theoretical writings. The word dh\hil, which means being oblivious and distracted, suggests what Adßn#s calls the ‘dysfunction of senses’.64 The word sh\sha (screen) suggests the visual expression of ideas and alludes to Adßn#s’ concept of knowledge in poetry as visionary rather than mental or logical.65 The nubß’a (prophecy) and coming \ya conform to Adßn#s’ belief that ‘the visionary power can anticipate and see beyond reality’.66 On the other hand, they are signs of prophethood, which Adßn#s considers to be the generator of the vision: ‘vision is a part of prophethood’.67 The swift changing of the poetic voice, from the outset and through the text, and the multiple voices interrupting one another, suggest hallucination. Furthermore, this explains what Adßn#s rather ambiguously stated in his book: ‘Poetry is this travelling into the unknown, where the “I” . . . becomes the universe, the “we”, and the “he”. It becomes the “I” of none “I” ’.68 Likewise, Adßn#s did not maintain this explicitness and clarity in his text. Though the overall subject is accessible, it is very difficult to unravel many of his metaphors such as ‘let Cain be pleased by his grandson’ or to specify in detail his thematic

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motifs. The protagonist ‘we’ and the antagonist ‘you’ and ‘they’ are very difficult to pinpoint. Being ambiguous might have been a deliberate attempt on behalf of the poet to put his understanding of modern poetry into practice: ‘as a vision and revelation, modern poetry should be ambiguous’.69 Images pour out like fragments of a daydream passing by a contemplative self. Though intense, illuminating and charged with their rich references and intertextual links, they still sound elusive and fantastical (Appendix 1, p. 267):

I know you, Oh Crescent, you the belly of the lizard

Dismount dismount from your she-camel and descend the ladder of my poem towards the sea

The metaphor blends the metaliterary motif, the mythical references of the lizard, which symbolizes magic and supernatural powers in Arabo–Islamic culture, and the elusive intertextual link with the famous phrase: 70

It is time for this knight to dismount

However, some of his images are far less successful in their attempt to be visionary. ‘I hear a road bleeding’ appears as a direct mechanical application of his understanding of ru’ya (To hear what cannot be heard).71 Besides the Sufis, the poets of the first modernity and the French prose poets, Jibr\n’s innovation is yet another source of inspiration for Adßn#s’ visionary poem. Mu©ammad Bann#s believes that Adßn#s in his concept of ru’ya might have been inspired by Jibran, who is conceivably the first to introduce it to Arabic poetry.72 In her study of Jibr\n, Kh\lida Sa‘#d considers him a ‘visionary poet’. Her own interpretation of Jibr\n’s visionary poems focuses on his experiment with form and innovative poetic forms that he introduced into Arabic poetry. From Sa‘#d’s perspective, Jibr\n is a visionary poet because he is ‘a creator of forms’.73 Jibr\n’s influence is evident in the text and suggests a strong inspiration from this master during this early stage of Adßn#s’ experimentation with the prose poem. It is difficult to ignore this Jibranian presence looming in the three texts, most likely against the wish of Adßn#s, not only in the diversity of forms that are brought into play but also in the imagery and language. Adßn#s stated that he developed an interest in ‘the theoretical aspects of writing poetry’74 in the 1950s, which was the period that witnessed the founding

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of Shi‘r. These three poems indicate that, as far as his early prose poems are concerned, they are a poetic illustration of his cultural views and ideas. These poems illustrate an interaction with the different Western and Arab poets to whom Adßn#s repeatedly paid tribute in his theoretical writings. They also display a wealth of intertextual relations with the poetic heritage, literary traditions and cultural practices that deserve as much credit as that assigned to the inspiration of Arabic and Western poetry. Mastering this diversity of voices helped Adßn#s to reach the new structure and new vision that he aspired to attain. Various voices and discourses were duly accommodated within the new complex structure of his early prose poems. In accordance with the poetics of the prose poem where difference leads to unity, this diversity of tunes enhanced the polyphonic structure of the overall symphony.

Uns# Al-∂\jj: The Individual and the Collective Introduction

In her review of al-∂\jj’s collection Lan (Will Not), Kh\lida Sa‘#d stated that the poet, who was a son of a journalist, had an early awareness of international political events through the press. His father’s work, she believes, put him, as a child, in contact with the tense and aggressive atmosphere of the Second World War and its aftermath.75 Sa‘#d’s observation could be extended to obtain further insights on the impact of journalism on the literary and cultural preoccupations of the poet. In fact, al-∂\jj himself emerged as an eminent journalist in his early youth. The third issue of Shi‘r referred to the nineteen-year-old journalist as a literary editor in the newspaper Al-Nah\r.76 Hence, it is plausible to suggest that his active involvement in literary journalism put him at the heart of literary events in the Arab world and beyond. Furthermore, his daily work in the literary department of Al-Nah\r must have put him in contact with cutting-edge issues in different spheres of cultural life. During the early years of the Shi‘r period, al-∂\jj established himself as one of the pioneering prose poets of Shi‘r. As early as 1960, al-∂\jj published many prose poems in the journal and had his collection Lan published by Shi‘r’s publishing house. More to the point, al-∂\jj engaged with the ongoing debate about the new genre and modern poetics in general. In his prose poems, his theoretical writings and his translations, al-∂\jj contributed significantly to placing the prose poem at the heart of Shi‘r’s project of literary and cultural modernity. His two introductions to Lan and Nash#d al-Ansh\d (Song of Songs), together with his editorials, articles and poetic reviews, provide primary material for researching the prose poem during the period of Shi‘r. On the other hand, these theoretical writings can help to consolidate an approach for the study of the poetic experimentation of al-∂\jj and his prose poems. The theoretical writings of al-∂\jj demonstrate an early awareness of some of the basic formal and thematic features of the genre. These writings also bring

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to light the main aspirations of his experimentation and reveal an attempt to integrate his work into Shi‘r’s collective project. This chapter will explore al-∂\jj’s pioneering experimentation with the genre by drawing on his theoretical writings, other writings by Shi‘r’s writers and the modern Western approaches to studying the genre. The Sequential Prose Poem

Uns# al-∂\jj’s prose poems in Shi‘r contributed significantly to establishing some of the predominant models among the younger generations of Arab prose poets. His poems, which were published in the journal as well as in his first collection, appeared in groups, each of which contains a number of mostly brief poems. This model became one of the principal types of the Arabic prose poem after Shi‘r. Each poem in these sets carried its own title, which enhanced its autonomous character. However, the sets of poems carried plain straightforward titles that refer to the number of the poems, such as: ‘Three Poems’, ‘Four Poems’, ‘Eight Poems’ and so forth. Following what seems to be an editorial practice in Shi‘r, sets of Arabic and translated poems, by different poets and in different forms, were labelled in the same plain way. However, as Delville notices, ‘one should not underestimate the impact of generic labels and statuses on the strategies developed by the reader in order to understand or respond to a particular work’.77 In this respect, the titles of al-∂\jj’s early prose poems, which were published by Shi‘r, seem more functional than they look. Labelling these widely, and wildly, contested texts as ‘poems’ at this early stage was certainly instrumental in defining the new genre as poetry. On the other hand, using the same labelling for translated, classical and free verse poems must have contributed to introducing the new genre into the poetic canon. As far as the titles of al-∂\jj’s prose poems are concerned, the reference to the number of the items in each set suggests an autonomous character of each poem. It also invites the assumption that the number and the order of poems in these sets may have been decided at random. On the other hand, each poem in the set takes a different title, which is presumably connected to a central thematic motif in the poem. At first sight, the set looks like a selection of independent poems that should only be read independently. However, the new approaches to reading the prose poem as a narrative recommend a different way for reading groups of texts that are published in sets or in collections. The reading strategy is twofold: it recognizes the independent character of each poem on the one hand, and the collective integrity of the poems on the other. In the light of this reading strategy, two sets of prose poems written by al-∂\jj will be studied in this chapter. The first one is ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ (Three Poems) and the second is ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’ (Four Poems). Modern textual approaches to studying the genre involve paying attention to unifying strands that exist between different poems. Applying these new methods, certain sets of al-∂\jj’s prose poems seem to demonstrate a strong and

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organic structural affinity. Thus, the reader is tempted to reread the three poems together as one text. The affinities between the poems in the set are enhanced through different devices. In some cases, such as in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’, the first set of poems to be examined here, al-∂\jj adopts al-©ik\ya (the tale) as his master model and employs techniques of short popular narratives to conjoin the three poems into one text. Therefore, ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ will be read within the convention of al-©ik\ya (the tale) as one text. The poems of some other sets, such as ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’, the second set to be examined here, are less interrelated. ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’ follows several models taken from various literary genres and connects itself with the historical generic function of the prose poem as a ‘fusion of genres’.78 The poems in the second set derive from various prototypes: the folktale, folksongs, the Bible, the classical qa§#da, free verse, short popular narratives, the play and Surrealist writing. The two sets have sufficient indications to suggest that the number and the order of the poems in each set are premeditated. Therefore, each poetic sequence will be investigated on two levels: as independent units and as parts of a single text. Besides the methods and approaches that are available in modern literary theory, some theoretical writings by the group of Shi‘r, including al-∂\jj, contain illuminating observations and remarks. ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’79: The Tale-like Poem

In 1959, when Simon writes about Baudelaire’s inclination in some of his Petits Poèmes to tell a tale, he considers it to be one of the shortcomings of these prose poems. Simon believes that the desire to narrate leads to ‘falling from prose poetry into dullish prose’, which he listed as being under ‘the worst of Baudelaire’s offences’.80 Several decades later, these rather strict views about the narrative tendency in the prose poem were revised by literary theorists, and the narrative aspect in the prose poem was reconsidered. Modern literary theory has recognized the relationship between the prose poem and short popular narratives. In their textual studies, critics examined connections between the narrative prose poem and a wide range of short narratives such as folktales, fairytales, fables, allegories and parables.81 In her study of ‘the narrative tendency’ in the prose poem, Murphy states that a prose poem might take the form of ‘an allegorical tale’.82 Delville identifies in his textual study of the narrative prose poem another category and called it ‘the parable-like prose poem’.83 The textual studies of these two patterns carried out by Murphy and Delville can provide an approach to study some of al-∂\jj’s early prose poems, including ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’. Furthermore, defining the elements of the popular tale that exists in the cultural context in which the poet was brought up can shed light on al-∂\jj’s narrative models and prototypes. Al-∂\jj’s early poems and theoretical studies demonstrate a seminal awareness of the narrative mode of the prose poem. His earliest prose poems manifest an unmistakable narrative tendency, and strong affinities with narrative genres. Furthermore, the poet twice described the connection between the prose poem

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and the tale in his theoretical writings, though very briefly. In the introduction to his collection Lan he wrote: ‘The prose poem is not restricted to the lyrical type, as there is the “tale-like” prose poem’.84 The term ‘tale-like prose poem’ that is used by al-∂\jj sounds very similar to the terms ‘the allegorical tale’ and ‘the parable-like prose poem’ that were introduced by Murphy and Delville. In a less direct way, al-∂\jj asserted this affinity between the prose poem and the tale again in his introduction to his translation of the biblical text ‘Song of Songs’. Describing this ancient text as a meeting ground of different literary genres and traditions, he mentioned al-©ik\ya (the tale) and the prose poem as two central models.85 Al-∂\jj does not state how he came to know as early as 1958 about the narrative mode in the prose poem and the tale-like poem. However, living and working in the vigorous context of Shi‘r, with its well-informed poets and writers, keen readers and diligent experimentalists, al-∂\jj might have recognized the narrative tendency of the prose poem through his readings, observations and own experimentation. This early interest in the tale-like poem, and in using it as a model for his first prose poems, seems to have been remarkably ahead of its time. In both references to the narrative mode, al-∂\jj used the term ∂ik\ya, which means ‘a tale’. His choice of the term is not insignificant, as he did not use the literary term qi§§a which means ‘story’. Al-∂\jj probably did not want to create any confusion with the short story as a literary genre. Al-©ik\ya occupies a central place in Arabic popular narratives as well as in popular culture. In Levantine culture and language, it refers to different types of short folktales, fairytales, allegorical tales, fables and parables that combine historical and fictitious motifs. ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ consists of three poems printed separately under three titles: ‘R\’i©at Al-∂al#b’ (Scent of Milk), ‘Fadaytu A©sh\’aki’ (May I sacrifice myself for your body),86 and ‘Rujßla’ (Manhood). As is often the case with poetry published in journals, the reader might assume that the number and the order of these three poems might have been decided by the editorial staff, or chosen randomly. These three units appear, at first sight, to be three different poems that can be read independently. In the first poem, a man is tired and sleepless. He has received news and he is concerned about losing something or somebody. He repeats ‘nothing lasts for me’ and appeals to a certain woman to give him her breast in order to help him rest and sleep. The second poem is a dialogue between a man and a woman who is one month pregnant. The woman is self-indulgent while the man is worried about her. In the third poem, a man is addressing a woman and begging her to stay by his side. In the second reading of the three poems, several unifying features start to appear in the three poems, and a progressive narrative thread can be identified clearly in the first two poems. The following section will examine these connections between the three poems by identifying some unifying features. More connections will be identified in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’, by analysing the narrative mode, and its structural

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and discursive functions. The reading will be carried out in the light of al-©ik\ya as the master narrative model of the text. In this part, ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ will be referred to as ‘the text’, and each of the three poems will be referred to as ‘poem’ or ‘part’. The unifying features Reading the three poems reveals a strong connection between them implemented through several devices: the similarity of images, metaphors and vocabulary that the lover uses to address his beloved and to express his feelings. These common features harmonize the atmospheres of the three poems smoothly into one. In the following examples, these strong affinities manifest themselves in various ways:

(a) Poems 1 and 2 employ the same unconventional images to portray the beloved. For example, both of them use the combination of jild (skin) and shahwa (desire) to symbolize the attraction between the two lovers. Poem 1:

And after the scent of your skin, I can bear nobody else. I have no desire but to squeeze and enfold you.

Poem 2:

I guard your skin so that it remains desirable.

(b) The atypical portrayal of the female breast of the beloved and the lover’s relation to it is an aesthetic innovation common to poem 1 and poem 2: Poem 1:

I will smell in your bosom a scent of early milk that is stored in the veins of your breast.

Poem 2:

Do I not drink the sweat of your breasts?

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(c) The intimate imagery in poems 1 and 3 depicts similar physical postures of the two lovers: Poem 1:

Sleep on my arm.

Poem 3:

Sit here on my knee

(d) Poems 1 and 3 open with the same article ‘ ’ (No). (e) Poems 2 and 3 use the identical image and vocabulary to describe eyes: Poem 2:

Languishing eyes

Poem 3:

The languishing of my eye

The narrative mode: conventions and functions The first reading uncovers an organic narrative connection between the first two poems. However, the third poem, which displays a strong lyrical mode, poses a problem. There is no reference to pregnancy or to any of the associative imagery and vocabulary that occurred in the previous two poems. Nonetheless, the second reading in the light of modern approaches to reading the narrative prose poem encourages the integration of the third poem and to reading al-∂\jj’s three poems as one text. In their textual studies of the narrative mode of the prose poem, Murphy and Delville define a new approach to studying the genre. This double-focus approach concentrates on identifying the narrative conventions that are employed in their chosen texts on the one hand, and on examining how these texts deviate from the narrative traditions and subvert them on the

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other. In their theoretical observations and textual analysis, they define several major functions of the narrative prose poem. Five of these functions can be applied to ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’: the two formulas; temporality; the prosaic and the poetic; the narrative and the lyrical; and the didactic orientation; The two formulas

Murphy considers the application of the initial and final formulas as one of the main structural devices of the narrative prose poem. In her study about the prose poem in English, she analyses the evocation and subversion of the two traditional formulas of the fairytale by prose poets.87 According to this approach, the first paragraph in al-∂\jj’s text includes the main motifs of the initial formula of the Arabic popular narrative. Traditionally, most of these narratives start with the same expression: ‘ ’ (There were, often!), which corresponds to the English expression ‘Once upon a time’. By opening with this sentence, the tale establishes its own spatio-temporal setting. The place-setting is infinite, which gives the tale an attractive universal appeal, and the time-setting is also infinite, though it is the remote past. By locating their tales in the past, narrators give their narratives a touch of authenticity, or even actuality. Furthermore, identifying tales with the ‘past’ is one of the main motivations behind telling tales and listening to them, which is to invoke the past, its people and its lessons. In a similar manner, ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ starts by:

Nothing lasts for me.

The first three items in the sentence ‘ ’ invoke a popular Qur’anic-derived adage ‘ ’ (Nothing lasts but God). With its Qur’anic overtones, the opening sentence shows its claims to authenticity and universality. On the other hand, it initiates a parable-like mode and moves towards the ‘impersonality of allegorical narrative’.88 However, through the final word ‘ ’ (for me), the lyrical ‘I’ comes into view. This single word subverts the infinite reference of the traditional initial formula. On the other hand, it downsizes the scope of the narration by connecting the tale to the present time and personalizing it. Consequently, the four-word sentence comprises the duality of the universal truth and the personal statement. This duality symbolizes the duality of ‘man/cosmos’ which represents one of the ontological preoccupations of al-∂\jj’s writing. In this manner, the new initial formula of al-∂\jj creates its own appeal and sets the mode of the tale. The following sentence in the text is a representation of the act of narrating tales. It foregrounds the metatextual aspects of the tradition by looking at the tale as a practice and presenting it along with its associations:

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Give me your breast, so it might stimulate drowsiness in the blinking of my eyelids. I am exhausted and sad. . . .

The breast, songs and tales are the mother’s oldest devices for putting a child to sleep. The metaphor of the breast invokes inspiration from mothers who are the finest storytellers. Metatextuality is one of the prose poem’s devices to turn the act of writing or narrating into themes and motifs. This in itself is another characteristic of Arabic oral narratives and folktales. Its best example is One Thousand and One Nights which is both a frame story and sequences of narrated tales. Just as the act of narration becomes one of the thematic motifs in One Thousand and One Nights so we can see the same feature in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’. The third poem concludes by:

When you pass by and I am not there, ask him to keep my secret, and to be discreet like you . . . lest my bones be miserable in the earth out of pity.

The final sentence mimics a traditional final formula in folktales in which the narrator ask his audience not to share his tale with others:

Here is the tale, we narrated it and hid it in your chest.

On the other hand, it also completely subverts the motif of another popular final formula, which is often repeated at the end of every romantic folktale:

And they lived happily ever after.

The three words with their three references to ‘reunion, life and happiness’ are substituted in al-∂\jj’s final formula by their three antitheses: ‘separation, death and misery’. Occurring at the end of the third poem, this final formula integrates the third poem to the text, and unifies the three poems organically. Furthermore, the two formulas create a relation of interdependence between the three units and give the text a sense of wholeness.

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Temporality

A closer reading uncovers an organic structural affinity between the first two poems, which highlights the central motif that unites them. Although poem 1 has no word that is related to pregnancy, the man addressing his woman says: ‘I will smell in your bosom a scent of early milk that is stored in the veins of your breasts.’ This image suggests a pregnancy, which is in fact the central motif of poem 2, and this motif of a developing pregnancy connects poem 1 to poem 2 in a storyline. In the light of this connection, the initial passage in poem 1 is rendered intelligible:

Yesterday, bells of joy danced in my house. Today, a crow passed through my head. Tomorrow, bells of joy will dance again in my house.

The passage can now be interpreted as depicting the man’s state of mind after receiving the news of his woman’s pregnancy, and his ambivalent feelings towards this event. The two pregnant women in poems 1 and 2 could be the same person, especially as the two caring worried men in the two poems sound identical. Poem 1 depicts the first two days after receiving the news and continues: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Then, poem 2 covers the subsequent period which is the second month of pregnancy, as stated by the woman herself:

One month I have walked, eight more I should walk.

By progressing in time, Al-∂\jj’s poem gives an impression of an evolving structure. The developing pregnancy seems to be a thematic parallel of the developing structure of tale. Since it is the main theme of the first two poems, pregnancy can also be used to measure the temporal progression in the first two poems. Incorporating ‘a temporal sequence’ and manipulating ‘duration’ are identified by Murphy as two of the main structural functions of the narrative mode in the prose poem.89 The progress of time in the first two poems, the intense relation between the man and the woman, the situation of the pregnancy and the anticipation of what will follow create a distinct progressive narrative thread that joins the two poems. However, the temporal progression is terminated abruptly at the end of the second poem. The third poem, ‘Rujßla’, is void of any reference to pregnancy and any sense of temporal progression or narrative structure. By being a short lyric about love and death, not delivery and birth, the third poem

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undermines the typical expectation that grows in the first two poems. This subversive function will be examined in detail in the fourth part ‘the narrative and the lyrical’ that explores the fourth function of the narrative prose poem. The didactic orientation

This is one of the conventions of popular narratives and sacred texts. Studying different types of the narrative prose poem, Delville defines the didactic orientation which comes into play in the prose poem that invokes these old narratives. However, Delville argues, the prose poem establishes its difference and defines itself by subverting the didactic orientation at both the formal and thematic levels of the text.90 Delville’s approach sheds light on the structure of the first two poems that manifest a strong narrative mode. Al-∂\jj’s tale-like poem digs deep into the collective cultural memory for similar texts that revolve around the same motifs of marriage and pregnancy. Alongside the central ‘tale’, the text relates to several biblical tales. By drawing on biblical imagery and vocabulary, the text gradually builds its parabolic mode and invokes ‘the allegorical impersonality of the parable’.91 The rich intertextual relations recall the best known tales about marriage and pregnancy. The first poem brings into play the ‘Song of Songs’, one of the most celebrated texts about marriage. Addressing his beloved, the lover in al-∂\jj’s text seems to respond to the beloved’s yearning in ‘Song of Songs’. The latter has . . . My Lover . . . Resting between my breasts.92 I delight to sit in his shade.93

while ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ has . . .

While I am in the shade of your breast.

The second poem continues to evoke the biblical expressions. The dialogue between the man and the women echoes the dialogue of the two lovers in the ‘Song of Songs’ and the physical description of the woman recalls the beloved of Solomon: ‘Song of Songs’: How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter94

‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’:

How beautiful are your feet

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In the second poem, the interaction with the biblical tradition intensifies. Describing the pains of the pregnant woman draws heavily on the biblical images of suffering:

Up to the top of Golgotha

A crown of thorns!

The parabolic intensity heightens gradually in the second poem which progresses as a variation on the combination of pregnancy and pain. The imagery and vocabulary in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ draw on one the most ancient tales about pregnancy:

With pain she conceived

The sentence recalls Eve’s story in Genesis connecting the mother in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ intertextually with the great first mother: ‘I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.’95 Another image in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ goes back towards one of the first mythical representations of pregnancy and birth in written history:

A god grows out of the earth

This image recalls the myth of the Titans, an ancient breed of giants who grew out of mother earth in Greek mythology, and who were the first inhabitants of the earth in old Arabic narratives and in the Bible.96 Being master narrative models, these great intertexts enhance the narrative side of the text and enhance its central motif. On the other hand, evoking the biblical narrative raises anticipation of the didactic potential of the text. By invoking the older traditions, the prose poem develops a didactic orientation, only however to subvert it towards the end. One of the techniques by which the prose poem undermines its didactic function and expectation is by personalizing the poem in the last part.97 The narrative progression builds up towards the last sentence that comes at the closure of the second part to illuminate the whole text with its intense sharp and playful image:

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And nothing drops from your breasts, when they are mine, but illusion.

The strong presence of the lyric ‘I’ at the end of the second poem subverts the recognizable narrative progression in the first two parts. On the other hand, it initiates a lyrical mode that will dominate the third part. The final sentence uses what Delville calls ‘playful imagery’. Using playful imagery in the closure is one of the features of parable-like prose poems. Playfulness and textual games undermine the traditional expectation of unveiling an implicit meaning and moral teaching of the story.98 Nonetheless, the prose poem retains one of the allegorical potentials of old tradition, defined by Delville as ‘an impulse to illustrate on a microcosmic scale the “universal” anxieties of the common unconsciousness’.99 This potential seems to apply to al-∂\jj’s text and to be an aspiration of his tale-like poem. The narrative and the lyrical

The third poem prolongs and enhances the lyrical mode that was initiated at the end of the second poem. In this manner, it connects itself with the rest of the text. Though Delville recognizes that lyrical elements exist in any narrative,100 he emphasizes that the lyrical presence in the narrative prose poem is more distinct and more functional. In his textual study of some narrative prose poems, Delville identifies two modes coming into play. The first one is called ‘the parabolic mode’, or ‘the parable-like mode’, and the second is ‘the lyrical mode’.101 In the narrative prose poem, the lyrical mode undermines the structural development of the story and systematically diverts it away from traditional perspective. Along these lines, the prose poem differentiates itself from other short narrative prose genres such as the anecdote, the short story, the condensed novel and the parable and establishes itself as an individual genre.102 Though not underlining the role of the lyrical mode in defining the narrative prose poem, Murphy emphasizes that ‘a prose poem, even a predominantly narrative one, needs to mark its difference’. Explaining the manner in which a narrative prose poem marks its difference, she observes that narrative prose poems would ‘have ends other than narrative ones’.103 Delville seems to reach the same conclusion about the significance of the closure, which he includes in his study about the lyrical mode. In some prose poems, he notices, the lyrical ‘I’ survives the narrative strains and dominates the closure of the text.104 In al-∂\jj’s text, the first two poems develop a narrative structure and break new ground on both the formal and the thematic level. In contrast, the third poem employs the typical imagery and language of Arabic romantic poems and folksongs, and sounds like a short romantic lyric about love:

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Do not turn your back and depart

If you turn your face away

I do not want to mix my tears but with your face

The print-shape of al-∂\jj’s three poems echoes the alternate presence of the narrative and the lyrical in the text. Whereas the first and the second poems contain long paragraphs, the third poem consists of isolated sentences. Examining the function of typographical appearance in the prose poem, Delville notices that unlike the compact shape of the paragraph, the dispersed appearance of isolated sentences makes it ‘partially resisting, so to speak, their own incorporation into the larger narrative of the poem as a whole’.105 In the same way, the third poem interrupts the progressive narrative line that developed in the first two poems and undermines any tendency to create a plot. By combining the narrative and the lyrical on both the formal and the thematic levels, al-∂\jj’s text performs what Delville calls the ‘resistance to narrative’,106 and establishes itself as an independent genre. The presence of the lyrical and the narrative in the prose poem was observed by other critics who studied this combination in the discourse of the genre. The prosaic and the poetic

In constructing their theoretical approaches for studying the genre, Fredman and Monroe precede Delville in recognizing two different modes coming into play in the prose poem and defining it as a genre. Fredman observes briefly in his preface the open linguistic space that is made available to the prose poet to combine ‘the poetic’ with ‘the unpoetic’.107 Monroe explores at length the same function of the genre in the context of the aesthetic and social formation of the European prose poem in its early stages.108 Similarly, he emphasizes the role of this combination in defining the genre and called it ‘the norm-breaking function’ of the prose poem. Being preoccupied with discourse rather than form, he studies this combination as manifested in the discourse and called it ‘the poetic’ and ‘the prosaic’. Defining the new function, Monroe points out that the discourse of the prose poem in that era had acted against the ‘existing aesthetic and socio-historical norms’. One of the significant areas covered in his comparative study is the subversive relation of the prose poem to the formal and thematic

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conventions of lyric verse. The examples that he uses illustrate how a number of principal norms come under attack. One of these norms that the prose poem undermines is ‘the tendency to exclude from texts accepted under the rubric of poetry such prosaic motifs as urban life, crowds, poverty and class conflict’.109 Studying ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ in the light of this approach requires the analysis of the innovative treatment of theme and form vis-à-vis the conventions of Arabic poetry. Historically, pregnancy is considered an unpoetic concept and it is rarely mentioned in Arabic poetry. One of the earliest occurrences of the term took place in the famous poem of Imru’ al-Qays:

Others like you, pregnant, I have reached, and a fostering mother And I distracted her from a one-year-old baby with amulets

Such a reference to a pregnant woman is exceptional in Arabic poetry. However, Imru’ al-Qays did not elaborate on the motif and restricted it to one word. Moreover, the pregnant woman was another man’s wife and she was presented in the poem as an uncommon example of the beloved women. Unfortunately, the literary and cultural critics have treated this seminal norm-breaking function of the literary discourse as a manifestation of eccentricity and licentiousness, or as an individual rebellion against the social system and values at best. The most dominant image of a woman’s body in classical Arabic poetry is that represented by ‘Amr ibn Kulthßm in his mu‘llaqa. Describing the beloved women, Ibn Kulthßm compared her plump body to a she-camel who ‘had never experienced an embryo’, .110 This puritanical idealized portrait of a woman’s body was strengthened by models created by the ‘Udhr# poets and tended to dominate love poetry throughout the ages. It was invigorated by the Romantic Movement and its preoccupation with the perfect images of the female body.111 These models and ideals prevailed in the poetic scene in the first half of the twentieth century, and formed essential elements in the social and cultural setting in which the Arabic prose poem was born. In modern Arabic poetry, pregnancy represented an unattractive and unpoetic theme for poets. In Niz\r Qabb\ni’s ‘∂ubl\’ (Pregnant), which is one of the rare and famous poems on the theme, pregnancy led to aborting the relationship along with the baby. Hence, his poetic treatment of the theme was conducted within the conventional aesthetics of Arabic poetry. The poem was chosen by Issa Boullata as a representative text of Qabb\ni’s poetry in his collection of translated poems Modern Arab Poets.112 Whereas pregnancy was celebrated in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’, it was condemned in ‘∂ubl\’. At the closure of the Qabb\ni’s poem, the woman resolves the situation by declaring:

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I shall abort that foetus I do not want him to have a mean father.

By taking pregnancy as an aesthetic representation of femininity, and dignifying it by connecting it with a great older tradition, al-∂\jj’s text breaks one of the main social and aesthetic conventions, and plunges into new territory. The text seems to belong to what Fredman calls the ‘antipoetic realm of fact’113 in the prose poem, and what Monroe calls ‘the prosaic world’.114 According to Monroe, the prose poem poeticizes prosaic motifs by dramatizing them. Using the popular tale as a prototype, al-∂\jj was able to conduct his dramatization of these prosaic aspects of human experience which had long been considered unworthy of literary attention.115 The dialogue also helped the text to tackle pregnancy as a concept and as an event from both the perspectives of the man and the woman. However, the biggest challenge that al-∂\jj sets for his text was not choosing one of the most ‘prosaic’ and ‘unpoetic’ themes. It was rather writing a poem in which the beloved is the pregnant wife, without turning the poem into a text about motherhood. Contrarily, the changing features of the female body due to pregnancy were celebrated and presented along with more typical concerns of love poetry. Thus, the text combined in harmony the traditional motifs and vocabulary that are common in love poetry – such as sleepless nights, yearning for reunion, physical attraction, worries about losing the beloved – with the motifs and terms that can be found in leaflets in ante-natal family clinics – labour, milk, fostering, abdomen, bearing a child, sweat and pregnancy pains. As for Fredman, he believes that the unlimited freedom of using language in the prose poem helps to deal with this ‘unpoetic realm’ and allows the poet to construct what he has been told to exclude. This freedom represents one of the main properties that attract poets to the genre. In fact, al-∂\jj defined this preoccupation with language as one of the main concerns of the Arab project of cultural modernity and as a collective task of Shi‘r when he declared in one of his editorials: ‘We have problems with language.’116 Taking advantage of this freedom, al-∂\jj’s text engages with and interrogates what has been thought of as a subject for science and medicine. This is manifested clearly in the fusion of what were perceived as two different worlds: the transcendental spiritual world and the real, troubled, tedious world. The prosaic world of daily life and its concerns are poeticized and the two worlds are merged within the same phrase in al-∂\jj’s text. An illustrative example can be drawn here from the imagery of parts of the female body in the text. Known for their obsession with certain parts of the human body, prose poets differ in their choices.117 In his text, al-∂\jj links his poem with its ancestral line

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of poems about love by taking the female breasts as a poetic representation of femininity and womanhood. The text shows a disproportionate presence of the female breast and the man’s obsessional relationship with it. The two words of thady and nahd that refer in Arabic to the female breast occur seven times in the first two parts of the text along with their associative terms such as ©al#b (milk) and ©alama (nipple). One of the achievements of the text is breaking the poetic dichotomy, perhaps for the first time, between the two terms thady and nahd. Since nahd is connected with the linguistic root nahada (to become round and full),118 the ideal aesthetic attributes of the female breast are implied. Whereas the term thady was mainly used in classical poetry,119 the term nahd is typically used in modern poetry as the poetic representation of the female breast. In modern Arabic poetry both terms are used, but with a significant predominance of nahd, and they hardly ever occur together. However, whereas it is unlikely for the word nahd to occur outside aesthetic discursive practices, thady is the term that is used in science, medicine and anatomy in reference to the female breast. In a norm-breaking manner, ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ uses the two terms indifferently and sometimes in the same sentence. This undermines the established poetic syntax and imagery that idealizes the description of this part of the female body and gives it different attributes:

I shall smell from your breast scent of early milk

In addition to this innovative usage of language, the text exploits the prose poem’s ability to turn grammar into a poetic device.120 In the third part of the text, that is entitled ‘Rujßla’ (Manhood), a central image of the two lovers is inspired by a grammatical point. In this image, the poet subverts the two traditional poetic clichés that are implied in the two associations: man/sun, woman/moon:

Do you want me to drink my light from your disappearance, as the moon does to the sun, then delights.

In Arabic, which is a gender-based language, the noun shams (sun) is feminine whereas the noun qamar (moon) is masculine. However, in poetry, mythology and popular culture, man is associated with the sun as a symbol of glory and strength while woman is associated with the moon as a symbol of beauty and serenity. This contradiction between the grammatical characteristics of the two words and their poetic associations was noted earlier by al-Mutanabb#:

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Having been made feminine is no disgrace for the name of the sun, nor is having been made masculine a source of pride for the crescent.

Al-∂\jj pushed al-Mutanabb#’s observation further and broke this association completely by associating man with the moon and woman with the sun. In these new associations, the sun is a symbol of the feminine giving and sacrifice, while the moon represents man’s need for love and attention. Al-∂\jj uses the logic that is implied in language and grammar to recredit the sun with its femininity and the moon with its masculinity. Accordingly, he redistributes the gendered attributes and associations of the two planets in a norm-breaking manner. Exploiting the freedom of language that the prose poem allows, al-∂\jj creates what Murphy calls ‘a gender shift’.121 This is usually achieved in prose poems by the innovative usage of language and grammar. The new order, which is created by this gender shift, constitutes a central focus of the text and creates its new discourse of gender. ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’122: The Fusion of Genres

As the title indicates, this text includes four poems. These are: ‘Khiµµa’ (Plan), ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’ (The Deep House), ‘∂iw\r’ (Dialogue) and ‘Huwiyya’ (Identity). Shortly after they were published in Shi‘r, these four poems reappeared sporadically, and in different order, in the poet’s first collection, Lan. According to modern literary theory, the setting, the presentation and the order of any set of poems are key elements in reading and interpreting them. Consequently, the same four poems that reappeared in the collection should suggest a different reading. However, this study will take as its primary source the four poems as they first appeared in Shi‘r. At first reading, these four poems seem to be less interrelated in comparison with the three parts of the previous sequential text ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’. Nevertheless, there are enough clues to suggest that once again the number and the order of the four poems were not decided at random. Therefore, once again, this poetic sequence will be looked at as one text. As the study of the previous text shows, the text ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ employs the techniques of popular narratives and links the three poems into one tale-like poem. Therefore, it was easy to detect the cumulative uninterrupted current that overflowed through the three parts. On the formal as well as the thematic level, the different parts in ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ are organically connected. Furthermore, ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ utilizes narrative elements and devices to unite the text. In contrast, and as far as these narrative unifying factors are concerned, the four parts of the present text ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’ seem more capable of standing individually. However, in ‘Arba‘ Qa§a’id’ there is an unmistakable resemblance between poems 1 and 3, and between poems 2 and 4. Whereas poems 1 and 3 have an anecdotal structure, the other two are more surrealistic. Poems 1 and 3

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are brief and consistent whereas the other two are fragmented and relatively longer. The alternating order of these two different types connects the text and creates a relationship of interdependence between its parts. Accordingly, the text can be approached from three perspectives: as four independent poems, as a combination of two types and as one text. These three perspectives may also be applied together within one approach to study the text, as this study will attempt to do. ‘Khiµµa’: The lyric short short

You were shouting between the pine trees. Serenity carries the wind of your voice to my body. I was veiled behind the pine trees receiving your shouts and beseeching so that you do not see me. You were shouting between the pine trees: Come here my darling! I was hiding behind the pine trees so that you do not see me, and then I come to you and so you run away.

‘Khiµµa’ is a short prose poem about love. This love poem echoes numerous universal folktales and parables that have tackled the same theme, including that of Adam and Eve. However, in al-∂\jj’s prose poem, the ancient tradition is charged with a new spirit. On account of its thematic and formal characteristics, ‘Khiµµa’ represents an example of the short narrative prose poem. More specifically, it seems to fit well in the category of the ‘lyric short short’,123 which is one of the sub-categories of the narrative prose poem. As its name indicates, ‘lyric short short’ comprises poetic aspects of the lyric along with narrative aspects of the short story. Unlike a short story, which is about characters, the ‘lyric short short’ is about situation.124 In his study of several models of the lyric short short, Delville notes that this type has a combination of allegorical and lyrical elements.125 However, it is not always easy to identify this type of prose poem. Moreover, Delville believes that ‘the same piece of writing can be assigned different

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hermeneutic priorities and read as a short short story or as a prose poem’.126 Therefore, he maintains that the generic labelling and publishing circumstances together play a key role in defining this type of writing. In this respect, the title of this text ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’ is remarkably functional in defining this work as poetry. Furthermore, being published in a journal like Shi‘r that is dedicated to poetry, and more specifically to new and unconventional poetry, would certainly facilitate considering ‘Khiµµa’ as a work of poetry. The poem consists of four sentences. It depicts a situation that involves two figures. No attempt is made to delineate the two figures, who seem obscure and featureless. It is only through making use of the grammatical gender-division of the masculine and feminine that we are able to identify a man and a woman in the scene. ‘Khiµµa’ has a very plain and simple start, which depicts a woman in a pine grove searching for her lover. As the reading proceeds, the relationship between the two lovers is confusing and the behaviour of the lover appears most equivocal. The woman is desperately searching for her lover, and shouting ‘! ’ (Come here my darling!). The man is pining for her and for a communion with her, as implied in the word ‘ ’ (my body) which suggests physical intimacy. However, he is hiding from her. This makes the situation highly ambiguous, but only until the very last word in the poem. In one sudden and sharp stroke, this last word ‘ ’ (so you run away) illuminates the whole poem and clarifies the situation. Unexpectedly, the last word inverts the whole process that builds up throughout the poem and demonstrates the most intensive performance that language can afford. Furthermore, it tones down the solemnity that prevails in the poem with a delightful touch of humour. The conclusion of ‘Khiµµa’ represents the ideal example of the ‘capturing closure’ which theorists consider a cornerstone of the poetics of the prose poem.127 In the light of this single last word, the poem yields a different interpretation. The new reading will shed light on the real situation that the poem is trying to build, and on the meaning of its title ‘Khiµµa’. The present situation that comes into view illustrates the elusive side of the relationship between the man and the woman. Each of the two lovers has his own secret plan. In this view, the choice of title seems instrumental in providing a key word to start the reading. The woman plans to turn herself into an object of pursuit and the man plans to de-activate her plan. This is his way of keeping the woman by his side and of keeping the love going. He hides because if she spots him he has to come close, and if he comes close she will run away.

So that you do not see me, I come to you and so you run away

Vital and animated, this phrase, which is only five words in Arabic, embodies the spirit of the whole poem. The punctuation follows the rhythm of these three

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sudden and unexpected actions. This tension on the thematic level and the intensity on the formal level fit well into al-∂\jj’s understanding of the prose poem.128 By employing playful poetics that are associated with the prose poem,129 the poet depicts love as a continuous display of affection that intertwines amusement and sorrow. This combination subverts the monotonous sorrowful tone associated with conventional romantic poetry. In two of his poetic reviews, al-∂\jj expresses his impatience with what he calls ‘the romantic melancholy’. However, he defends the poet’s right to be sad and melancholic as a counter-discourse to the optimistic and self-assured vision that dominated the poetic scene at the time.130 The poem’s intensity stems from a dynamic and lively usage of language. The excessive utilization of verbs animates the imagery and enlivens the prosody. Five out of the nine words in the last sentences are verbs, and they alternate between the figures of the man and the woman, which makes the image very theatrical. Moreover, the two figures are defined only by their acts. As a matter of fact, the whole poem includes only one verb-derived adjective ‘ ’ (veiled). What is more, this adjective is attributed to the male figure in the poem. None of the attributes of beauty and gracefulness, which historically pervade Arabic poetry about women, is to be found in al-∂\jj’s beloved. Furthermore, the dualism of the active/passive, which is assigned historically to man/woman respectively, is inverted here. Thus, the poem performs its own counter-discourse against the dominant gender discourse in poetry. The new discourse is manifested clearly in the choice of words assigned to each figure:

The woman: shouting, voice, see, shouts.

The man: veiled, receive, beseeching, hiding.

The opening sentence takes the reader in a sudden swift U-turn away from the title. Whereas the title ‘Four poems’ sets a lyrical mode through the usage of the word ‘poems’, the first sentence displays an explicit parabolic manner. ‘A lonely lost woman in the woods shouting for help’ is one of the popular thematic motifs in universal folktales. It is also the central image in many Arabic folktales that probably evolved from a European origin. It is present in the first story that generations of Arab children listen to, which is ‘Layl\ of the Red Hat’.131 However, this parabolic beginning is broken by the use of the pronoun ‘you’ in the very first word, ‘ ’ (you were). Soon after, the lyrical ‘I’ enters the scene through the last letter in the sentence: ‘ ’ (my body). In contrast, the common opening of tales and parables is ‘there was’, and the pronouns that

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are typically used would be the third-person pronouns ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’. Nonetheless, ‘Khiµµa’ revolves around the first- and second-person pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’. In his textual study of a ‘lyric short short’, Delville highlights the conflict between ‘the lyrical I’ and ‘the parabolic mode’.132 The same remark could be applied to al-∂\jj’s ‘Khiµµa’. However, along with the dominant lyrical ‘I’ in ‘Kh#µµa’, the second feminine singular stands side by side. By revolving around these two pronouns, which are rather typical of romantic lyrics, the lyrical mode takes over, and the narrative is poeticized. The spatial setting is defined by a single word, §anawbar\t’ (pine trees). Since the pine is one of the most widespread trees in the Eastern Mediterranean region, the occurrence of the word §anawbar\t sounds instrumental in localizing the poem and giving it a precisely defined geographic reference. However, the repetition of the word in the middle of each sentence sounds at first glance pointless. This obsessional repetition of the word undercuts the referentiality, obscures the realism and gives the word a poetic presence. In this view, the use of §unubar\t is not used to accomplish a referential task. It only refers to itself, and it is valued for its own sake. Some critics consider this ‘self-referentiality’ as one of the achievements of the prose poem.133 Nonetheless, this poetic technique was often seen by modern critics as one of the practices of Arabic classical poetry. In the classical qa§#da, repeating the name of a certain tree plays this double role in defining a specific place and turning it into a poetic space:

Once there was a place in the Valley of al-Gha@\, if al-gha@\ come closer, but al-gha@\ is not close.134

The nostalgic repetition of the name of this tree ‘al-gha@\’ in the opening of the famous poem of M\lik ibn al-Rayb is one of the best illustrations of this combination. Al-gha@\ for Arabia is a desert tree, equivalent to the pine trees of the Eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, both of them also have referential and poetic characteristics. Though preoccupied with innovating and modernizing, the poets of Shi‘r appreciated the poetics of classical Arabic poetry and exploited them. By publishing selections of classical Arabic poetry on the pages of Shi‘r, side by side with works of modern poetry, Shi‘r and its group were making an important statement. The text of ‘Khiµµa’ does not take on a block-like shape; nor is it written in short lines. Each of its four sentences approximates in size to the traditional verset of classical Arabic poetry, bayt, and stands alone. Furthermore, each sentence is printed in a separate block and stands as a poetic unit. Consequently, the text resembles a classical qa§#da, but of unusual brevity. ‘Khiµµa’ highlights its intensity and creates its effect by accommodating its references to the classical qa§#da, which is known to be lengthy and elaborate, in the economical language and compact form of the prose poem.

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The repetition of the word §anawbar\t in the middle of each sentence creates an internal rhyme and also splits each sentence into two halves, parodying the two hemistichs. The repetition at the end of each sentence of the vowel ‘i’, which is equivalent to ‘my’ and ‘me’ in English, does not create the strong phonic rhythm of the classical rhyme, but it mimics it. On the other hand, each of the four sentences begins with the same verb. In its four occurrences, the verb takes the same tense but not the same pronoun. The poem initiates its four sentences by alternating the verb ‘to be’ in the past tense with the two pronouns ‘You’ and ‘I’: ‘ ’ in the first and third lines, and ‘ ’ in the second and fourth lines. In Arabic, the verb in its two forms takes exactly the same consonantal structure, which consists of the three letters ‘K’, ‘N’ and ‘T’. Nevertheless, the difference is implied in the vowel ending of the kasra and the @amma. The vowel ending is printed on the last letter of the verb in the first three occurrences only; that is, at the beginning of the first three sentences. This allows the reading to progress smoothly until the last sentence. The verb at the beginning of the fourth sentence is without a vowel ending. Suddenly, the reading stops and the reader has to proceed in reading the rest of the sentence to work out that the missing vowel ending here is the @amma. This brings attention to the sameness of the visual appearance of completely different words in Arabic. It also highlights the intimacy of the two pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’, which is illustrated by the visually identical structure of their past-tense verbs. On the other hand, the repetition of the same word at the outset of each sentence mimics the rhyme in classical poetry by creating an anti-rhyme. Hence, it seems more like a unique visual rhyme. As a prose poem, ‘Khiµµa’ exploits the void left by the absence of the conventional poetic systems of metre and rhyme and employs the visual aspect of the language to produce its effect. Utilizing the visual aspects of language is one of the achievements of the prose poem vis-à-vis other types of poetry which mainly utilize the phonic aspects of language. ‘Khiµµa’, the first poem in the series, consists of four sentences, which is the same as the number of the ‘poems’ in the text. This numeric analogy indicates the fragmentation and the wholeness of the text at the same time. By being made of four items, the first of which consists in turn of four items, the text represents the ability of the prose poem to create innovative devices of composition. Number 4, which makes for the number of the poems in the set, and the number of the minor units in the first poem, also illustrates a distinctive relationship between the part and the whole. In this dualism, the part reflects the whole and the whole is included in the part. This relationship suggests the ancient, philosophical and mystic concept of the relation between the part and the whole, the micro and the macro, and man and the cosmos. ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’: The improvisational dynamic In her review of al-∂\jj’s collection Lan, Kh\lida Sa‘#d writes that al-∂\jj ‘resembles early Dadaists and Surrealists: he writes poetry by coincidence’.135 In

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this article, Sa‘#d studies al-∂\jj’s writings as poetry in the general sense, and regardless of the fact that these are prose poems. Thus, she does not specify the relation between this type of writing and the prose poem. Moreover, she generalizes her assessment as covering all texts in the collection. In this early observation, Sa‘#d precisely identifies the prototypes of a major category in al-∂\jj’s prose poems and the mechanisms for writing them. However, her statement seems irrelevant for several of al-∂\jj’s poems, such as the previous poem, ‘Khitta’ and the third one ‘∂iw\r’, which definitely follow a very different pattern. Nevertheless, Sa‘#d’s statement implies the key approach for reading and analysing al-∂\jj’s second poem ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’, and the fourth one ‘Huwiyya’. Studying Improvisations, the collection of prose poems written by Williams Carlos Williams, Murphy reaches the same conclusion. Like Sa‘#d, Murphy recognizes the kinship between the two poetic experiences: the prose poem on one hand and the writings of the Dadaists and Surrealists on the other. However, Murphy dealt with Williams’ writing as prose poems in the first place; therefore, she concentrates her research on exploring the common methods and practices of these two poetic experiences. As revealed by Murphy, the similarity between Dadaist and Surrealist writing on the one hand, and the prose poem on the other stems from adopting the same method of writing, which she calls the ‘improvisational dynamic’.136 In order to explore his motivations for choosing ‘improvisation’ as a ‘method in writing’ for his collection Improvisations, Murphy investigates Williams’s own biographical notes. One of her findings was that ‘the dadaist experiments in automatic writing gave him the idea’.137 The other main influence was, she believes, Wassily Kandinsky’s definition of improvisation. In his treatise about the sources of inspiration in art, which was read and quoted by Williams, Kandinsky identifies three sources: impression, improvisation and composition. As for improvisation, Kandinsky defines it as ‘a largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner character’.138 Applying this definition to Williams’ prose poems, Murphy constructs an approach for the study of the improvisational process as ‘a paradigm for the prose poem’. Defining the dynamics of the poetic process, al-∂\jj used similar expressions to those used by Kandinsky and Murphy. In describing his poetry he says: ‘My speech is prattle’,139 and in defining the sources of the poetic experience he refers to ‘the inner experience’ and ‘the inner self of the poet’.140 Combining Sa‘#d’s and Murphy’s observations, along with al-∂\jj’s notes, can provide a theoretical approach to the study of this category of Arabic prose poem. The title of the poem consists of two words, ‘Al-Bayt’ and ‘al-‘Am#q’. In contrast to the previous title, this title sounds rather difficult to comprehend and define. The first direct meaning could be deduced by the literal interpretation of the two words, which is equivalent to ‘the deep house’ in English. In this respect, the order of the two poems is not without significance. Directly following the first poem ‘Khiµµa’, whose setting is a forest, the second poem’s opening represents a critical turning point. Proceeding to the second poem, the reader moves from an

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open, wild space in nature, the pine grove, to enter another world, al-bayt (the house), which is well defined, closed and domestic. However, the two opposites are interdependent and connected, especially through the final agoraphobic image of escaping from the pine forest in the first poem and the last word tahrub# (you run away) (see Appendix 2, p. 275). The word naturally invokes the linguistic cliché tahrub il\ al-bayt and involves the reader in bridging the two poems by the preposition ‘ ’ (to). However, the two words have several abstract and concrete meanings and references: Al-Bayt: house, household, family, a verset of poetry, abode, tent and Ka‘ba. Al-‘Am#q: Deep, profound, strong and extreme in terms of feelings. The title breaks the linguistic clichés: al-bayt al-kab#r (the big house), or al-bayt al-w\si‘ (the spacious house), by assigning an unusual attribute to the noun bayt. The adjective ‘am#q is usually attributed to specific things like well, cave, sea, or is used to describe abstract situations like sleeping, thinking or feeling. This attempt to create a new semantic relationship echoes al-∂\jj’s dream to ‘invent a new language’.141 The phrase can be read as a surreal image, or as a new way to conceive the image of the house as a well or a cave. It can also be seen as coming under the influence of the agoraphobic relationship between the two poems ‘a forest’/‘a house’. Hence, it expresses an intention to hide and to extend the escape from the outside world deep inside the house. The title can be interpreted in the light of improvisational and automatic writing methods as two practices of the prose poem. Hence, the word ‘am#q, which is traditionally used to describe a state of sleeping, equivalent in English to a sound sleep, could be seen as triggered by the verb b\ta. B\ta, to spend the night at home or to sleep, is implied in its derivative noun bayt, which historically meant a place ‘to stay at night in’ or ‘to sleep in’. Furthermore, lexically the phrase al-bayt al-‘am#q has a striking near-exact similarity to the phrase al-bayt al-‘at#q, the ancient house. Lexically, the difference between the two phrases is only one letter, ‘T’ as opposed to ‘M’. Al-bayt al-‘at#q occurs in the Qur’an as a synonym to the Ka‘ba.142 The new word ‘am#q could be read as a linguistic lapse that is produced by automatic writing which employs linguistic games. In an article about Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), al-∂\jj described subconscious and automatic writing as one of the main practices of Surrealist poetry.143 The phrase could also be seen as a subversion of the Qur’anic phrase, and a desire to refresh the classical language which is turned into trivial clichés in the course of history. By creating a parallel to the phrase, al-∂\jj intensifies it, enriches it with new connections and frees it from ‘the authority of heritage’.144 It is interesting to see how al-∂\jj, by changing one letter, was able to create another phrase that competes with the versatile sacred language in its ability to build a wide network of references and meanings – a phrase that, like its sacred counterpart, can stimulate what seems to be an endless process of searching for an interpretation.

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The fragmented appearance of the poem underlines its improvisational nature. Sentences are short, and some lines are also short. In addition, there is a superfluous use of punctuation, while connectors and conjunctions are reduced. Unsurprisingly, the poem starts with the word al-bayt, which signifies the centrality of the word. This immediate repetition of the word indicates an intention to elaborate on it, and in other words, it indicates the adopting of improvisation as a main dynamic of writing. Thereafter, the word occurs eight times and in various senses in this brief poem. The first sentence reads:

The house and the smoke are embracing (each other) and the shadow is absent.

The sentence echoes the popular reference to the human body as a house that accommodates the soul and the faith. The reference is highlighted through the very next sentence in which the word ‘body’ occurs:

I spread my body over the sun.

Another significant word la©m (flesh, also meat) emerges as a topical noun. It occurs repetitively and outnumbers the word bayt (see Appendix 2, p. 276).

We bury flesh and eat it We eat flesh and spit it out We spit out flesh and plant it We plant flesh to suffocate it Flesh!

This quatrain seems to contemplate the circle of life. Repetition also gives it a circular shape and turns form and theme into one.

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Comparing ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’ with al-∂\jj’s article about Artaud casts some light on obscure images of the body and soul in the poem. Interestingly enough, al-∂\jj published his translation of eleven poems by Antonin Artaud along with a study about the French poet, in which he investigates Artaud’s preoccupation with the ‘mystery of the human body’, in the same issue of the journal (Shi‘r, no. 16).145 This suggests that al-∂\jj might have written the poem while he was translating Artaud and studying him. The main repeated words in al-∂\jj’s poem such as ‘flesh’ and ‘suffocation’ occur in abundance throughout his article on Artaud. The main motifs of Artaud’s poetry are defined by al-∂\jj as the relationship between the human body and the soul, the dominance of flesh over intellect, the confinement of the biological structure of the human body and the suffocation of the human being within his own body. Similarly, these can be defined as the main motifs of al-∂\jj’s poem. The excessive reiteration of words and expressions throughout the poem suggests obsession, and resembles the spontaneous flow of images in a haunted subconscious. Furthermore, it demonstrates an extraordinarily economic usage of vocabulary: Bayt (house) (eight times), la©m (flesh) (twelve times), nadfun (we bury) (five times), l\ (no) (eight times). This repetition of nouns, verbs and articles gives the poem its unity, and centralizes its fragmented sentences around the main motifs. Two types of nouns dominate the text: those that are historically associated with materialism (house, body, flesh) on one the hand, and those that are associated with idealism (smoke, shadow, soul, God, word) on the other. Through the abundant occurrence of these contrasted nouns, the text foregrounds the duality of body/inner self. In this view, the poem may be read as contemplation on the theme of this duality and its associations. Words that refer to these two motifs and their associations are abundant. Furthermore, they increase towards the end of the text. It seems as if the smoke in the vague picture is clarified slowly and gradually both in the vision of the poet and the reader, and in the ground of the poem where these two meet. The closure of the poem reads (see Appendix 2, p. 276):

The house and smoke are embracing (each other). The house and God, the house and the soul, the house and the sun, the house and inferiority.

The word bayt appears here again, occuring five times. The word ‘God’ in combination with references to ‘the body’ occurs in al-∂\jj’s article about Artaud. In the article, al-∂\jj states that the poetic rebellion against the confines of the human body implies a rebellion against God. This inner journey takes the poet, and the reader, on a tour deep into the human internal world. Towards the end, the tour intensifies and accelerates, creating a sense of confinement and solitude. The ultimate presentation of claustrophobic feeling is implied in the

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last word of the poem ikhtanaqa (suffocated). However, this isolation is completely broken in the very next word, which is the title of the following poem ‘∂iw\r’. Hence, whereas ikhtanaqa represents confinement, solitude and claustrophobia, the word ©iw\r represents companionship, sociability and release. These two adjacent words comprise the ultimate antonyms to one another and turn the third poem into a natural resolving complement that grows out of the second poem. ‘∂iw\r’: the monologue and the dialogue ‘∂iw\r’ is a very short poem which consists of what seems like a brief conversation. The title looks appropriate and functional and sets the work in a communicative mode. In terms of structure, ‘∂iw\r’ at first sight looks like a passage that has been taken from a longer prose work, almost certainly a play. This characteristic makes it seem less autonomous and suggests a possibility of integrating it with other parts. The dominance of the two forms of imperative verbs and the present-tense verbs serves to enhance the dramatic conversational mode. However, it lacks the typical annotations of dramas that describe settings and introduce characters. Accordingly, it seems to be lacking self-containment and to be very reliant on the reader’s effort to work it out. Through the grammatical usage of language, it is possible to recognize the two voices of a man and a woman. Thematically and formally, the poem recalls Baudelaire’s famous dialogues between men and women.146 It also connects with a classical type of ghazal-poem that revolves around dialogues between men and women.147 The elusive and tense relationship between the two lovers connects ‘∂iw\r’ with the love scene in the first poem, ‘Khiµµa’. However, they both recall the love scenes in the biblical ‘Song of Songs’ which progresses through a dialogue between the two lovers. Observing this, invites closer comparative examination of the scenes as depicted in the three works ‘Khiµµa’, ‘∂iw\r’ and the ‘Song of Songs’: 149

148

‘Song of Songs’: pull me behind you so that we run.

The two poems ‘Khiµµa’ and ‘∂iw\r’ seem to be contemplating and elaborating on this short phrase from the ‘Song of Songs’. Furthermore, the motif of the lover in ‘Khitta’ as hiding behind trees and peeping at his beloved recall strongly the lover standing behind the wall of the ‘Song of Songs’: Look there he stands behind our wall, Gazing through the windows, Peering through the lattice.150

And the desperate search of Solomon’s woman:

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I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.151

The external display of the love scene in ‘Khiµµa’ turns inwards in ‘∂iw\r’ with the two lovers attempting to understand each other’s feelings. This tension, which al-∂\jj describes as ‘the twin of poetry’,152 is reflected through the usage of verbs and commas in ‘Khiµµa’ and through using the techniques of the dialogue in ‘∂iw\r’. The second poem employs the poetics of the prose poem in which repetition draws the attention of the reader to certain motifs. The persistent repetition of the question by the lover to his beloved demonstrates the tension in the situation. As a result, the tension of the thematic motifs is intertwined with the tension that grows through the anxious repetition of the question. Though it takes a play-like form, the poem does not show any thematic development. It seems more like a lyric that is divided between two voices. In this sense, it relates itself again to ‘Song of Songs’. This tradition has some of its best representations in Arabic folksongs in which the lyric is divided between the two voices of a man and a woman. In these songs, as in ‘Khiµµa’ and ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’, a spontaneous and natural rhythm is created by the grammatical prefixes and suffixes. Towards the end of ‘∂iw\r’, the suffix that is associated with the second person singular feminine pronoun creates a unified phoneme that mimics the rhyme in verse poetry and songs:

I think about my sun which melted you, and about my patience which subdued you; I think about my love which lowered you on to your knees, and then got bored with you, oh my beloved.

However, in ‘∂iw\r’ the poet goes one step further. While the first two poems repeat words, ‘∂iw\r’ repeats phrases and sentences. The form of a dramatic dialogue and the theme of lovers exploring each other’s feelings, which this poem takes, permit such insistent repetition. In the first part, the lover has to repeat his question in order to get the full answer:

What are you thinking about? Say: what are you thinking about?

The poem is divided into two sections that are marked by the Latin numbers I and II. The first one commences with the man asking the woman ‘Say: what

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are you thinking about?’ and it ends with the woman saying: ‘I am thinking about how you love me and I do not love you.’ The woman commences the second part by throwing back the same question to her man ‘Say: what are you thinking about?’ and the man ends his answer by saying ‘I am thinking about my love which lowered you on to your knees and then got bored with you, oh my beloved.’ This sentence is followed by two short sentences that make for closure and are printed in two short separate lines:

I am thinking about elegies, oh my beloved. I am thinking about killing.

Whereas the rest of the poem takes the prosaic form of a play, the closure, which consists of two short lines, resembles the printing-shape of the free verse. Being two parts, the two lines recall the two-hemistich verse. In these two lines, the poet’s voice enters the poem following the last part that is narrated by the lover. The new voice addresses the beloved in the same fierce tone and starts his sentences with the same word that is used by the lover, ‘I think’. Thereupon, the poet’s proclamation follows as an extension to the statement of the man. It amplifies the man’s voice and it identifies with it. This brief presence of the lyrical ‘I’ in the closure engulfs the whole poem, and the lyrical mode prevails suggesting a different reading. The subjective mode that is invoked by the lyrical ‘I’ suggests that the dialogue might only be a monologue. The wording and the word order emphasize that this dialogue is only taking place inside the poet’s hallucinating consciousness. Hence, while the imperative verb ‘Say!’ is repeated four times, the two verbs ‘you think’ and ‘I think’ are repeated eleven times. Furthermore, the verb ‘I think’ is repeated nine times and accompanies the change of the male voice in the dialogue into the lyrical ‘I’ in the closure. In his comparative study of the narrative prose poem, Delville exploits Irving Howe’s analysis of the short short story.153 One of the main common features, he points out, is what he called ‘The disappearance of the protagonist’. What remains, he asserts ‘is a semi-allegorical content or, sometimes, a voice’. Although Delville’s remarks occur in the context of accounting for a story-like prose poem, they seem very applicable to al-∂\jj’s play-like prose poem. The lack of any action or plot in ‘∂iw\r’ prevents the development of a protagonist. In fact, we are left here with two inner voices, both existing inside the mind of the poet. Nevertheless, the narrative prose poem has its own devices and dynamics to maintain its poetic edge. One of these, as Delville points out, is the ‘extreme shortness’, which perfectly characterizes ‘∂iw\r’. The second characteristic is the lyrical mode that is created by the lyrical ‘I’. In this respect, Delville applies his

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textual analysis to ‘The Reaper’, a text written by W. S. Merwin, as an example. Delville describes Merwin as the main representative of ‘the short Surrealist tale’, which he defines as one of the main impulses of the modern prose poem.154 This leading prose poet was known to the poets of Shi‘r through his prose poems published in the journal.155 In a striking analogy with al-∂\jj’s ‘∂iw\r’, ‘The Reaper’ has a block-like appearance except for the closure. Whereas all the text is written in short and long paragraph-like shapes, the closure is the only part that takes on a typical verse-like shape. What is more, in a striking analogy with ‘∂iw\r’, Merwin’s closure consists of only two short lines: It has watched me before. I will not leave. When I shut my eyes I see the wheat.

Observing this, Delville states: ‘The final vision of the poem suggests that the lyrical ‘I’ still manages to survive the parabolic mode, albeit half-smothered by the allegorical strain of the narrative.’156 This observation, which comments on Merwin’s ‘The Reaper’ and its closure, finds an ideal illustration in al-∂\jj’s ‘∂iw\r’ and its closure likewise. ‘Huwiyya’: the poet and the world Like ‘al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’, ‘Huwiyya’ belongs to the improvisational type of the prose poem. This type finds its best model in Williams’ collection of prose poems, Kora in Hell: Improvisations. Similarly, it could be defined as being ‘a largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner character’.157 In a similar manner, it employs the improvisational dynamic as a method of writing, and resembles the Surrealist and Dadaist automatic writings. Therefore, Murphy’s and Sa‘#d’s remarks concerning this type158 can form a guide for reading and studying the poem. Additionally, Williams’ Improvisations and ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’ can provide a model for studying the improvisational process as a paradigm for it. More precisely, the general approaches that are taken in the textual analysis of ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’ in this chapter can be applied here. As in ‘Al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’ the title ‘Identity’ evokes several references. In fact, trying to interpret thematically a poem that adopts the improvisational, Surrealist and Dadaist tradition and methods of writing is far from being a common practice in textual criticism. Murphy admits that in reading an improvisational prose poem ‘Interpretation becomes improvisation’. The fragmented nature and the dynamics of automatic writing that are at play in those texts make this task very difficult to accomplish. However, as far as ‘Huwiyya’ in particular is concerned, there are helpful remarks provided by the poet and his fellow writers in Shi‘r’s group. In an editorial entitled ‘Al-As’ila al-Mum#ta’ (Fatal Questions) in which he discussed the main tasks he and his generation of poets were facing and defined the difficulties they were up against, al-∂\jj wrote: ‘we have problems

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with language and with cultural identity, and difficulties in dealing with the past, the future and the external world’.159 In this respect, collective cultural identity can be pinpointed as one of the preoccupations of al-∂\jj’s writing. Kh\lida Sa‘#d investigates another preoccupation with individual identity in her review of Lan, in which she mentions ‘Huwiyya’ among other poems in the collection:160 He starts the collection with the poem ‘Huwiyya’ which he considers to be presenting some of his own features. The poem starts with fear. After fear shakes him, he encourages himself and exclaims: ‘Science triumphs! The clock hand161 will break and I remember this to beget with no despair.’ Science triumphs, this is the hope; but he sinks again terrified of convulsion because of the decayed blood that he called ‘The desolate ghost’ whose ‘sole eye stares at him from beneath’. The poet depicts this state of panic while he is lying in his bed captured by the terrifying idea gazing at the ceiling and he feels ‘that the ceiling is dissolving in his heart’, ‘he runs and gets thrown to be swept by echo’. So what is the solution? ‘A modern blood?’

In this short paragraph, which she dedicates to ‘Huwiyya’, Sa‘#d largely paraphrases some sentences and phrases in the poem. However by specifying certain expressions, she highlights what she believes to be the basic thematic motifs. She arranges her selection demonstrating a thematic substance that is far more comprehensible than anything the reader would be able to deduce by relying purely on the text. Sa‘#d’s comment hints at several thematic motifs that are related to the central motif, ‘identity’. One of her substantial achievements is highlighting the thematic references to the poet himself when she describes the poem as ‘presenting some of his features’. In the light of this remark, the poem could be read as a self-portrait. Sa‘#d attributes this remark to the poet himself but she does not reveal her source. Most likely she obtained the information through a direct conversation with the poet or a general discussion in Shi‘r’s seminars and poetic workshops. Therefore, a second reading of the poem that is guided by Sa‘#d’s comment may help to decipher the thematic codes of this poem that otherwise are rather difficult to crack. In this view, the poem can be read as depicting an individual’s identity crisis. The search starts by ‘fear’, which suggests an intimate self-revelation. This identity is threatened by an enemy: ‘One-eyed desolate ghost’. The poet is helpless as the ceiling is pressing on his heart and an echo engulfs him. The search for identity concludes with a surprise. Finally, the solution is found: ‘A modern blood’. As with many other poems by al-∂\jj, ‘Huwiyya’ employs both paragraphs and short lines. However, alternating between these two formal patterns seems to suggest a parallel progression on the thematic level. The poem starts by a single word that stands alone in the line ‘ ’ (I fear). This makes it look like a second title for the poem. It hints also at a strong connection between the two motifs of ‘identity’ and ‘fear’. No direct or indirect object follows as is

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usually expected when this verb occurs, not even in the following paragraph. Furthermore, the word is followed by a decisive full stop instead of the exclamation mark. This makes it look very independent and self-contained. The word (fear) occurs three times afterwards, which emphasizes ‘fear’ as a central motif. On the other hand, the word akh\f (I am afraid) connects thematically with the last word in the previous poem, al-qatl (killing). It is repeated twice towards the end of the poem. Therefore, it connects the poem internally and with the other poems in the series. Interestingly, while the previous poem ‘Hiw\r’ concludes with ‘killing’ ‘Huwiyya’ concludes with ‘Modern blood’. This thematic connection between the two conclusions, the act of ‘killing’ and the consequence of ‘blood’, is indicative of the integration of the two poems. The theme could be read metatextually as commenting on the poetic experiment itself. ‘Modern blood’ uses the cliché ‘new blood’ that is commonly used by Arab critics and writers to refer to innovation and innovators, and the term ‘modernity’ which was the central issue in the literary circles at the time. Combining ‘new blood’ and ‘modern’ gives more emphasis to innovative writing and practices. The drive towards poetic innovation combines the individual and the collective aspirations. It also unites individual identity, as discussed in Sa‘#d’s interpretation, and the collective cultural identity as specified by the poet in his editorial ‘Fatal Questions’. Another wider focus of identity could be attributed to the text in the light of al-∂\jj’s theoretical writing about Surrealist poetry. In an article about Jacques Prévert, al-∂\jj states that the main concern of Surrealist poetry is to attempt a better knowledge of man and the world.162 ‘Huwiyya’ takes the paragraph as the main unit in which phrases and sentences crowd and flow continually. Occasionally, one or several short lines emerge between two paragraphs and break the non-stop narration. Paragraphs revolve around the central motifs discussed above. They are dominated by a struggle against fear, contempt and sadness. Images are generated by employing the most stereotypical Surrealist imagery. In his two articles about Artaud and Prévert this ‘flow of images’ is highlighted by al-∂\jj as one of the techniques of Surrealist poetry. Images draw their surreal world by employing the techniques of the dream and the daydream:

Sleep delivers me and sleep has no edge, so I draw a path on the mattress: I open a window and fly,

Some other images are born of delirium and dysfunctional senses, which are considered by al-∂\jj to be the main generator of the poetic experience in the Surrealist tradition. Quoting Rimbaud in his article about Artaud, al-∂\jj examines ‘visionary poetry’ that carries out a ‘deliberate dysfunctioning of senses’

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in order to ‘reach the unknown’.163 As in a typical Surrealist world, al-∂\jj’s world is distorted and its elements and components take on a life of their own:

The ceiling is dissolving in my heart and the floor has no place, I run and I am thrown, the echo sweeps me, echo!

In this delirious language, words are repeated obsessively. Sometimes, words are created by the generative power of the language itself, which plays on clichés and puns:

Life is a snake,164 the eye is a stair, the eye is a reed, the eye is a black market.

The first two words, ©ay\t and ©ayya, repeat the same first two letters, demonstrating what Metzidakis calls: ‘imperfect lexical repetition’.165 The last two words, sßq sawd\’, perform the same type of repetition. In this formal feature that is ‘observed mainly in automatic texts’, words disseminate their fragments along a sentence. In his study of a prose poem by Breton, Metzidakis describes this repetition as ‘a relatively uninteresting aspect of a text poeticity’ because once the imperfect lexical repetition is discovered in a poem, ‘little more can be said about it’. Looking for more explanation, Metzidakis admits that ‘At best, imperfect lexical repetition is a sign of what Riffaterre called ‘the automatic effect of surrealist writing’. The word ©ayya is generated automatically by the word ©ay\t and the two create assonance. Al-∂\jj’s phrase rediscovers the relationship between these two nouns. This relationship has ancient representations in epics and tradition. The most celebrated ones are the snake of Gilgamesh and the snake of Genesis. The first ate the plant of life and immortality and the second condemned human life to earthliness and mortality. The second phrase: ‘The eye is a black market’ is created by mixing up the two clichés ‘black eye’ and ‘black market’. Nouns are al-∂\jj’s preferred tools in inventing a new language and a new world. However, verbs and articles also take a new role in this new vision of the self and the world. This frenzied search for self inside oneself results in a schizophrenic language:

I laugh at me

The phrase breaks the conventional application of the verb, its preposition and its object. This in turn breaks the logical dichotomy of oneself and the other: ‘I

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laugh at you, and you laugh at me.’ Breaking this syntactical norm conforms to al-∂\jj’s attempt to invent a new language. After all, these aspirations are only al-∂\jj’s way of presenting himself and his identity. In the paragraphs, the poetic space is defined throughout the text by ‘a box, a bed, a staring ghost, a sofa, a descending ceiling pressing on the heart, and a death knocking on the door’. However, the non-stop flow of paragraphs is broken twice by a very short line:

It is raining over the sea

This illustrates the ultimate intensity, lyricism and scenic imagery that a three-word unit can afford. Short lines stand in extreme contradiction to the tight well-defined world that all the paragraphs create both formally and thematically. Short lines break free and fly away as far as the human claustrophobic imagination is able to. These short lines are preceded and followed by blank lines, thus standing by themselves like a small separate world against the complex world of the paragraphs. The graphic appearance of the poem, which combines paragraphs and short lines, also combines packed places and blank spaces. A good reading of this combination, which characterizes many of al-∂\jj’s prose poems, can be constructed from the poet’s own writings. The introduction which al-∂\jj wrote for his own translation of the ‘Song of Songs’ contains some invaluable clues to reading this form in general. Whereas, this ancient text is traditionally printed in paragraphs, al-∂\jj reprinted it all in short lines. Comparing the new form to the original one he wrote: We broke the succession of sentences and rearranged it like the verse-poem . . . We also wanted to exploit the white space on the page which provides the end of the line with extension, surprise, digression, commencement, disruption, tension and ventilation . . . It was imposed on the eye in a traditional printing order in which sentences are crowded and stuck to each other with no breathing place, no distribution, no spaciousness, and no range towards which the shadows of the word can extend.166

Al-∂\jj’s comparison creates this duality: • •

Paragraph: No breathing place, no distribution, no spaciousness, and no range towards which the shadows of the word can extend. Short line: extension, surprise, digression, commencement, disruption, tension and ventilation.

Though al-∂\jj describes here the two forms separately, discrediting one and justifying the other, he skilfully captures the spirit of each, restricting his remarks

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to the two different methods in printing the translated text of the ‘Song of Songs’. His approach can be applied to a main category of the Arabic prose poem, which likewise uses this dual form of printing to create particular effects. As far as al-∂\jj is concerned, his two texts, ‘Thal\th Qa§\’id’ and ‘Arba‘ Qa§\’id’, stand as an exemplary illustration of this application. This preoccupation with examining the relationship between different forms characterizes both al-∂\jj’s theoretical writing and his prose poems. His interest in experimenting with different formal practices shows an awareness of the discursive functions of forms and genres. Indeed, the way the prose poem as a genre fuses different formal and discursive practices could be the very reason he was attracted to it. His early prose poems suggest an attempt to explore the space in which opposites and dualities conflict and interact. On the formal level, al-∂\jj observes the relationship between the independent units in each sequential text and guards carefully their tendency to integrate and create a sense of wholeness. With similar care and fascination, he presents his ontological preoccupation with the duality of the universal and the personal, and his ambition to combine them in his discourse. This concentration on controlling communication between the individual and the collective embodies his aspiration to integrate his work into the collective project of Shi‘r.

Mu©ammad Al-M\ghßµ: A Poet in a Prosaic World167 Introduction

In an extreme contrast to the other two pioneers, his fellow poets Adßn#s and al-∂\jj, Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ did not have the privilege of having a regular education, studying literary theories or mastering a foreign language. However, he was the writer of the first prose poem to be published in Shi‘r.168 In the ‘Shi‘r Thursdays’, he caused feverish debates about defining poetry169 and ever since his first collection, ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar (Sadness in the Moonlight) (1959), his poetry has caused a literary turmoil. In her review of this collection, Kh\lida Sa‘#d acknowledges its innovative poetics and emphasizes the necessity to redefine poetry.170 Jayyusi, acclaims him as the poet who ‘simply wrote a modernist poetry which transcended his times . . . [and who] absorbed both the form and content of modernity as if by magic, writing a poetry which was immediately recognized as exceptional by Shi‘r’.171 In this article, Jayyusi, who was part of the Shi‘r community, was not trying to compliment al-M\ghßµ by highlighting her bewilderment. Rather, she was expressing a shared concern among the critics who studied al-M\ghßµ. Apart from all the controversies and disputations that surrounded the prose poem and Shi‘r, al-M\ghßµ himself posed an enigma. Coming from a very simple background, his contemporaries believed that ‘his achievements in writing a highly modernized poetry at quite an early age’ presented ‘an artistic mystery’.

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Though ‘mystery, enigma, and magic’ seem alien to the terminology of literary theory, they are used freely and frequently by al-M\ghßµ’s critics. The apologetic use of such terms in poetry reviews is a common way of escaping a more arduous excavation into the poetic experience. In the literary marketplace, similar terminology is often used to promote a literary product. However, when it is used in relation to al-M\ghßµ and his poetry, this is far from being the case. In fact, literary critics find it impossible to avoid completely this type of expression when they deal with certain figures in the history of art and literature. One of the illustrative examples would be Arthur Rimbaud.172 Just as with the French poet, these terms ‘mystery enigma, magic’ simply became synonyms of the name of al-M\ghßµ. Searching for sources that influenced literary works motivates critics to search into backgrounds. As far as the prose poem is concerned, modern literary theory emphasize the influence of environmental elements. Studying techniques and devices of the genre frequently demands digging out and beyond the text. Combining different theories and approaches to the prose poem, the main preoccupation of critics is to ‘delineate the cultural function of the text’.173 Therefore, modern literary theory in the field combines cultural history, literary criticism and semiotics.174 As Metzidakis notices, studying some devices of the prose poem ‘obliges us to take our fixed (individual or collective) knowledge of the poet’s life, linguistic and literary heritage, and historical epoch as the measure of the text’s past and potential features’.175 Taking into consideration the special status of al-M\ghßµ, Metzidakis’ remarks highlight the significance of including these elements in the exploration of al-M\ghßµ’s works. Combining approaches of cultural studies and textual analysis in studying al-M\ghßµ sheds a strong light on this foundational period of the prose poem and the project of Shi‘r. Furthermore, it places the project and the genre within a larger cultural and historical context. Coming from a simple background and living in hardship on one hand, and, on the other, bringing about a literary and cultural breakthrough that transcends one’s own country and period at an early age, are two peculiarities that do not often occur together. Exploring this peculiar combination shared by al-M\ghßµ and Rimbaud is often treated as a key task in studying their works. Besides sharing a status of mystery and enigma with Rimbaud, al-M\ghßµ also shares with his French peer his early abandonment of poetry and his having left his own small town and led the life of a vagabond in the capital and then in exile.176 Because of these facts, al-M\ghßµ was branded a rebellious anarchist and associated with a culture of opposition and dissidence. Remembering his hometown, al-M\ghßµ recalled hearing translated poems of Rimbaud in his early childhood, read to him by the young Mu©ammad ∂aydar.177 Given the idiosyncrasies of translation, it is difficult to speculate on how far the poet was directly influenced by Rimbaud, but it is certainly possible that, inspired as a child by translations of Rimbaud, he found Rimbaudian thematic motifs of interest.

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Though al-M\ghßµ abandoned any involvement in political activities from early youth, he was acclaimed as an icon by several different social and political groups. He practised writing for other genres such as the novel, TV and cinema scripts, theatre and journalistic writing. Sarcastic and iconoclastic, as in his poetry, some of these writings are recognized as landmarks in the history of those genres. Because of all this, al-M\ghßµ represents a very difficult subject of study. His enigmatic character adds to the controversy that surrounds the genre throughout its history. Since he was a pioneer – sometimes acclaimed as the pioneer – it is difficult to claim an understanding of the Arabic prose poem without studying al-M\ghßµ. However in comparison to the abundant resources available for studying Adßn#s and al-∂\jj, critics have always found al-M\ghßµ inaccessible. As Jayyusi notes in her article, al-M\ghßµ never pronounced a strong opinion or became involved in any theoretical discussion about poetry. Furthermore, as his interviewers complained, he was a very difficult interviewee.178 He was invariably reluctant to speak about his experience, and when he did so he was impatient, cynical, elusive and even misleading. Yet some of his scattered anecdotes may have a significant bearing on the historiography of Shi‘r and the prose poem. In a recent interview, al-M\ghßµ disclosed that he wrote his first prose poem, ‘Al-Qatl’ (Killing)179 in 1951 in a cell in Mazza prison, where he was a political prisoner at the age of nineteen. Held in another cell in the same prison at the same time, Adßn#s read the poem and announced: ‘This is poetry’. When Shi‘r was in the process of its formation, al-M\ghßµ was called upon to join. The first prose poem to be published in Shi‘r was his ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’ and the first collection of prose poems to be published by the group was also al-M\ghßµ’s, and carried the same title. The dramatic element in the relation between al-M\ghßµ and Shi‘r is not the most significant aspect in this historical relation. It is rather the exceptional convergence of the two unique elements that led to one of the most crucial changes in Arab modern literary history. The events that led to publishing ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar mark the laying of the foundation of the coordination of poetry and theory in the group of Shi‘r. This alliance brought about the historical breakthrough of the pioneering prose poem. Moreover, these events shed light on the internal politics of the group, which led to the formation of a major model of the counter-institution in modern Arabic literature. Though it seems irrelevant to state that it took such a tortuous experience for a poet, critic and poetry-audience for the genre to be born, it is difficult to deny that this experience was an illuminating process during which a different understanding of life could be reached. These facts are indispensable in studying the poetics of al-M\ghßµ’s texts. However, in addition to attempting more understanding of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem poetics, this study will raise another question. The second enquiry is related to al-M\ghßµ’s relation to Shi‘r as a group, as a journal and, most significantly, as an institution. How was al-Maghut able to join forces with others within an institution, and how was this institution able to integrate him in

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its project of new poetics and its institutional discourse? This is another mystery that needs to be unravelled.

∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar

The poetic journey: the factual and the fictitious ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar180 was al-M\ghßµ’s first collection. Written between 1954 and 1959, it was published in 1959 by D\r Majallat Shi‘r (the publishing house of the journal Shi‘r), making it the first collection of prose poems to be published by Shi‘r. Due to the historical complications that surround defining the prose poem,181 it was always difficult for Arab critics and prose poets to reach full agreement about its exact date of birth. Therefore, acclaiming ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar as the first collection of Arabic prose poems182 was repeatedly challenged. Following the tradition of reviewing new publications, the collection was reviewed by Shi‘r’s main critic Kh\lida Sa‘#d. In her review, Sa‘#d mainly discusses the imagery in al-M\ghßµ’s work, a focus she justifies by saying: ‘I restricted my analysis to this form of expression because it is the main, and almost the only, medium that al-M\ghßµ has.’ The collection is held to be landmark in the history of the genre, al-M\ghßµ sometimes being called ‘the poet of ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’.183 This status earned the collection a distinguished presence and contributed massively to giving it a unified character among critics and readers. Celebrating the status of the collection and its unified character is not the only occasion on which critics mention the eighteen poems of ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar collectively.184 The collection was associated with the turmoil and anxieties in the Arab world in the aftermath of 1948.185 Its publication was an event that triggered ambivalent reactions. The poet of ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar still remembers that he was described as ‘a subversive, melancholic, pessimistic who opposes the delightful era that the coming generations are awaiting’.186 Be that as it may, these remarks imply that the collection had produced a unified effect. In this respect, it seems that, albeit subconsciously, al-M\ghßµ’s poems have sometimes been read as one long work. This assumption contributes to laying a firm foundation for a collective textual reading of ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar. The approaches and methods used by some critics in reading collections of prose poems, especially those of Evans and Richards,187 offer a primary model for reading ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar from a new perspective. This new reading strategy brings about a new understanding of the eighteen poems and, as a consequence, a new interpretation. By being printed separately under different titles, each poem maintained its autonomy and, naturally, each could be read in isolation, but unmistakable connections between the poems emerge as the reading proceeds. These connections are supported by handling the ‘paratextual apparatus’.188 During reading, an ‘interrelated whole’ starts to build up through the formal and thematic aspects of the work.

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Taking Evans’ reading of Petits Poèmes en Prose and Richards’ reading of Gaspard de la Nuit as a model, the new reading strategy for ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar as one text will explore the formal and thematic interconnections that turn the collection into an interrelated whole. However, this procedure includes individual readings of poems as self-contained units interwoven into the whole. The focus will be mainly on reading the paratext and examining closely how this collection employs and problematizes the conventions of long prose works such as the tale and the novel. These conventions include: the unitary narrator, the setting, the extended fragmented plot, the dialogue, and the formulas of beginnings and endings. In this respect, critics have tended to choose a number of well-known long prose works that they assume the reader will be familiar with. They study these works to set out their comparative approach and search for intertexts. On the other hand, they concentrate on studying the thematic and formal similarities between those works and the collection in question. As for Baudelaire’s Petits Poèmes en Prose, Evans finds that ‘Chateaubriand, Balzac, Nerval, Rabelais, Rousseau, La Fontaine, Aloysius Bertrand, Diderot, Horace, Regnier, Sterne, Sainte Beuve, Cervantes, Virgil, Lucan and Theocritus are all directly or indirectly invoked in the text’.189 Unlike the highly cultivated French poet, Al-M\ghßµ did not have the privilege of being acquainted with such a prestigious set of writers or their glorious achievements. Furthermore, little is written about the poet’s readings before and during the writing of his first collection, and little is known about the traditional oral narratives that he had access to at that early age. However in searching for parallel long prose works, it is possible to find alternatives. Examining the cultural setting of his childhood, relevant data can be built up by studying the popular narratives and tales that he was probably exposed to as a child. Furthermore, concerning finding novelistic parallels, al-M\ghßµ stands out as a far more engaging case than his French counterpart. As far as ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar is concerned, the new reading has the advantage of enabling one to consider Al-Urjß©a (The Swing),190 the novel that was written by al-M\ghßµ himself. This study will apply the methods of the twofold reading strategy to ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar, thus entailing a collective as well as individual reading of some poems. The first poem in the collection will be examined as a self-contained unit as well as a sub-unit. This reading strategy attempts to show that the tendency to allude to the collective character of the collection is not groundless. It also suggests that a collective reading of the collection could be, and could have been, generated as a consequence of a complex combination of formal and thematic, and textual and paratextual unifying factors. The paratextual apparatus: a communal brand ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar is of a standard medium size, roughly the size of the Shi‘r journal. However, this is not the most striking point of resemblance between the collection and the journal. The front cover of the collection refers to the

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name of the poet (Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ), the title (∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar), the publisher (D\r Majallat Shi‘r) and the place of publication (Beirut). The back cover bears only the name of the publisher (D\r Majallat Shi‘r). What is more, a blank page immediately preceding the back cover again bears only the same three words – ‘D\r Majallat Shi‘r’. Given that the name of the poet is printed only once in the whole book, the three passionate occurrences of the name of the publisher would not go unnoticed by the reader. On the other hand, the simple tinted cover, devoid of any referential picture or drawing, makes the book look like a twin of the Shi‘r journal itself which, except for the last few issues, maintained the same simple tinted cover. Hence, the collection was denied the opportunity to create the first independent impression among readers. Contrary to a popular tradition at the time, the collection does not carry a photo of the poet, a dedication, biographical information, epigraph, introductory note about the poet or introduction to the collection, all of which seems extremely peculiar considering this was the first collection of a new young poet. Undoubtedly, the immediate consequence of such a provocative presentation would be to prompt interested readers to refer to the journal for more understanding of the new genre. In sum, examining all these facts sheds light on some of the missing links concerning the experience of al-M\ghßµ and the project of Shi‘r in general. The title of the collection conveys a more personal message. The same title as the seventh poem, ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’, it hints at the collection’s unity by setting it in analogy with the conventional unit of poetry. On the other hand, it highlights the self-contained independent character of each poem. In fact, ‘∂uzn f# Daw’ al-Qamar’ the poem, and ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar the collection, have more in common. The poem was the first of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poems to be published in Shi‘r. Therefore the poem and the collection were the first of their kind to be published by al-M\ghßµ. They are also the first work of their kind to be brought about by Shi‘r as an institution. In addition, the title is connected organically to the collection in a macrocosm– microcosm relation. In other words, it works as an epitome for the whole work by including some of the most repeated words and phrases in the collection. The noun ‘©uzn’ (sadness) and its derivation ‘©az#n’ (sad) are repeated thirty-five times in the book.191 The word ‘qamar’ (moon) is repeated eleven times, and the expression ‘f# @aw’ al-qamar’ (in the moonlight) six times. Moreover, there are numerous references to the two thematic motifs ‘sadness’ and ‘moonlight’, which are condensed in the title. The motifs occur as a combination, as well as in isolation. Taking this view, the title seems to encapsulate some of the main themes of the collection. However, interpreting the title depends primarily on locating it in the thematic network of the collection. As the regular reading proceeds, references to the title recur and illuminate its meaning. Since the collection has no introduction, the first poem ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ (The Eagle’s Funeral)192 leads into the book. The first reference to the title is found here, highlighting the significance of this poem and encouraging a further look into the poem as an independent

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unit as well as sub-unit. Applying the twofold reading strategy to ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ reveals a number of other significant functions of this brief and overlooked poem. ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’: The Missing Introduction The paradox that opens the collection is meant to do more than disturb the reading and produce this shocking effect. Declaring the book open with the word ‘jan\za’ (funeral), which signifies the ultimate termination, hints at the possibility of reading the opening poem as a misplaced conclusion, and suggests a flashback. This type of unconventional beginning creates an urge to rearrange the parts of the collection in a more comprehensible order and integrate them. Starting the book with closure arouses immense suspense and sets the mode for a prolonged reading that is rather atypical for a single poem. Furthermore, the ceremonial word ‘jan\za’ turns the start of the book into an occasion and the reading into a procession. The word jan\za does not occur again in the poem, nor in any other poem in the collection. Moreover, no other word that signifies ‘funeral’ occurs in the first poem, nor is there even any other allusion to the theme of death or its rituals and associations. This leaves space open for a metaphoric interpretation of the word jan\za. However, this is not the case with ‘nasr’ (eagle), the other word in the title which recurs once again in the poem. The title centralizes the figure of the eagle and suggests that the poem is written in commemoration of it. Towards the end of the poem, the word occurs again (Huzn, p. 10):

For the soil is sad, and the pain flashes like an eagle

In this line, the word ‘nasr’ (eagle) is used within a simile that describes the pain of the poet. Comparing his pain to this large predatory bird symbolizes the intensity of the pain that is consuming him from within. However, this simile hardly sheds any light on the meaning of the title ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ or the identity of the eagle that is commemorated in the title. All that can be deduced here is that the eagle is associated in a way with the poet and stands as a representation of his own pain. In the course of the extended reading, the word occurs again. In the fourth poem ‘∂ar#q al-Kalim\t’ (The Burning of Words), the eagle reappears (∂uzn, p. 10):

I am the militant flower And the eagle which is hitting its prey.

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Introducing himself, the poet identifies himself with the eagle, and its attributes. This sounds like the answer to the earlier question about the mysterious eagle. The word nasr recurs twice in two subsequent poems and functions similarly in ‘Al-Khuµuw\t al-Dhahabiyya’ (The Golden Steps) (∂uzn, p. 45):

I stare at my face and fingers Like a miserable grey eagle.

And in the last poem ‘Sar#r ta©t al-Maµar’ (A Bed under the Rain) (∂uzn, p. 82):

Put me as a song in your heart And an eagle around your breasts.

The reiteration of the word, nasr, and its biographical reference binds the different poems, and creates a narrative-like rhythm. In all of these examples, the eagle is linked to the first person singular pronoun and represents the poet himself. The repetitive image of the eagle–poet confirms a biographical aspect that labels the collection from its very beginning. A metatextual element that is found in some writings about al-M\ghßt contributes to this interpretation. In life, as in poetry, the poet was sometimes compared to an eagle in the media, and by fellow poets and critics. Mu©ammad Al# Shams Al-D#n describes al-M\ghßµ as such: ‘His vigorous soul is like an eagle bound to a rock.’193 In Al-Urjß©a (The Swing), the poet introduces himself similarly. In an intensive representation of his vigorous soul he connects himself to a parallel animated image. In this semi-autobiographical novel, the male character, who stands for al-M\ghßµ himself, is called al-Fahd (the leopard). The two names, the eagle and the leopard, might have some roots that could go back to his experience as a political activist in his early youth. Using the names of ferocious animals and birds in a title is part of the universal underground culture. In the light of identifying the ‘eagle’, the first poem can be understood as referring to a metaphorical funeral of the poet himself. There are more of these metaphorical funerals in his novel. In fact the very first word in Al-Urjß©a is ‘jan\z\t’ (funerals), which is the plural form of the first word in the ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar. The first paragraph in the novel reads:

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Funerals are hurrying under rain, and funerals are exploding with their flowers across the desert, but where is the last station? Where is the tree, under the shadows of which, the traveller crouches with his bags and the harvest of his swords?

The image of the funeral is used here to refer to the journey of life itself that often goes in the wrong direction. It is also the restless search for a good destination, and for a satisfactory conclusion to the troubled journey. This applies to the initial situation of the poet in the first poem, whose journey forced him into exile. The exact meaning is clarified gradually throughout the poem. The poem opens with this stanza (∂uzn, p. 9):

I think it is from the homeland This cloud that is coming close like two Christian eyes I think she is from Damascus This little girl with joined eyebrows.

In a highly intensive usage of language, the first line comprises the duality of homeland/exile on which the whole collection is based. Far from home, in another country, the homesick poet turns his face towards the direction of his homeland and pines for it. The passage thus builds on the old tradition of ‘Shi‘r al-©an#n’ (poetry of nostalgia) in Arabic poetry and invokes al-©an#n il\ al-waµan, which is a fundamental practice in the classical qa§#da. Similarly, home is recalled by the poet–narrator and is depicted as a far-off abandoned place. In the same mode, the opening of ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ constructs the duality of homeland/exile and the association of far-off home/far-off beloved people. Through these four short lines, information overflows. The first three-word line marks the space to be occupied. It emphasizes that the poet–narrator is writing from exile. The second line, with its Christian reference, includes a reference to the past/the homeland. Christian references, scattered generously through the collection, are associated with an important stage of al-M\ghßµ’s life, part of

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which he lived in B\b Tßm\, the Christian quarter in Damascus to which he dedicated the third poem in the collection, ‘Ughniya li B\b Tßm\’ (A Song for B\b Tßm\). The third line in ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ repeats the first line and substitutes the word ‘homeland’ with a name, ‘Damascus’. The fourth line introduces a human representation of the homeland, ‘µifla’ (little girl). The past/homeland is invoked through the face of a little girl. The other main human presence in the collection, besides the poet–narrator, is a young female. Throughout the collection, this little girl is associated with far-distant memories from his homeland, and just like the homeland she is at the centre of his dreams and memories. In the last poem, the little girl appears again and the poet addresses her directly in the second person singular: ‘You!’ The reappearance of the same figure at the end creates a conclusive refrain to the collection (∂uzn, p. 82):

Oh little girl who rings the bells of ink in my heart

After defining the spatial setting in the first four lines in the collection, the poet defines the temporal setting (∂uzn, p. 9):

Oh sadness . . . you my long wrinkled sword Eight months and the pavement which is carrying its blond little boy Is asking about a rose or a captive, A ship and a cloud from the homeland.

Besides defining the time as the ninth month in exile, the passage sheds light on the meaning of the title. This first recurrence of ©uzn (sadness) is associated with tramping on the pavement. This is the first allusion to the image of the sad poet wondering lonely at night. The image alludes to the thematic motif of the general title ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar. The following part draws the stark image of the present and identifies the exile by name (∂uzn, p. 10):

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No woman is mine and no doctrine No café and no winter Hug me strongly, Oh Lebanon

The last line in the poem introduces what could only be the meaning of the main title, ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar (∂uzn, p. 10):

And I walk, sad, at the end of the night

The noun ‘©uzn’ (sadness) in the main title is transformed now into ‘I walk, sad’. The abstract sadness is now humanized, and attributed directly to the poet–narrator through the pronoun ‘I’. This verb ‘walk’, along with the rest of the sentence ‘at the end of the night’ paraphrases the expression ‘in the Moonlight’. The abstract expression ‘Sadness in the Moonlight’ is enlivened and given a human dimension. A biographical dimension also starts to appear through the usage of the pronoun ‘I’ and names of countries. In the light of these observations, it is possible to reread the main title, and accordingly to anticipate a main thematic motif in the collection. Sadness in the Moonlight is the sadness of the poet–narrator who is walking lonely with his thoughts far from home in the moonlight. Being stated in the title of the collection suggests the centrality of this image and its thematics, and makes them easy to trace throughout the collection. Critics who consider the closure as a cornerstone in the poetics of the prose poem would approve the closure of ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ as an ideal exemplar of its kind. In a quick flash, the closure of the poem, ‘ ’ (And I walk, sad, at the end of the night), illuminates the whole poem. Furthermore, this short line casts some light ahead on the rest of the collection. Through this animated, intensive usage of language, this sentence draws a lively picture of the poet moving in the scene. This repetition of the same motif, in the title of the collection and in the first poem, envisions what will follow. It also suggests that this scene will turn into a main setting. No imagery, metaphor or figurative language is used in this short sentence. Moreover, the sentence sounds too plain and ordinary to be used in a poem. This gives the sentence a sense of freshness and novelty. However, it echoes the expressions that are found in people’s tradition of everyday narratives and accounts about events in their lives or in their surroundings. In fact, here lies the strength of the expression. This also sheds

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light on one of the main sources of poetics in al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem. Drawing from fresh original sources of living speech, in which personal experience occupies a central position, is what distinguishes the M\ghßµian prose poem. On the thematic level, the sentence is packed with echoes coming from the same source. One of the common motifs in popular tales and songs is loneliness and sadness at night. The poem leads off the collection efficiently, opening up this panoramic scope that intertwines fictive and factual references. Its significant contribution to the formal techniques of the collection is enhanced by overabundant thematic references and potential interpretations. However, the major innovative achievement of the poem is related to its location in the overall order. This two-page poem of 136 words introduces the poet and the collection in a panoramic way that no other type of writing or presentation would be capable of. In fact, a more sophisticated paratext would look showy and superfluous in comparison, and the first poem would sound too illustrative. Moreover, this would require a completely different reading of the poem and its poetics. Therefore, it is fair to say that any different presentation would devalue, or even deactivate, the effect that the collection is meant to produce. Hence, it would be wrong to assume that this simple overall paratext was not premeditated. The presentation of the collection sheds light on the internal politics of Shi‘r, and its endeavour to establish a new understanding of the relation between literature, literary communities and the literary institution. In this light, Shi‘r resembles other literary communities that existed in the same period, described by critics as being ‘communities based on a feeling of connectedness that transcended small aesthetic differences’.195 This also proves that poetry is capable of being self-sufficient practice that stands free from official promotion and patronage. This aspiration was one of the driving forces operating in the background of the overall project of Shi‘r. With the aid of the first poem, ∂uzn f# ®aw al-Qamar gives emphasis to the fact that Arabic poetry and poetry in general often evolved and progressed without the aid of theory, criticism and techniques of presentation. This idea which was strongly and repeatedly advocated by Adßn#s,196 must have been a focal subject of discussion and experimental practice in Shi‘r’s seminars and workshops. In this respect, the rich scope of the thematic and formal achievements of ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ provides a model. It suggests that poetry, and more precisely prose poetry, is a peerless medium for conveying experiences, communicating ideas and producing effects, which makes the prose poem one of the most intensive modes of human expression. Therefore, it renders any theoretical introduction redundant and insignificant. The unifying principles: for a thematic and formal integration Exploring the interconnections between poems, critics have identified various factors that integrate the separate poems in a collection. In addition to discussing the paratextual elements of a book, they focus on identifying the structural devices that unify the work. These new approaches are grounded in modern literary

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theories, including those of the narrative, the novel and the new novel. In their new reading, these theorists emphasize the possibility of tracing the ‘thread of an interminable and superfluous plot’ that Baudelaire made note of, in his introduction to Petits Poèmes en Prose.197 In their textual studies, these critics consider the innovative employment of narrative structure to be one of the basic tendencies of the prose poem. Studying this tendency in the prose poems of Dawson and Rimbaud, Murphy distinguishes in their works ‘a large plot structure, beginning, middle and ending’.198 Studying Baudelaire’s prose poems, Evans states that ‘Each one contains one dominant theme and the overall structure is plotted accordingly.’199 Others reached similar findings and described them under different names. Delville finds that a prose poem resembles a ‘novelistic fragment’,200 and Richards finds that collections of the prose poem display a unity of narrative.201 In their studies, these writers focus on exploring how employing certain narrative devices generates progress and connection. The temporal sequence, the place, the narrating voice, the dialogue, and the persistence of certain characters, human figures and objects are discussed in these studies as the main narrative devices of the prose poem. These devices interconnect minor units of the work and create progressing storylines. Studying al-M\ghßµ’s ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar in the light of these new approaches proves that a progressing storyline was generated by employing certain narrative devices. Besides handling competently the tempo-spatial setting and the narrating voice, the collection manages well the presence of its main characters, figures and objects. Searching for these integrating elements in the collection he chose to study, Richards identifies several elements that integrate the different poems and classifies them as ‘the unifying principles’. The setting, characters and narrator are considered by Richards to be the main principles that unify Gaspard de la Nuit.202 Reading ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar in the same light proves these three principles to be essential in establishing the interrelation between the eighteen independent units of the collection. Furthermore, these three principles can incorporate other devices that are mentioned by the other critics. In general, the main thematic and formal motifs identified in the first poem ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’ grow and form the main techniques and thematics of the entire collection. Re-examining the opening of this poem shows that the first four lines contain the formal and thematic nuclei of the collection. More specifically, the first poem in the collection demonstrates a preoccupation with introducing the narrator, defining the setting and presenting a character (∂uzn, p. 9):

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I think it is from the homeland This cloud that is coming close like two Christian eyes I think she is from Damascus This little girl with joined eyebrows.

The paragraph includes three direct allusions to the three unifying principles: the first-person pronoun singular, Damascus, and the little girl. The lyrical ‘I’ which is included in the first word in the paragraph ‘I think’ opens the collection and leads the reader through it. The other two nouns refer to the two motifs of place and woman. The first indicates a setting and the second portrays a character. These are the three principles that persist throughout the collection and integrate its different parts. The setting The uncontrollable nostalgia that dominates the opening scene of the book suggests the centrality of place and its associations. ‘Damascus’, which is mentioned in the opening passage, is the first name to appear in the collection. Several lines later, a second name emerges, ‘Lebanon’, which represents the other main place and is sometimes referred to as ‘Beirut’. As the reading proceeds across the poems, a third anonymous place with distinct rural attributes gradually comes into view. This third place appears in the scenes associated with childhood and family. It is only towards the end of the collection that the poet refers to it directly ’ (countryside). In spite of the constant reference as ‘ ’ (my village),203 or ‘ to his hometown Salamiyya, to which he dedicated one of the most renowned poems in a subsequent collection,204 al-M\ghßµ never mentions this town by name in his first collection. The opening scene, in which the poet–narrator is watching the approaching cloud, sketches a basic design for the general setting of the collection. Moving between two countries, one of which is ‘ ’ (homeland), the cloud sets up the duality of home–country/exile. The word ‘ ’, which usually indicates a whole country rather than a city, refers to ‘Syria’. Therefore, the noun comprises two main settings in the collection: Damascus and the village. Metaphorically, the cloud defines the temporal setting as well. Leaving the homeland behind and entering the exile zone, the cloud emphasizes the two dualities of home/past, and exile/present. Therefore, it is possible to say that the first line in the collection ‘I think it is from the homeland’ defines the tempo-spatial setting of the collection. Opening with this precise account of the setting recalls a statement about time and place at the top of a diary entry. The village, Damascus and Beirut are the three main venues that accommodate the scenes of al-M\ghßµ’s life journey. These three names comprise the three spatial and temporal settings of the collection. The journey starts in Salamiyya where al-M\ghßµ was born and spent his early years. Though chronologically it represents the first among the three settings, the town was the last to appear.

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This suggests that the town dwells in the distant past and long-held memories. The town is associated with the family home, the only real home he ever had. The words ‘ ’ (home, house), repeated seven times between them in the collection, occur mainly in paragraphs that revolve around the hometown. Since it is connected with his family home, the town scenes are animated with the presence of dear people, and magnified by rich theatrical scenes (∂uzn, p. 43):

Where sad wintry clouds Carry to me the scent of my family and my bed And the bright night-gatherings between the pine trees.

These old panoramic images render the town dreamlike and place it out of reach. To emphasize its fictional attributes, the poet leaves his hometown unnamed. Leaving the first place he ever knew anonymous in this way is al-M\ghßµ’s own way of idealizing this town and rendering it imaginary. Since, both officially and conventionally, Salamiyya is classified as mad#na (town or city), labelling it as a village suggests a desire to romanticize the place. However, al-M\ghßµ’s ‘village’ does not fit in with the typical romantic images of the village in literature. Romanticizing the place is interrupted by agonizing images of social and economic suffering. The dreamlike scenery is disturbed by sounds and visions of misery. Therefore, this idealization of place might hide a deep desire to make it look unreal and cut off all possibilities to turn to or go back to it (∂uzn, p. 63):

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In muddy fields . . . I used to write poetry, Layl\! And after sunset, I desert my house in the eyes of pine trees Dying . . . Sobbing with ink And I sit alone with night and faint coughs inside cottages With a cloud of wild narcissus That shakes out its tears into the baskets of jute Strutting on the river

Thematically and formally, there is an ongoing emphasis on presenting the town as a fusion of the real and the fictional. Hence, the town is associated with the poet’s childhood, the real period that has ended and that exists only in his imagination. Therefore, the memories of the town display the themes and motifs that are usually associated with childhood. The images of childhood/the village are depicted through a child’s eyes. These images make use of models and sources that are available to a peasant child. The lively scenes of the village employ devices and themes that are taken up from folksongs and folktales, children’s books and everyday speech. The figurative language used in picturing these scenes likewise recalls the language of these traditions and sources. In her review of al-M\ghßµ’s collection, Kh\lida Sa‘#d notices the influence of ‘popular fables’ on his poetry.205 However in defining this influence, she restricts it to being a source of imagery. One of the examples she studied is the following (∂uzn, p. 33):

In my childhood, I dreamt of a gold-striped gown And a horse that gallops with me on, through vineyards and stony hills.

Commenting on this passage she says: ‘The horse that gallops through vineyards and the gold-striped gown evokes the memory of popular fables which filled up our childhood. I do not know to what extent Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ paid attention to these skilled gestures. That is because when he hunts for the virgin image he uses it in a crude naïve style. Therefore, beside the impression of spontaneity and overflowing, which characterizes his poetry, we find plenty of oddities and impurities that do not serve the general atmosphere, nor have a particular artistic value.’206 Some of Sa‘#d’s remarks highlight several principles of the prose poem’s poetics. The technique of ‘using images in a crude spontaneous style’, as defined by Sa#‘d in this article, is one of the basic features of the poetics in al-M\ghßµ’s

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prose poem. This technique sounds similar to the employment of ‘stereotypes’, highlighted by Nathaniel Wing as one of the devices of the prose poem.207 On the other hand, naïveté of images is not uncommon in the prose poem. However, it is neither a shortcoming nor an indication of lack of skill. ‘Naïveté’ had been noted in the works of great practitioners of the prose poem and been valued by major critics including Suzanne Bernard. In his study of Rimbaud’s Illuminations, Wing makes a connection between ‘naïveté of descriptions’ and the poet’s ability to maintain a ‘child’s view’. Along with his remarks, Wing restates the remarks of other critics who were intrigued by this ‘evident naïveté’. His study emphasizes that this ‘naïveté’ is the poetic representation of childhood on thematic as well as formal levels. Analysing the usage of conventional themes and stereotypes, Wing observes that it is an indication of the poet’s nostalgia for a world that is ‘free from the constraints of logic’.208 Before Wing, Bernard examines this characteristic in the prose poem and appreciated it as an indication that the poet has kept alive the child’s freshness of view.209 Rereading the same passage of al-M\ghßµ in the light of Wing’s study arouses similar observations. Golden or silver garments are a common motif in Arabic as well as universal popular tales. The garment symbolizes the status in these tales of the protagonist, who is usually a young prince. The line depicts a child’s awareness of economic and cultural disparities. This sense of such disparities is always a central topic in al-M\ghßµ’s autobiographical remarks about his childhood and hometown.210 However, the princely garment is better seen in the context of the whole collection. The imaginary golden garment in his childhood dreams should be contrasted with the real clothes of his youth (∂uzn, p. 73):

I am a person of tobacco, streets, and tatters

Al-M\ghßµ’s collection is a fashion display of colours, designs and disguise. Along with abundant references to different garments: ‘shirt’, ‘veil’, ‘socks’, ‘underwear’ and ‘helmet’, the word ‘ ’ (clothes) occurs thirteen times in the collection. People, including the poet–narrator himself, are characterized and identified by means of their outfits. His mother is ‘the old woman with the grey shirt’, and his childhood beloved is ‘the angel with rosy shirts’.211 The first colour represents sadness and solemnity; the second is a stereotypical colour of both femininity and childhood. Mistresses appear as being ‘covered with coughs and jewels’, ‘in jewels and memories’ and ‘in red clothes’.212 Using fashion stereotypes, which are vital devices of the visual arts, indicates a keen, indeed seminal, interest in visual effect. Just as in his movies and plays, costumes have cultural and economic implications, and they contribute to the overall discourse of the work. In ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar, clothes can symbolize conformity as well opposition to convention. In this view, the golden gown as a stereotype of

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wealth and power in folktales is presented with other stereotypes of going against convention. Odd costumes are associated with writing poetry that breaks the norm (∂uzn, p. 27):

Often, they expelled me from many neighbourhoods Me, and my poems, and my flashy-coloured shirts.

The passage that Sa#‘d considers as an illustration of the impact of popular fables on al-M\ghßµ’s imagery has other significant functions. The first line of the paragraph, ‘In my childhood’, defines a temporal setting – the poet’s childhood. The second line ‘I dreamt of a gold-striped gown’ depicts the cultural setting of his childhood. In very intensive and figurative language, this line portrays the richness of the first setting along with its economic and cultural implications. When viewed in the context of the collection, it brings to light the great influence on the poet of his early environment. In particular, it highlights the significance of this cultural setting not only as a source of imagery but also as a source of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem’s models, ideals, aesthetics, poetics and politics. The third line of the paragraph, ‘And a horse that gallops with me on, through vineyards and stony hills’, combines both realistic and fictional descriptions of the poet’s childhood setting. ‘Vineyards’ fits as a symbolic illustration of Salamiyya, renowned historically for its viticulture. On the other hand, ‘stony hills’ is a typical metaphorical element of the landscape in popular myths and folktales. A roadless terrain is usually presented as part of a laborious journey that a protagonist has to undertake. Merging the realistic reference with the mythical in one intensive scene creates a new relationship between the two different stereotypes. Breaking the conventional thematic, formal and linguistic relations and substituting them with new ones are some of the innovations of the prose poem. Fusing the real with the imaginary is also a faculty of children’s imagination and a vital technique of popular narratives. Employing the motifs and devices that are taken from childhood/village sources, particularly in paragraphs that revolve around the setting of the childhood/the village, foregrounds the relationship between theme and form. This shocking and mysterious ‘naïveté’, ‘simplicity’, ‘innocence’ and ‘spontaneity’ have often been seen as unique characteristics of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem rather than representations of the theme on the formal level. Al-M\ghßµ’s childlike writing provides more shocking examples when it is examined within the dialectic of form and content (∂uzn, p. 26):

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Our house which dwelled on the surface of the river

The phrase has a shocking and incomparable simplicity which justifiably explains the branding of al-M\ghßµ’s poems as naïve. This presentation of childhood on both the thematic and formal level has significant qualities, similar to those observed by Bernard and Wing in relation to Rimbaud’s Illuminations. Al-M\ghßµ’s description of his house proves the extent to which the poet was able to keep a child’s imagination alive. Furthermore, it demonstrates the poet’s nostalgia for the past and his desire to set himself, and the world, free from constraints. The classical simple image recalls jargon and plain descriptions that are found in children’s school textbooks, children’s stories and children’s early composition and drawing. Whether he chose the form deliberately to overemphasize the simplicity of his writings or was just handling the sources that were available to him, al-M\ghßµ’s presentation of the village/the childhood pervades the collection. This emphasizes its structure as a memoir of childhood and early youth. Once more, this presentation of the first setting is better understood in the context of the whole collection. Managing the presentation of childhood/village in this way makes it similar to the memoirs of a village schoolboy. Consequently, it gives the reading an illusion that these poems were written by al-M\ghßµ when he was just a little boy in Salamiyya. This analogy between form and theme demonstrates the intention and ability of the poet skilfully to manage form and content in his work. It might also throw some light on the nature of the longadmired innocence, simplicity and spontaneity that distinguishes al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem, and brands it as innovative and different, among the pioneering works of the genre. These characteristics constitute a cornerstone in the poetics of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem. In an age marked with the prevalence of pedantic and extravagant types of expression and discourse, al-M\ghßµ’s poetics set him apart. This achievement contributed to the modernist and groundbreaking character of Shi‘r and its prose poem. It also fitted Shi‘r’s prose poem within the definition of the prose poem in modern literary theory. The structure of the first setting, ‘the village/the childhood’, is consolidated through the contrast it creates with the second and third setting ‘the city/youth’. The division between these two worlds is accompanied by a parallel division within the two minor units of the settings: the house/the street. Nouns that refer to ‘the house’ are repeated seven times and mostly associated with the village/childhood (see bayt, pp. 26, 36, 56, 63 and 64, and d\r, pp. 27 and 65). On the other hand, nouns referring to ‘the street’ are repeated 22 times and are associated with city/youth (see sh\ri‘, pp. 10, 11, 10, 32, 62, 64, 73 and 77, and shaw\ri‘, pp. 14, 35, 37, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 61 and 71). Heading from the village to the city the young poet enters the second stage in his life’s journey. The procedure matches a typical development in stories and tales and is represented through an equally typical change in the setting. Though

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it is not always mentioned by name, references to the city of Damascus occur constantly throughout the different poems. Coming from a small town, the young poet finds himself face to face with the challenging experience of city life. These encounters contributed to the formation of his political, cultural, social and poetic awareness. The intensity of the poet’s experience in Damascus matches the complexity of the place. However, the complicated nature of the Damascene setting and its contrasting images are coordinated smoothly into one nostalgic scene. The factual intermingles with the fictional in the depiction of the Damascene setting. Realistic details of quarters and landscape features are infused with the poetic representation of the city. In his solitary confinement and during his long nightly moonlit walks in exile, the nostalgic poet passes the time by invoking the past and praising the Damascene details (∂uzn, p. 80):

Behind water and marble The hair of Q\siyßn213 appears flying with the wind And a cloud of cafés And bars tearfully watered with drunkards Appear smoothly and gently, across the bowed forehead plains.

Some features of the place are portrayed through the lives of those who populate the setting. ‘Ughniya li B\b Tßm\’ is a tribute to this quarter which witnessed a significant part of the poet’s life. Capturing the complexity of the urban scene in very unconventional images and simple words shows an acute sensitivity (∂uzn, p. 14):

Sweet are the women’s eyes in B\b Tßm\. Sweet sweet As they look sadly at the night, bread and drunkards.

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The title prefigures the poet’s intention to employ devices of song and suggests a theme of praise. The poem starts by praising beauty ‘sweet’ but moves directly to describe poverty and deprivation. ‘Sweet eyes’ is a popular expression in everyday speech. The reiteration of the word ‘sweet’ gives the poem a melodic mood and recalls the techniques used in popular songs of praising beauty. On the other hand, the poem employs the refrain along with the exclamation ‘ ’ (oh my mother), which invokes the same tradition. The first refrain in the opening stanza reads (∂uzn, p. 14):

To grant me crying and desire, oh my mother

And the concluding refrain of the poem repeats (∂uzn, p. 16):

I am a stranger, oh my mother

Memories of Damascus bring along images of good times and hard times. The Damascus period was an age of illumination and discovery. However, part of it was spent in hiding, living underground and in prison. References to the active, mobile, cultural scene of Damascus are accompanied by references to cultural, political, social and economic problems. Images of suffering, deprivation, despair and loneliness alternate with images of vitality, mobility and freedom. Altogether, these contrasting images create the amazing setting that captivates the poet. In the seventh poem, ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’, the poet depicts Damascus as a moving scene (∂uzn, p. 30):

Damascus! Oh rosy wagon of captives. While lying down in my room, I write, dream and stare at the passers-by

The first line portrays the carnivalesque scene of the city. The image of the rosy wagon uses scenic colour and movement to illustrate the vividness and the mobility of the urban structure. However, this moving image is interrupted by the word sab\y\’ (female captives), which infuses the scene with references to the aggressive gender and political structure. The passage refers to a period of al-M\ghßµ’s life that he spent alone in small rooms. In an interview, the poet referred many time to these hard times.

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In search of a secure haven and a career, al-M\ghßµ left his country to enter the third stage of his life. The last station on the poet’s journey was Beirut. However, despite being the cultural capital of the region at the time, this glamorous city for al-M\ghßµ was only a place of exile. From the first poem onwards, Lebanon/Beirut was presented as the standpoint from which he looks into the past. It is also the place he strives to leave (∂uzn, p. 9):

Eight months and the pavement which is carrying its blond little boy Is asking about a rose or a captive, A ship and a cloud from the homeland.

The poet defines his temporal setting in a precise manner that is more typical of long narratives such as the tale, novel and drama. The expression looks too prosaic and ordinary to occur in a poem, let alone a first poem in a collection. Moreover, this phrase occurs three times in this brief poem, which indicates its being more than a functional statement. The repetitive phrase combines the functional role with a very special poetic effect that is central to the collection. The short phrase defines time in relation to the moment of the poet’s arrival into his country of exile, and the repetition suggests an uncontrollable obsession with counting units of time. Counting time, a practice that is more associated with prison, expresses a desperate desire to leave. Combining the functional with the poetic intensifies the language. Though intensity is a typical characteristic of the prose poem, achieving intensity in this extreme simplicity and ordinariness is a characteristic of the M\ghßµian prose poem. Since it is the main context of the poet–narrator, direct and indirect references to Beirut dominate the whole collection. The name of the city occurs twice in the book. Interestingly, the word Beirut is printed three times on the cover of the book and the last page, along with the publishing details, which emphasizes the presentation of the city as the most recent and the current setting. However, the name Lebanon occurs five times. In addition, most of the seascape images that dominate the collection, along with maritime associations such as the port, ships and waves, refer to the city. Furthermore, most of the fourteen repetitions of the word ba©r (sea) refer to Beirut’s sea and build a distinct image of Beirut as a city on the sea. Being the only capital city in Bil\d al-Sh\m to lie on the coast, Beirut is stereotyped as a port city in the works of the Sh\m# writers. One of the earliest creators of this stereotype was al-M\ghßµ. However, the most renowned presentation of the sea of Beirut exists throughout the works of Ma©mßd Darw#sh, who was part of the community of Shi‘r.214 Being the last stage in the

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journey, the city is associated with the present. The association of Beirut/the present is emphasized by placing other settings in the past or the future. Looking for a future setting beyond the city is presented through connecting Beirut with the desire to leave (∂uzn, p. 22):

These are my sad things I will travel faraway faraway from them Beyond the city that is sunk in the sewers of tuberculosis and smoke.

Stranded in the present/exile, memories and imaginary journeys embody the only promise of salvation. The nature of the collection as a poetic memoir accommodates the vitality of the changing setting. The general setting comprises the three places of Salamiyya, Damascus and Beirut. From another perspective, it could be seen as comprising the duality of the village/the city. However, more in-depth analysis of the structure and properties of the city will be the subject of the last part of this chapter, ‘The City: A Model for Textual Architecture’. Moreover, identifying the characters in the collection illuminates the setting and puts the details of the urban place in a clearer light. The characters Al-Urjß©a, which was written around the same time as ∂uzn f# ®aw al-Qamar was composed, carries an annotation that reads: ‘It is a semi-autobiography which carries the visions and the turmoil of that period.’215 This annotation of the novel can work equally well as a precise definition of the collection. Al-Urjß©a (The Swing) depicts a phase in the young protagonist’s life in Damascus. It revolves around the experience of al-Fahd, the protagonist, in a political prison in Damascus and his love affair with a woman called Ghayma. However, past images of his remote small town and family are invoked occasionally throughout the text. ∂uzn f# ®aw al-Qamar revolves around similar themes. This similarity with the novel makes it easier to identify the main thematic motifs and devices. However, in addition to the two topics, childhood/village and early youth/Damascus, the collection has an additional topic. This third topic, which is related to the poet’s life in exile, is ‘the present/Beirut’. Nevertheless, in comparison with the novel, the collection gives a more balanced representation of these three topics. Whereas the novel is mainly a tale of one place and one woman, the collection is a tale of many places and many women. Numerous references to all types of

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women occupy every detail in the collection. Women are introduced either directly as females or indirectly through their female attributes. The word µifla (little girl) is repeated five times, fat\t (girl) is repeated seven times, and the word mar’a (woman) is repeated eighteen times. Among feminine adjectives that stand alone and work as nouns it is possible to single out scores of references to women, scattered throughout the collection, such as ‘queen’, ‘little girl’, ‘young woman’, ‘beloved’, ‘goddess’ ‘mother’, ‘mistress’, ‘female Bedouin’, ‘virgin’, ‘nun’, ‘widow’, ‘whore’, ‘angel’, ‘female’, ‘female captive’ and ‘female slave’. Some of these women are depicted as human figures in momentary flashes and others as distinct characters in developing situations. Some are at the centre of the poet’s life, some are part of his observations and others are created by his sexual fantasies. Many female figures appear with well-defined features and attributes that make it possible to identify connections and similarities between them. The numerous images of the little girl in the collection seem like duplications of Layl\, his first beloved. The several references to female nudity in poems 7 and 13 draw similar erotic scenes. Lonely women in poems 2, 7 and 16 seem like variations on the girl in poem 3 who is frying fish for her lover and waiting for him to come home. The three images of his mother in poems 5, 12 and 17 draw a clear picture of his sad mother in her grey shirt preparing soup for the father in the moonlight. Employing similar domestic themes in portraying women makes the mother look like an ageing copy of the younger girl who is frying fish. The fat travelling girl of poem 4, against whose body he is trying to rub himself, is similar to the plump woman of poem 17 whom he is stalking in the street. Both could also be the same Bedouin woman whom he tries to seduce in poem 4. Apart from Layl\ and his mother, who are associated with his village, all these women are connected in some way with the city. As shown in the previous section, the setting of al-M\ghßµ’s collection is animated by the abundant relationships that it accommodates. With the assistance of the setting, the biographical data and the novel, it is possible to rearrange the fragmented stories of ∂uzn f# ®aw al-Qamar and the main characters around which they revolve. Characters and human figures are depicted as an inherent part of the two settings of the village and the city. In addition to being associated with themes of childhood and family, the hometown is associated with his first love. On the other hand, the two cities are associated with intricate and complex relations, love affairs and fantasies. Studying Baudelaire’s representation of the city, Blanchard notes that his poems are dominated by the illusion of a relationship between the individual and the masses.216 Associating oneself with others, Blanchard argues, is Baudelaire’s main approach to understanding life in the city. In view of that, the abundant complex relationships in the city represent the confusion of the young poet in urban life, and his inability to forge intimate and real human relationships. Along with women who have apparent fictitious attributes and momentary presences, there are persistent appearances of several well-defined characters. In addition to the images of the poet’s mother, there are

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repetitive images for two distinguished types of women: the child–woman and the whore–woman. The first is associated with the village and the second with the city. Furthermore, the second sometimes has two distinguishable variations: one refers to Damascus and the other to Beirut. Throughout the collection, the three places are represented through the poet’s relationships with these three types of women. Moreover, the three women sometimes look like personifications of the three places. Apart from two characters identified by name, all other women are left anonymous. Besides ‘Mary’, whose name only occurs in one poem ‘Al-A$\fir’ (Nails), the collection is dominated by the repetition of a single name, ‘Layl\’. The persistent appearance of Layl\ creates a continuing storyline throughout the poems. Along with numerous references and allusions, it recurs twenty times (see pp. 23, 26, 27, 29, 35, 36, 37, 57, 58, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 67 and 78). References to Layl\ depict an image of a little girl mostly associated with his early years as a child and teenager in his hometown. He addresses her by name in six poems: ‘Al-Mus\fir’ (The Traveller), ‘Al-Shit\’ al-®\’i‘’ (The Lost Winter), ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’, ‘Tabgh wa Shaw\ri‘’ (Tobacco and Streets), ‘Al-Layl wa al-Azh\r’ (The Night and the Flowers), and ‘Al-Qatl’. In the rest of the collection there is a variety of direct or indirect references to a beloved little girl. Layl\’s attributes derive directly from pastoral imagery (∂uzn, p. 11, 23 and 35):

Your pure eyelashes have the smell of wild violet

Virgin sparrows of mountains Stare at my beloved Layl\ And desire her mouth, fascinating as sea fruits

Your hair that was pulsing on my pillow Like a cascade of sparrows.

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The little girl makes her debut in the opening paragraph of the collection among other objects and symbols that are associated with the home/the past. Alongside the narrator, she is the first human figure to appear. Through the collection, the poet constructs her physical attributes and consolidates her image. He centralizes her by mentioning her constantly, directly by name or indirectly through her attributes. The little girl is also the last human figure to appear. In the closing poem he declares her as his main muse:

Oh little girl who rings the bells of ink in my heart.

Layl\’s images and associative motifs dominate the book and create a love-story thread that goes through the whole collection. This recurrence of the theme of Layl\ turns her into a central character and gives the collection a narrative mode. In a recent interview, al-M\ghßµ disclosed that Layl\, who appears in his poems as a little girl, was in fact his first love in his teenage years.217 Nevertheless, we have a glimpse of her in the city. In ‘Tabgh wa Shaw\r#‘’, Layl\ appears once as waiting for him on the bridge in Damascus. Moreover, her image also accompanies the poet in prison and exile. Given al-M\ghßµ’s habit of making misleading comments, one wonders if Layl\ was a real woman or an imaginary passion. However, being a stereotypical name for the beloved in Arabic literature, folksongs and folktales, it gives the story a romantic touch. Layl\ is also the stereotypical name of heroines in children’s stories, the most famous of which are Layl\ and the Wolf and Layl\ with the Red Hat.218 The name also invokes Layl\ al-‘£miriyya of Qays, the most renowned beloved in Arabic literature. In this view, al-M\ghßµ’s Layl\ combines biographical substance with fictional attributes. However, by presenting his Layl\ within surrounding images of misery and poverty, and evoking her in prison and exile, the poems subvert the traditional romantic references and create a type of unconventional romanticism. Rimbaud plays with stereotypical names of women in a similar way. His ‘Hélène’ might have been meant to invoke the Trojan princess, though no direct linkage is presented.219 Nathaniel Wing believes that the name may allude to Helen of Troy as exemplary of grace and beauty. Just as in the case of al-M\ghßµ’s Layl\, any precise linking between the context and what is known of the historical figure is suppressed. However, just like the Arab Layl\, the Greek Helen alludes to a specific archetype of femininity. Both names evoke what Wing calls ‘attributes accepted as characteristic of beauty’.220 Being fond of names, Rimbaud stimulates interest to look beyond and around each name. In modern literary theory, critics pay special attention to reconstructing the references of each name. Wing believes that the poet used names to create suspense. He also believes that names in prose poems ‘can be associated with a very general feature of certain narratives’.221 In the same manner, al-M\ghßµ’s Layl\ can be associated with a

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colossal tradition of popular and written narratives in which the heroine has the same name. ‘Ghayma’, the protagonist’s beloved in Al-Urjß©a, is depicted as a petite innocent woman with a childlike look, which makes her a variation on Layl\. In parallel with Layl\ stands Mary. She is the only other named character in the collection. Mary is portrayed as a whore who earns her living with great difficulty. She cries while giving her lovers her cold body and dreams of wearing a black veil and having children. Whereas Layl\ is associated with the simple life and nature, Mary is depicted as caught up in a complex network of brutal relationships. Whereas Layl\’s portrayal draws on pastoral imagery, Mary is depicted through typical urban images of materialism, exploitation and vanity. The body of the city–woman, covered by jewels, recalls Baudelaire’s city, which carries a false appearance and loves ‘masks and disguises’222 (∂uzn, p. 60):

Mary whose name was my mother Is as hot as mange. Tanned like a long cloudy day I love her I hate her flesh that is saturated with savagery and perfume, I lurk at her doorstep like a boy With a chronic desire in my chest That craves to have Mary as a blue corpse That quivers with jewels and memories

The character of Mary is made more complicated by associating her with motherhood. Besides acclaiming her as his mother, Mary’s name invokes another complex representation of motherhood: that is, the Virgin Mary. Accordingly, she could be associated with all the narratives that revolve around the Virgin Mary, most noteworthy of which are the biblical and Qur’anic narratives. However, the

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image of the whore, as the ultimate contrast to the holy virgin mother, subverts any direct relation to the holy prototype. Though Mary appears only in one poem, images of an anonymous motherly whore–beloved pervade the collection. This complex character is connected directly to the city. Occasionally, it has two different sets of features and attributes, each of which refers to one of the two cities of al-M\ghßµ. Damascus, the woman–city, appears as another main character in the collection. Describing his attachment to Damascus, he depicts it as an old mistress for whom he yearns. The second paragraph in the seventh poem starts with the poet protesting (∂uzn, p. 30):

Damascus! You rosy wagon of female captives,

The line condemns the ruthless gender and political relations that characterizes the carnivalisque urban scene. Nevertheless, the same paragraph concludes with the poet appealing (∂uzn, p. 31):

You wrinkled mistress Whose body is covered by coughs and jewels You are mine This nostalgia is for you, Oh rancorous one!

Damascus is portrayed as an old mistress with obvious motherly attributes. The Oedipal desire is the poetic representation of the inaccessibility of the cherished city that is forbidden to him. It represents also the mixed feeling towards the city and the agonizing yearning which is impossible to satisfy. Damascus/the mistress represents the poet’s main muse. However, the impossibility of reaching her impedes him from writing. Instead, the poet writes about his two unfulfilled desires: to write and to be in Damascus. Damascus is presented through the most erotic images, and takes the form of an unattainable beloved. ‘Writing’ is associated with ‘Damascus’, and the two occur in combination. Appealing to a muse, and the difficulty of writing, are some of the typical themes of the Arabic as well as Euro-American prose poem (∂uzn, p. 39):

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I cannot write while desirable Damascus Is lying down on my notebook like two naked thighs

Progressing through sequences, as in a typical love story, this strong desire develops into a wild fantasy. Craving turns into an obsession which is broken by periods of manic excitement. In a subsequent poem, ‘Al-Rajul al-Mayyit’ (The Dead Man), this nostalgia takes over the desperate poet and pushes him towards the ultimate (∂uzn, p. 52):

I was willing to commit a murder In order to see my whole family and touch them by hand To tramp one night only In the streets of darling Damascus

This long-established association between love and death accompanies the urban themes in the collection, and the Damascene motifs in particular. Damascus’ images show that she is not exactly the most loving mistress. She is an old rancorous mistress with numerous poor and rich lovers. Some cover her with their coughs and some with jewels. These images recall the typical presentation, in Arabic as well as in world literature, of consumptive lovers and relentless mistresses. In spite of all that, the poet pines for her and claims her as his. Similar images of Damascus integrate gradually throughout the collection and build up a coherent character. In the Damascene section, the city–woman is portrayed through sensual images which combine eroticism, maternity and vanity. In addition, these scenes are characterized by an obsessional fascination with the city–woman that haunts the poet and turns into a desire to kill and possess. Living as an exile in Beirut is another main thematic motif. The dichotomy of home/exile which controls the whole collection is presented through the two contrasted female figures. Alongside Damascus, Beirut has its distinctive representation as a city-woman (∂uzn, p. 51):

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And I pass through the streets of sad Beirut Puffing like a serpent under the sky of the autumn And glum Beirut is wounded sighing on the asphalt Caressing her small breasts.

Whereas Damascus is addressed as ‘darling Damascus’ and ‘desirable Damascus’, Beirut is addressed as ‘sad Beirut’, and ‘glum Beirut’. Just like Damascus, Beirut is also depicted as a motherly whore–beloved. However unlike Damascus, she is a poor ill whore. Beirut, the city–woman, is depicted in sentimental images and expressions that are devoid of the slightest erotic overtones. The poem entitled ‘Al-Mus\fir’ portrays a city–woman in an intense cinematic shot. The poem does not include any of the two names. However, the ambiguous identity of the woman can be understood through the dichotomy of the other city/woman that is Damascus. In the ultimate contrast to Damascus, Beirut is portrayed as an impoverished devoted mother for whose departure, the son longs (∂uzn, pp. 22–3):

I will depart far . . . far from her Behind the city that sinks in the sewers of tuberculosis and smoke

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Far from the whore woman Who washes my clothes in the water of the river While thousands of eyes in the dark Stare at her bony legs And her cold coughs come degraded and hopeless Through the broken window,

After decades, in what seems an interesting coincidence, al-M\ghßµ paraphrased this image in prose. In Al-N\qid, al-M\ghßµ described Beirut using an intensive stereotypical Arabic domestic scene. He portrayed Beirut as lifting her dress, sitting in front of a washing basin, washing her children’s clothes and ignoring lusty eyes staring at her thighs.224 More interestingly, this scene, like Vermeer’s ‘The Cook’ in Western culture,225 is one of the stereotypical images of woman in Arabic visual arts.226 The other main character in the collection is the poet’s mother, who makes her appearance in five poems. Al-M\ghßµ portrays her with the stereotypical attribute of motherhood as nurture, and places her in a central position in his poetic memoir. In exile, he appeals to his father to send him a lock of her hair. Taking this view, al-M\ghßµ associates her with home, and places both of them in the treasure-chest of his poem, in which he keeps these most precious memorabilia (∂uzn, p. 24):

So send me a red brick from our roof And a lock of my mother’s hair Who is cooking soup for you in the moonlight

The fetishist usage of hair is a common cultural practice with which the poet must have been familiar. On the other hand, the statements of yearning for mothers and for stones of cherished places are part of the everyday metaphoric expressions of nostalgia in the social environment. The poem displays an obsession ‘with the prosaic world of everyday material objects’. This extraordinary preoccupation is considered to be one of the thematic features of the prose poem, which tones in with the ‘object-like density and compactness of its form’.227 This paragraph is one of the many examples that highlight the powerful influence of al-M\ghßµ on Arabic poetry and poetics. It shows that his influence went far beyond the prose poem to involve Arabic poetics in the general sense. In retrospect, it is possible to detect that this paragraph had the function

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of instituting a model for future repetition by other poets. This forward motion turns al-M\ghßµ’s paragraph into a model that is invoked repeatedly by other writers of other forms. This inspiring representation of the happy past/home must have been a great inspiration to the modern Arabic literature of nostalgia. Some renowned works of poetry demonstrate an unmistakable familiarity that carries al-M\ghßµ’s brand. The fetishist obsession with home and mother has developed into a common motif in Palestinian literature in particular. Satisfying the nostalgia through a representative relationship with home-related objects and items is the theme of one of Yßsuf al-Khaµ#b’s masterworks. Addressing a bird flying and coming from the direction of Palestine, al-Khaµ#b implores him to carry anything from the lost home:228

If only a straw that is fluttering on the threshing floor of the country That you hid between the wing and the pulse of the liver If only a stone in one hand and a shred of lily in the other hand

In this view, Al-M\ghßµ’s inspiring model, which comes first in a line of successive similar texts of other poets, looks like a master model that set a trend. Yearning for the home food, and for a lock of the mother’s hair are the main themes in the famous poem of the Palestinian poet Ma©mßd Darw#sh, who was one of the youngest poets in the Shi‘r community:229

I yearn for my mother’s bread And for my mother’s coffee

In this poem Darw#sh appeals for a lock of his mother’s hair:

And tie me up with a lock of hair With a thread that is waving on the fringe of your dress

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In fact, one of the writers who heard Darw#sh during a public poetry evening in Damascus University mentioned that he had noticed a change in Darw#sh’s general performance after he became acquainted with the Shi‘r group.230 The journalist recalled that Darw#sh turned down the persistent public demand to recite ‘Sajjil an\ ‘Arab#’ (Write down I am an Arab), which is characterized by a loud zealous tone, and preferred to recite a low-toned poem. The journalist commented that this turning point could be one of the impacts of Shi‘r. In the post-colonial, post-1948 period, which witnessed the widespread popularity of national issues, the pioneers rebelled against the dominant discourse and preferred to contribute in their own ways. By devising a groundbreaking master model that inspired the Palestinian poets, al-M\ghßµ has made a major contribution to the Palestinian issue. In ‘∂ar#q al-Kalim\t’ he protests against the pressure on him to follows rigid models and guidelines in writing a declamatory qa§#da about Palestine (∂uzn, p. 18):

You want a qa§#da about Palestine, About conquest and blood?

Several poems in ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar include among their thematic motifs denunciation of the literary authorities who demand certain types of qa§#da, dictating its thematics, form, images, poetics and discourse. On the formal as well as the thematic level, the collection itself is one of the earliest poetic realizations of an emerging counter-discourse. A comparison of the previous four poetic examples shows that Al-M\ghßµ’s vital models and simple images, characterized by this unyielding counter-discourse, made their own contribution. Turning the written text into a treasure chest, to keep alive threatened memories and memorabilia, is one of the ongoing projects of Palestinian writers and institutions today.231 Taking into consideration that both al-Khaµ#b and Darw#sh are two major free verse poets means that the simple prose poem of al-M\ghßµ had realized one of its main objectives. As stated repeatedly by Shi‘r’s writers and critics, the pioneers aspired to liberate Arabic poetry in general, and to influence the mainstreams of thinking and cultural practice. The narrator In his study of Gaspard de la Nuit, Richards considers the repeated appearance of the same narrator as one of the unifying principles of the collection. Gaspard, Bertrand’s narrator, usually appears standing at his window, watching the scene from there.232 In ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar there is one narrating voice that goes all through the eighteen poems. The poet–narrator is not identified by name. However,

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he appears in all the poems and repeatedly emphasizes his leading position in each poem. The collection is dominated by the constant presence of the first person singular and suffixes that refer to it. Apart from references to the pronoun ‘I’ through verbs and nouns, the pronoun ‘I’ occurs 43 times in the collection. As early as the first word in the first poem, ‘I think’, the narrator comes into view. Whereas Gaspard de la Nuit is about the narrator’s series of fantasies,233 ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar is about the narrator’s sequence of thoughts and memories. The first paragraph of the collection starts with the homesick narrator poet, standing somewhere in the exile, looking in the direction of Damascus (∂uzn, p. 9):

I think it is from the homeland

The second paragraph continues with the same theme, but the pronoun changes (∂uzn, p. 9):

Oh sadness . . . you my long wrinkled sword Eight months and the pavement which is carrying its blond little boy Is asking about a rose or a captive,

The ‘I’ of the first paragraph is turned into ‘he’ in the second paragraph. The narrator–poet, who opened the collection in the first person singular, is now being referred to through the third person singular. He is presented in a different light in order to be introduced. The paragraph introduces the narrator as the blond little boy who is always walking or standing on the sidewalks of streets. This physical description is repeated throughout the collection. The image of the blond boy in the streets applies to al-M\ghßt at that stage of his life. In order to maintain the narrating thread through the poems, the narrator reintroduces himself constantly. The narrator appears again in the seventh poem as the walking blond boy (∂uzn, p. 32):

And I walk like a blond thunderbolt in the crowd

And in the ninth poem (∂uzn, p. 38):

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I want to hover, to rise Like a prince with blond eyebrows

And in the thirteenth poem (∂uzn, p. 53):

While the locks of my blond hair are pushed back by the wind

He also appears in the final scene. In ‘Sar#r ta©t al-Maµar’, he is resting in a café (∂uzn, p. 82):

And my blond hair is flowing on the table

Whereas Bertrand’s narrator chose the window as a privileged position, from which he views the city, al-M\ghßµ’s narrator appears in most of the poems as walking in a street or standing on a sidewalk. Whereas the window suggests a lofty poise and a commanding stand, the street suggests fewer privileges and symbolizes the poet–narrator’s position on the margins of society. Nevertheless, his mobile and unlimited space certainly guarantees him a better view. Speaking about the poet–narrator in Baudelaire’s Petits Poèmes, Monroe describes him as an ‘observer’ who is ‘observing himself’ and ‘observing others’.234 Interestingly, Monroe’s remark about the Parisian narrator applies very fittingly to his Damascene counterpart. In the streets, there is no borderline between an observer and an observee. Walking around, the poet observes all kinds of economic and social suffering. Moreover, he recognizes himself as a witness (∂uzn, p. 14):

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I wish I were a coloured pebble on the sidewalk Or a long song in the alley There, in a cavity of a smooth mud Which reminds me of hunger and vagrant lips Where little children Flow over like malaria In front of God and the dark streets

Al-M\ghßµ’s street is the locus of life in the big city. The same observation is provided by al-Fahd, the narrator and the protagonist in his novel. Al-Fahd, who represents al-M\ghßµ himself, is also portrayed as dwelling in the streets of Damascus. When he is released from prison, the first observation he makes is about streets. Just as in the collection, the street in the novel is the venue of the narrator that encompasses references and details of city life. As soon as he is released from prison, al-Fahd goes around the streets to check on his city:235

Streets were the same streets . . . everything was the same.

The narrator is the unifying agent who brings together the various themes, figures situations and places. From his position in the heart of the city, he is involved with all kinds of experiences. Besides watching scenes in the unlimited open space, he often looks into enclosed and hidden spaces in search of new resources for his narration. In several poems, the poet peeps into confined places and secluded lives to broaden his observation. From his standpoint in the street, he can envisage what is going on behind closed doors (∂uzn, p. 11):

Behind every window A poet is crying and a girl is shaking

His walks take him to other parts of the city, where he observes different scenes. Walking on the street, he reverses the position of Gaspard, and looks from the other side of the window (∂uzn, p. 55):

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And at a lit window near the sea On its gloomy cold glass I put my small nose and cried And I remembered my family and my village And the streets that I crossed in the desert And through the hanging silky curtains I saw a naked woman blazing like a red ship And a handsome man lying on the sofa

Exploiting the space of the prose poem, al-M\ghßµ goes down every possible path to enliven his picture. In addition to bringing images of other lives into his scene, he brings in other voices. Instead of talking on behalf of those others, he lends his voice to them. In this manner, the lyrical ‘I’, retreats to the background. This decentring of lyric or narrative ‘I’236 is one of the devices inherent in the prose poem. The open space of the prose poem which allows for various types of language, speech and narrative allows this multiplicity of voices. In ‘Al-Qatl’ the poet–narrator steps down from his supreme position in favour of other voices (∂uzn, p. 75):

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Even if the tears that are imprisoned between the desert and the sea Were destined to roar, to walk on pebbles That insect which has entered the heart would remove them By oppression and drowsiness, every trace would vanish By bad breath And snail-like rolled up bodies By the forces of the riffraff sleeping between lavatories We will build a park for children And clean houses, for tramps and shoeblacks The paragraph starts with the poet–narrator’s pure voice lamenting for his people. In the first two lines, the paragraph employs typical lyrical expressions and images. The opening of the paragraph recalls the lyrical monodiscourse that characterizes mainstream poetry at the time. After the third line, the tone changes gradually and starts to sound more formal. Alongside this, a less lyrical wording and imagery is introduced. The last two lines mimic a political public speech or an article in the official media. ‘Mockery of official codes’ is one of the various speech types that Williams used in Improvisation.237 These two lines employ the didactic and authoritative type of speech that is found in the dominant political discourse, as well as in the counter-discourse of the different political parties. The unlimited space of the prose poem, which is capable of accommodating a plurality of voices, turns the poem into what Murphy calls a ‘textual democracy’.238 The delirious flow of voices interrupting one another pervades the poem and represents the poet’s disillusion with different kinds of collective discourses. At the end of his narration, the narrator typically goes full circle and invokes the thematics of the prologue. The movement of Bertrand’s narrator also draws this circular line. Besides appearing in different poems through the collection, Gaspard confirms his task by appearing in both the first and last poem as standing at his window.239 In a similar way al-M\ghßµ’s poet–narrator concludes the collection from the same standpoint that he occupied in the opening. The first poem, ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’, introduces the poet–narrator as walking on the sidewalk and ends with the poet walking in the closure of the poem and complaining (∂uzn, p. 10):

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And I walk sad at the end of the night

On the other hand, the title of the last poem, ‘Sar#r ta©t al-Maµar’, confirms that the open space of the street is the poet’s home. Moreover, the closure of the poem, which is also the closure of the collection, repeats the same situation of the opening scene, but with a significant difference. The poet–narrator ends his observation by making a lonely walk on what seems to be more of a long journey than the usual stroll. The act of walking itself heightens his complaint and sends a clearer message to heavens (∂uzn, p. 83):

I will leave in a short time, lonely and lost While my glum steps Are turning to the sky and crying.

Literary historians, who tried to trace Rimbaud’s fantasies back to events or places at the time, found that references to places and times ‘become sometime and somewhere else in another time and space, the context of another, imaginary culture’. They concluded that the poet was attempting to obtain a trans-historical view of the city.240 As far as ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar is concerned, no such endeavour took place. However, the interview with the poet shows that the book was often treated as a reference book. This fact suggests that the poet had skilfully handled his unifying principles, and made reading this collection of poems similar to reading a long text. Though they never stated that, many of al-M\ghßµ’s critics and interviewers have based their comments or derived their questions from observations that they deduced from the book. Due to a lack of documented material about that troubled period, not only of the poet’s life but also of the history of the country, the book was expected to function as a poetic database for that period of history. Apparently, the organic interrelated whole in the collection makes it possible for this book to function as a poetic primary source for different types of expertise. The collection seems to have the potential to be used as a poetic autobiography, a poetic memoir and even a poetic historical account. Furthermore, taking the city as a main theme is one of the innovations of the collection. The abundance of city images and representations in ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar presents another possible function. The collection can function as a poetic guide for modern Arab cities and their structure and architecture. In

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particular, the collection can also serve as a poetic chronicle for Damascus and Beirut in the mid-twentieth century. The topic has recently turned into a feverish debate between Syro-Lebanese intellectuals and writers in the Arab media.241 Be that as it may, the collection is an indispensable source for reading the history of the Arabic prose poem and its relation to Shi‘r, the group, the journal and the institution. The city: a model for textual architecture Places, and ‘the urban place’ in particular, is one the topics that has been associated with the prose poem ever since the works of its first major practitioners, Bertrand, Baudelaire and Rimbaud. As modern literary theory shows, the thematics as well as the formal motifs of ‘city’ are among the main preoccupations of their masterworks. Several major works of literary theory, or chapters of them, are dedicated to the study of the representation of the city in the prose poem.242 Due to the rich thematic as well as formal implications of the city, prose poets have shown an interest in the structure of the city, in particular. In the light of the modern reading strategy that applies the theories of the New Novel to series and collections of the prose poem, the topic of the city seems to have played a crucial rule in establishing the poetics of the genre. By taking a certain place as a theme and as a structural model, the prose poem foregrounds the relationship between form and content. On the formal level, the city as a major unit made up of minor units resembles the relationship between individual poems and the interrelated whole. Moreover, images of the city are an effective unifying principle between the different poems. In ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar, the city is a major theme and setting and the city–woman is a leading character. Though the collection refers to two different cities, Damascus and Beirut, the images and representations of urban life are similar. The differences that distinguish these two cities in al-M\ghßµ’s collection can be related to the fact that one is the place of exile and the other is home. In his study of Rimbaud’s collection, Illuminations, Nathaniel Wing identifies a sub-category that consists of six poems ‘Les Ponts’, ‘Ville’, ‘Villes I’, ‘Villes II’, ‘Metropolitain’ and ‘Promontoire’.243 He recognizes this group of poems as ‘a distinct series’ in the collection that describes ‘urban landscape and architecture’, and he calls them ‘The Metropolitan Poems’. However, besides being the main theme of these poems, Wing found that the city offers a ‘mimetic model’ for the poetic form. Studying the same subject, Evans goes a step further in applying her study to a whole collection. Exploring the interrelation between form and content in Petits Poèmes en Prose, Evans finds that choosing the theme of Paris, as a central theme, is no coincidence.244 In the two chapters entitled ‘The City’ and ‘Exchanging Codes’, she analyses how the ‘city’, and its thematic associations, offer the collection a model of structural complexity and enhance its overall architecture. Blanchard dedicates his entire book, In Search of the City, to the

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study of the topic of the city. He studies this representation of the city, both as a socio-economic system and as an object of knowledge, in the works of Engels, Baudelaire and Rimbaud. This connection between literary and extraliterary topics is emphasized in al-M\ghßµ’s collection through images that comprise the duality of the city/the text. As Evans observes, portraying the structural complexity of the city invites comparison with textuality.245 Complex architectural images of the city correspond to the innovative structure of the text. In al-M\ghßµ’s work, the image of the city as a metaphor of the text recurs through combining references to these two motifs (∂uzn, pp. 40, 39):

Oh desert of the song which gathers the flame of the cities

I cannot write while desirable Damascus Is lying down on my booklet like two naked thighs

The city/the text: the arabesque of relations The dominant image of the M\ghßµian city draws a similar image to the Baudelairian city, which is ‘a cluster of intersecting trajectories, a fantastic, and palimpsest arabesque of criss-cross paths’.246 These allusions to the complex arabesque of the city in prose poems, as Evans argues, serves as a reminder of the complexity of their reading process. Reading the prose poem is as demanding as going through these big cities. It taxes ‘the reader’s powers of concentration and memories’ during their attempt to establish the interconnections between the constituent poems and their intertextual links.247 The arabesque design of the Baudelairian city in Petites Poèmes is represented by its intertextual links. Images of Paris in Baudelaire’s collection recall similar descriptions of Paris in some celebrated long prose works by other writers, such as Hugo and Balzac.248 In their works, these writers draw on the same analogy between the city of Paris and the text. Through parodying these long prose works, Petites Poèmes enhances its own analogy between the place and the text. Furthermore, it emphasizes its narrative aspect and its structure as one long text. In a similar way, the description of Damascus in ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar anticipates the image of the city in Al-Urjß©a in which Damascus is the main setting. Whereas the city in the collection was represented by its streets and alleys, the city in the novel primarily consists of alleys. The image of the city in

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both works draws an arabesque design, similar to the one described by Evans. Reading the description of the city in the novel throws more light on the concept of the M\ghßµian city and on its relationships to the M\ghßµian text:249

The city in which all this anarchy takes place consists, for the sake of public safety, of long chains of columnar alleys.

This city is described as being made up of chain-shaped alleys. The architectural plan of the city shows a combination of inclined and straight lines, which draws the image of the city as an entangled network. On the other hand, it represents the tension between the modern and the classical in the genre. The term ‘ ’ (columnar), is usually used to refer to the classical qa§#da as against ‘ ’ and ‘ ’ (‘anarchic’ and ‘cyclical’), which are usually used in reference to the modern forms that subvert the conventional symmetric forms. The prose poem employs this tension between the modern and the classical through some of its devices and techniques such as intertextuality and subversion. The recurrent images of Damascus in ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar draw similar architectural designs. However, they are more complex. The streets turn around and fall back on themselves. ‘ ’ (Street), in Arabic, also means the public, which mostly indicates ‘ordinary people’. The personified images of ‘the street’ draw a picture of the public that is withdrawn and isolated (∂uzn, pp. 11, 23):

That street which turns back on itself like a string of sand

The sinuous alley like a rope of slaves’ corpses

Sometimes, the shape of streets was drawn through the movement of the walking poet (∂uzn, p. 52):

In the streets of darling Damascus I overflowed and sinuated like a cord of shining hungry chandeliers

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Images of the perpendicular architecture of the city are the poetic representation of the power-structure in the country. In a very intensive usage of language, al-M\ghßµ represents his understanding of such relationships in the city through images of urban features, monuments, constructions and landscape. In ‘Al-Qatl’, the term ‘hill’, which refers to the hill of al-Mazza, is used figuratively. The prison which is built on the top of the hill stands as a stronghold of political power (∂uzn, p. 74):

A yellow dead hill, choking with pain and steel

This pyramidal structure also represents the complicated hierarchical power relations. The corrupted top is grounded firmly on its base that is made of ordinary people (∂uzn, p. 72):

The pyramid of decline, we are lifting it up.

From his prison, he looks over at the city, which is lying down. Damascus, which in reality lies on low ground at the foot of the mountain of Q\siyßn, is depicted as a woman lying down asleep. However, the sentence draws an image of a subdued city. The intensity of the poet’s language is represented through combining factual and figurative references in one word, ‘low’. The poet refers to himself and his fellows as the boys that are calling upon the sleeping woman to arise up (∂uzn, p. 79):

Wake up you low city! Your lads are ill

This symbolic usage of the geometric and positional adjectives high/low and their derivations is one of the characteristics of the colloquial and everyday language. This figurative richness of colloquial Arabic is one of the main sources of the M\ghßµian poetics. The image of the sleeping city throws some light on the symbolic act of the sleepless poet wandering the streets at night. This main act represents the thematic core of the collection. It is implied in the title and it proceeds throughout the collection. The scene of the sad poet strolling in the moonlight is better

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interpreted in combination with the image of the sleeping city. The two conflicting images in the scene construct al-M\ghßµ’s world of discord and generate the poetic tension. A more explanatory illustration of this combination comes at the very end of Al-Urjß©a. The concluding paragraph of the novel reads:250

As for now, at this gloomy hour of the night, his beloved is sleeping and his homeland is snoring. And he alone has to stay awake as there has to be a watchdog for this humiliated plundered Levant.

Leaving for glamorous Beirut, he was faced again with the vertical structure and the ruthless pyramid of power relations. In the infamous slums of the city he found himself sinking more and more into an abyss of human misery (∂uzn, p. 22):

Behind the city that is sunk in the sewers of tuberculosis and smoke

Drawing the geometric perpendicular layout of the new setting, the poet positions himself at the lowest part. In a moving illustrative image, the city is portrayed as a multi-layered monument that is alien to those living underground in its gutter (∂uzn, p. 40):

And I am still bumping along the bottom of the city As if I were from another homeland

Though al-M\ghßµ frequently repeated his disapproval of a loud and direct political tone in poetry, his prose poems were often described as having a characteristic political significance. This is due to the fact that his prose poem is characterized with this well-presented counter-discourse. For critics who focus more on studying the genre from this perspective, this counter-discourse acts symbolically to dismantle all ‘restrictive, hierarchically ordered forms and institutions still in place in society at large’.251 In his study of the prose poem’s historical discourse, Monroe states that this revolt against the hierarchical system of class, gender and genre characterizes the work of its early major practitioners

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from Baudelaire and Rimbaud to the present.252 Monroe’s study emphasizes that the rebellion against the hegemonic powers in society includes rebellion against certain forms of poetry. This argument applies to the circumstances of the poetic experience of al-M\ghßµ. In the context of the highly popular versified poetry in the aftermath of 1948, al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem chose to come forward. Alongside the glamorous beginning of the ‘poetry of commitment’, which is characterized by its aspiration to mobilize the masses and to predict the forthcoming Arab revolution, the prose poem chose a different route of commitment. Writing his first prose poem, ‘Al-Qatl’, in prison and about prison, al-M\ghßµ’s poetic revolt highlights the centrality of the relationship between form and content. The unconventional form was generated by its unconventional theme and the unusual experience. The first audience, review and feedback emerged in prison, including Adßn#s’ historical announcement from his cell ‘This is poetry!’ This forgotten anecdote, which was disclosed by al-M\ghßµ in an interview, symbolizes the mutual inspiration of poets and critics of the Shi‘r community. The incident also implies that struggling to write poetry in prose was part of what Monroe calls ‘the struggle for the power of speech’.253 Forsaking the traditional lyrical forms and techniques, the prose poet brought in a new medium of their new discourse. This struggle against dominant discourses and types of speech was undertaken by the prose poets throughout the history of the genre. The city/the text: a prosaic world On the thematic level, the prose poem foregrounds the details of urban life. As Wing observes, none of ‘The Metropolitan Poems ‘evoke the urban setting as the ideal site’.254 Reading the ‘prosaic details’ in images of the city as represented in Rimbaud’s prose poems, Monroe underlines these details associated with the modern city. Mud, musty shops, stinking alleys, harbour of wretchedness, worms of urban sickness, anonymity, poverty and misery are some of these concepts, all of which literally make up some of the main thematics of al-Maghut’s collection. Some of the details of the M\ghßµian city have a striking similarity to those in the Rimbaudian city. In ‘Ouvriers’, the poet is exiled in a foreign city, conducting a voyage of discovery and searching for escape.255 Besides this description, which can work very well as an epitome for ∂uzn fi Daw’ al-Qamar, Wing finds the Rimbaudian city to be a place that is characterized by asphalt, noise and smoke. The same terms and expressions are used by al-Maghut in portraying his city. ‘Asphalt’ is repeated four times in ‘Al-Rajul al-Mayyit’ and ‘Al-Qatl’. ‘ ’ and ‘ ’ (both ‘noise’) are repeated five times in ‘Rajul ‘al\ al-Ra§#f’ (A man on the Sidewalk), ‘Al-A$\fir’, ‘Wad\‘ al-Mawj’ (The Waves Farewell) and ‘Al-Qatl’. ‘ ’ (Smoke) is repeated four times in ‘Al-Mus\fir’ and ‘Al-Qatl’. These images of the city are part of the counter-discourse that emerges from the demographic margin of cities. Along with a possible inspiration from ‘The Metropolitan Poems’, these stereotypical images of the big city must have been popular in the context of the small town where the poet grew up.

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As for Baudelaire, Evans shows that the prose poem is preoccupied with the problems and issues that are associated with the city. In this respect, Petits Poèmes plays on the same concepts that are associated with nineteenth-century Paris.256 The first common concept to be discussed by Evans is ‘the possibility of harmony which includes the possibility of dissonance and extremes of contrasts’. In the same manner, Al-M\ghßt’s city and text are the venue in which ultimate contrasts live in harmony (∂uzn, p. 81):

Let the strange air Sweep the triumphal arches and the scarves of sheiks and female dancers.

In a very intensive mode, the poem portrays the vibrant dynamic scene of the city. The text and the city seem both ‘a spectacle’ that is made up of ‘a series of pictures’. Both views are fragmented; however, they can integrate ‘by a moving observer’, who is the text’s reader or the city’s narrator.257 The second line comprises three references to political–military institutions, religious authority and the complex cultural life. In Rimbauld’s Metropolitan Poems, the theme of the city as the locus of the spiritual ideal is undermined by this presentation of the metropolis as décor.258 In a similar manner, the theme of the city as a cultural ideal is undermined in ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar by the presentation of the city as a woman in disguise. In the same poem, the poet calls on Damascus (∂uzn, p. 80):

Give me your mouth, You! the adorned one who is wearing a helmet

The Text/The City: A Large Mobile Structure Whereas some critics emphasize the existence of a large plot structure in collections of prose poems,259 more recent studies of the subject provide a more sophisticated analysis of the progressive function of the narrative. Reading Petits Poèmes as one long text, Evans recognizes that the interrelated whole is made up of different minor units. However, she emphasizes that the collection has no ‘determined rigid order’.260 Furthermore, she states that Baudelaire deliberately attempted to break down any impression of a progressive structure. To prove her theory, she offers her own groupings of the poems and shows how it is possible to create several types of grouping within the same collection. This, she argues, turns the collection into ‘a mobile open structure’, which is the very description that could be applied to ‘the city’. This fact, she adds, indicates that the form in Baudelaire’s collection is connected organically to the main theme: ‘the city’.

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Al-M\ghßµ’s collection provides another example to illustrate Evans’ theory about Baudelaire’s collection. Likewise, ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar does not seem to submit to the dictates of a conventional plot. As discussed earlier, the collection manifests a strong presence of the three unifying factors: the setting, the characters and the narrator. However, the ordering of the poem does not follow a fixed progressive line. Putting ‘Al-Qatl’, his first poem, in seventeenth position does not seem to give it a special significance. The same statement could be applied to the seventh poem, ‘∂uzn f# ®aw al-Qamar’, which carries the title of the collection and was the first to be published. Following in Evans’ steps, it is possible to make several patterns of groupings within the collection. The ‘pastoral poems’ and ‘the urban poems’ could make a reasonable grouping. Another type of poem-grouping could be based on the titles. Examining the eighteen titles of the poems, it is possible to detect major divisions. Some, such as ‘Al-Layl wa al-Azh\r’, ‘∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar’ and ‘Wad\‘ alMawj’, relate closely to the romantic tradition, which represents one of the aspects of al-M\ghßµ’s prose poem-poetics. Others relate to the prosaic details of the collection such as ‘Tabgh wa Shaw\ri‘’, ‘Al-A$\fir’ and ‘Al-Qatl’. The possibility of making many different types of grouping in the collection highlights its vitality and mobility. Furthermore, it encourages readers to make their own groupings. Since one of the two cities at least is referred to in every poem, the collection could be divided into ‘Damascus poems’ and ‘Beirut poems’. For example, the first poem, ‘Jan\zat al-Nasr’, could be classified easily under the second group. The third poem, ‘Ughniya li B\b Tßm\’, and the seventeenth poem, ‘Al-Qatl’, both written before exile, definitely fall into the first group. Some poems are more difficult to pin down under either of these two categories. The last poem, ‘Sar#r ta©t al-Maµar’, is a good example. In this poem, the place is defined as a café in an area that is very far from home. This means the writer is in one of the two cities, though the text does not refer directly to either. However, studying the technique of repetition, which is one of the prose poem’s devices, may serve to pinpoint the setting. Examining recurrent words and images draws a border between the two cities. Though he expressed his love for both cities, the poet defines Damascus as the place he wants to return to and Beirut as the one he wants to leave. On the basis of these repetitive motifs it is possible to identify the city in ‘Sar#r ta©t al-Maµar’. The conclusion of the poem declares (∂uzn, p. 83):

I will depart in a short while, lonely and lost While my glum steps Are turning to the sky and crying.

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The expression ‘I will depart’ occurred earlier in another poem, ‘Al-Mus\fir’, which refers to the city of Beirut (∂uzn, p. 22):

These are my sad things I will depart faraway faraway from them Behind the city that is sunk in the sewers of tuberculosis and smoke

In addition to this ‘exact duplication of words’,261 a similar tone is generated by two similar adjectives, sad/glum, which connect the two paragraphs. The assertive definition of the time, ‘in a short while’, in the first example, and the emphatic repetition of the word ‘faraway’ in the second, express similarly an powerful desire to leave immediately. However, the desperate tone that unifies the two paragraphs implies that the poet does not know how to leave or that there is nowhere else to go. These two conflicting realities, the urge to leave and the impossibility to achieve that desire, are put together and harmonized into a dream. This dream, which is characteristic of the literature of exile, is one of the main themes of the collection. However, the poet treats his dream as a reality through the verb ‘ ’ (I will leave). This form combines the present tense with ‘Seen al-mustaqbal’, the particle that indicates future, equivalent to the English ‘shall’ and ‘will’. By using this decisive form, which is typically used for decisions and actions rather than dreaming, the poet turns his dream into a poetic reality. In addition to occurring right at the end of the collection, motifs of departure occur at the closure of the other six poems (see poems 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16 and 17). Interestingly, the closures of most of the other poems refer directly to the other main action in the collection, which is wandering the streets of the city (see poems 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13 and 14). Two of these poems, as these numbers show, directly connect the two motifs in their closures. The obsession with walking, which the collection revolves around, could be linked directly to the second obsession with departing. In common popular interpretations, the constant movement in the place is seen sometimes as a symbolic representation of a desire to move far away. Moreover, moving between places, and themes that are associated with these places, turns the book into a poetic journey. Across poems, motifs of walking, leaving and travelling accompany the progression of the reader through the text. Occurring at the closure, the theme of departing and wandering functions as a repetitive refrain. Accordingly, it marks repetitive pauses in a continuous poetic journey. This refrain separates poems and integrates them in the same time, similar to the function of refrains

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that connect minor units in long tales and songs. Moreover, in folksongs, departing and travelling together comprise a typical theme of refrains. Combining walking and departing in one poetic journey invokes a similar model in classical Arabic literature. This past model combines the two linguistic roots of s\ra (to walk) and ra©ala (‘to depart’ or ‘to go on a journey’). Tara©©ul/ra©#l and sayr/mas#r, and other derivative forms are all used to refer to the long journeys of the ancient Arabs. In the qa§#da, the theme of travelling caravans was mostly associated with the parting of the two lovers. Whether it meant roaming around or travelling purposefully, the journey was a major theme in classical Arabic poetry. Research into the actual historical and geographical references of classical motifs, most notably these journeys and associated places, is one of the preoccupations of some modern Arab and Arabist literary critics.262 This only proves the power of poetic discourse and its incomparable ability to flirt with the boundary between the factual and the fictitious. After all, when evoked in a poem, all these journeys, including al-M\ghßµ’s, are merely poetic journeys.

N OTES

1 For more details see Murphy, p. 60 and the first chapter of this book. 2 See Adßn#s, An Introduction to Arab Poetics. 3 See Terdiman’s account of Mallarmé’s experiment, p. 311, and Murphy, Introduction and ch. 1. 4 Moreh quoted two references Al-Jar#da, 18 December 1960, p. 10. Cf. Adßn#s’ article ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, pp. 75–83. However, there is no mention of Saint-John Perse or his poem in ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’; see Moreh, p. 305. 5 See ‘Étroits sont les Vaisseaux’ (Narrow are the Vessels), in Saint-John Perse, Amers Seamarks (bilingual edition, tr. Wallace Fowlie), pp. 100–187. 6 See Shi‘r, no. 4, 1957, pp. 75–83. 7 See Adßn#s, ‘Mu©\w\la f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, Shi‘r, no. 11, 1959, pp. 79–90, and Adßn#s ‘Fi Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ Shi‘r, no. 14, 1960, pp. 75–83, and ‘®ayyiqatun hiya al-Mar\kib’, translated and reviewed by Adßn#s, Shi‘r, no. 4, 1958, pp. 38–89. 8 See Adßn#s, An Introduction to Arab Poetics, pp. 79–81. 9 See Shi‘r, no. 7–8, summer–autumn 1958, pp. 10–23. 10 Adßn#s ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 75. 11 See Simon, p. 225. 12 Metzidakis, p. 43. 13 Adßn#s ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 75. 14 For more details about intratextual lexical repetition see Metzidakis, pp. 83–4, and the chapter about theory in this book. 15 The Phoenician purple produced from seashells. 16 In Syria, both in standard and colloquial Arabic, ar@ ba’l (ba’l’s land) means irrigated only by rain, in contrast to that irrigated by rivers and other water sources. 17 Isha‘ya 62:4, Holy Bible, Arabic version, Al-Tafs#r al-Taµb#q# li al-Kit\b al-Muqaddas.

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18 Isaiah 62:4, Holy Bible, English version. 19 Barad\ is a river that runs through Damascus, and al-‘£§# a river that runs through Lebanon and Syria. 20 See A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Hans Wehr and J. Milton Cowan (ed.), p. 113. 21 Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 80. 22 See Murphy, p. 8. 23 For more details see the section entitled ‘Khar\b Urshal#m’, in ∂izqiy\l 5:4, Holy Bible, Arabic version, Al-Tafs#r al-∑aµb#qi li al-Kit\b al-Muqaddas. See also the English version entitled ‘Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized’, in Ezekiel 4, Holy Bible, English version. 24 Ezekiel 5:4, Holy Bible. See also the Arabic version of the Holy Bible in ∂izqiy\l 5:4, Al-Tafs#r al-∑atbiqi li al-Kit\b al-Muqaddas. 25 Ezekiel 5:10, Holy Bible, English version. See also the Arabic version in ∂izqiy\l 5:10, Holy Bible, Arabic version, Al-Tafs#r al-Taµb#q# li al-Kit\b al-Muqaddas. 26 This procedure still forms an essential part of the religious practice of some B\µin# groups in Syria, and the great names are the 99 names of God included in the Qur’an. 27 White Sea is the Arabic name of the Mediterranean. 28 See Shi‘r, no. 10, 1959. pp. 7–16. Arw\d is the name of a small Syrian island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also the name of the first child of the poet. According to an oral tradition, the island is named after a young pretty Syrian princess, Canaanite or Phoenician. She was deported to this uninhabited island by her family after she had contracted a fatal and contagious skin disease, which most likely was leprosy. Arw\d’s family assumed she would die soon. However, after a long time, people who visited the island found many indications in a cave that the princess had been able to cure herself and survive to live a long life alone on the island. Its name is mentioned several times in the Bible. 29 Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, ‘Min al-Marji’iyya al Gharbiyya ila al-Marji’iyya al ‘Arabiyya’, pp. 52–3. 30 See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, p. 745. 31 Quoted by Jabr\, ‘Min al-Marji’iyya al-Gharbiyya ila al-Marji’iyya al ‘Arabiyya’, p. 62. 32 Nin\r Sa‘#d is known to readers today through her writings that are published in Arabic press. 33 See Adßn#s, £l-Ath\r al-K\mila. 34 35 See, Adßn#s, An Introduction to Arab Poetics, pp. 78–98. 36 Literature about literature, or literature that contains literary criticism. 37 For the poem and the study of its opening see Metzidakis, pp. 43–4. 38 Metzidakis, p. 43. 39 For more details about Rimbaud’s ‘Conte’, ‘and Dawson’s ‘Princess of Dreams’ see Murphy, pp. 71–4. 40 See the annotation of ‘Arw\d’, Shi‘r, no. 10, 1959, pp. 7–8. 41 In Ugar#t’s Phoenician myths, Ash#rah the mother Goddess is associated with the sea. 42 See Al-Majmß‘a al-K\m#la li Mu’allaf\t Jibr\n Khal#l Jibr\n, ed. Mikh\’#l Nu‘ayma, p. 527. 43 See Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 77. 44 See Monroe, pp. 268–70. 45 See Evans, pp. 12–13. 46 Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 81. 47 Shi‘r, no. 14, 1960, pp. 34–43. 48 Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 75. 49 A Qur’anic verse, it also means a sign. 50 See Taylor, p. 50, and Albert Sonnenfeld, ‘L’Adieu Suprême and Ultimate Composure: The Boundaries of the Prose Poem’, in M. A. Caws and H. Riffaterre (eds), p. 198. 51 The introduction of al-A’sh\’s famous poem ‘Waddi‘ Hurayrata’ uses the same term:

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52 Adßn#s, ‘Mu©\wala f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r Al-∂ad#th’, p. 89. 53 I attempted this translation that preserves the linguistic and metaphoric part of this biblical phrase and which, to my understanding, captures its poetics more than the translation: ‘Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind’ in the English translation of the Bible in Holy Bible, Ecclesiastes 2:26. 54 See Holy Bible, Arabic Version, Al-Tafs#r al-Taµb#q# li al-Kit\b al-Muqaddas 1:1. 55 See Lamentations 1:1, Holy Bible, English version. 56 See Adßn#s, ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, p. 81. 57 58 Ibn Shahray\r considers this island to be the original homeland of mermaids. For more details see Shawq# ®ayf, Al-Ri©l\t, Funßn al-Adab al-‘Arab#, pp. 45–7. 59 This concept is based on Bakhtin’s writings about the novel’s conception of the world. Murphy applies this concept to the prose poem; for more details see Murphy, p. 178. 60 For examples of these debates see his chapter about ™al\© ’Abd al-™abßr, in which he quoted some parts of these disputes with the Egyptian poet in Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, pp. 123–33. For other interpretations of Adßn#s’ concept of ‘vision’ see al-‘Udhar#, pp. 21–2 in which the critic considered Shi‘r’s concept of ‘vision’ to be an influence of Anµßn Sa‘\da, and the Syrian Nationalist party. 61 See Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, p. 123. 62 For more details see Adßn#s, Al-™ßfiyya wa al-Sury\liyya. 63 See ibid., p. 32. 64 Ibid., pp. 232–65. 65 Ibid., p. 245. 66 Adßn#s, Muqaddima lil Shi‘r al-‘Arab#, p. 138. 67 Adßn#s, Al-™ßfiyya wa al-Sury\liyya, p. 84. 68 Ibid., pp. 239–40. 69 Adßn#s, ‘Mu©\wala f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r al-∂\d#th’, p. 83. 70 Said by Asm\’ bint Ab# Bakr in front of the deceased body of her crucified son. 71 Adßn#s, Al-™ßfiyya wa al-Surry\liyya, p. 232. 72 Bann#s, vol. 3, p. 42. 73 K. Sa‘#d, ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, p. 39. 74 Adßn#s, An Introduction to Arab Poetics, p. 9. 75 See K. Sa‘#d, ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, p. 65. 76 See Shi‘r, no. 3, summer 1957, p. 119. 77 Delville, p. 107. 78 See Monroe, p. 38. 79 Shi‘r, no. 5, winter 1958. 80 See Simon, p. 253. 81 See Murphy pp. 69–74, and Delville, p. 121. 82 See ibid., pp. 69–74. 83 See Delville, pp. 104, 105, 121, 125. 84 The phrase could also be translated as ‘the prose poem that ‘resembles’ al-©ik\ya’; see al-∂\jj, Lan, p. 10. 85 See al-∂\jj, Nash#d al-Ansh\d, Introduction. 86 The word a©sha’ means literally ‘entrails’; however, in classical Arabic poetry it is used as equivalent to heart or body. To maintain both the poetic effect of the word and the relevance to the theme, the word will be translated as body. 87 See Murphy, pp. 70–2. 88 See Delville, pp. 105–6. 89 See Murphy, p. 70. 90 Delville, pp. 122–3.

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Ibid., p. 123. Song of Songs 1:13, Holy Bible, English version. Ibid., 2:3. Ibid., 7:1. Ibid., 3:16. In Arabic, they are called al-‘Am\l#q. In the Bible, they are called the Nephilim and the giants. See Holy Bible, English version, Genesis 6:4. Delville, p. 117. See ibid., pp. 122–5. Ibid., p. 123. See ibid., p. 104. See ibid., pp. 106–7. See Murphy, p. 70, and Delville, p. 133. See Murphy, p. 69. See Delville, p. 106. Ibid., p. 117. Ibid, p. 118. See Fredman, preface. Monroe, pp. 38–9. Ibid, p. 39. The phrase occurs in the Mu‘llaqa of ‘Amr ibn Kulthßm. The complete verse reads:

111 112 113 114 115 116 117

See Jayyusi, Trends and Movements, vol. 2, ch. 4. See Boullata, pp. 43–4. See Fredman, preface, p. 9. Monroe, p. 153. See ibid., pp. 38–9. See Shi‘r, no. 27, summer 1963. Delville considered this feature as a representation of the prose poem’s historical affinity with Cubist art, which was noted earlier by Bernard. In the prose poem, he noted, ‘seemingly insignificant anecdotes, objects, or details (particularly as related to body parts or kitchen utensils and other household commodities) tend to acquire a disproportionate, almost obsessional importance, while gradually supplanting the human element’. In this manner, the poet’s ‘character/personae’, by contrast, appear deprived of all the attributes of threedimensional credibility we encounter in more traditionally mimetic-realist narrative’. For more details see Delville, pp. 118–19. 118 See A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Hans Wehr and J. Milton Cowan (ed.) (New York: Ithaca, 1976), p. 1002, under nahada. 119 For example, see the mu‘allaqa of ‘Amr ibn Kulthßm: 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127

See Fredman, p. 31. Murphy, p. 118. Shi‘r, no. 16, autumn 1960, pp. 61–6. For more details see Delville, pp. 104–9. Ibid., p. 104. Ibid., pp. 104–9. Ibid., p. 107. See Michael Riffaterre ‘The Prose Poem Formal Features’, p. 118. For other critics see part 2 of this book, ‘Comparative Approaches’. 128 See al-∂\jj’s Lan, Introduction. 129 Murphy, p. 170; Delville, pp. 89, 90, 103, 118.

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130 See Shi‘r, no. 3, pp. 105–9, and no. 10, pp. 104–10. 131 Little Red Riding Hood in the English version. The tale narrates a story of a little girl who crosses the forest alone to visit her grandmother. 132 Delville, p. 106. 133 Some critics argue that, contrary to other types of narrative, the prose poem does not refer to something outside itself like when we narrate a story. However, Marxist critics argue against that and insist that the discourse of the prose poem is involved directly in its social and cultural contexts. For more details see Terdiman in the last section of the second chapter ‘Comparative Approaches’ in this book. 134 I chose here to write the first occurrence of the word Gha@\ in capital letters because it indicates a name of a place, unlike the other two that indicate a name of a tree. 135 See K. Sa‘#d, ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘ , pp. 61–2. 136 For more details see Murphy, ch. 3. 137 Murphy, p. 100. 138 The Little Review, November 1914. Quoted by Murphy, p. 99. 139 Quoted by K. Sa‘#d, p. 62. 140 See Lan, Introduction. 141 Ibid. 142 The word bayt occurs 19 times in the Qur’an in reference to Ka‘ba, in two instances as al-bayt al-‘at#q, the ancient house, in surat al-Hajj, 22:29 and 22:33. For more details see ∂anna Kass#s, A Concordance of the Qur’an, p. 356. 143 See Shi‘r, no. 16, autumn 1960, p. 94. 144 Lan, Introduction. 145 See Shi‘r, no. 16, autumn 1960. 146 See Monroe, p. 33. 147 Such as the famous dialogue poems of Umar ibn Ab# Rab#‘a, and Jam#l Buthayna. 148 The verb jadhaba means both to attract and to pull. It also means to draw, to appeal, to captivate, to charm, and to allure. See Hans Wehr, p. 115. 149 Nas#d al-Ansh\d 1:4, Holy Bible, Arabic version. 150 Song of Songs 2:9, Holy Bible, English version. 151 Ibid., 3:2. 152 Lan, Introduction. 153 See Delville, pp. 104–6. 154 For Merwin’s poem and Delville’s study of Merwin see ibid., p. 151. 155 See Shi‘r, no. 16. 156 For Merwin’s poem and Delville’s comments about it see Delville, p. 151. 157 Kandinsky as quoted by Williams. See Murphy, pp. 99, 130. 158 See the analysis of ‘al-Bayt al-‘Am#q’ in this chapter. 159 See Shi‘r, no. 27, summer 1963. 160 See K. Sa‘#d, ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, p. 62. 161 ‘Aqrab also means ‘scorpion’. 162 See Shi‘r, no. 9, p. 81. 163 See Shi‘r, no. 16, pp. 92–3. 164 ∂ayya also means ‘alive’. 165 See Metzidakis, pp. 84–5. 166 Nash#d al-An\sh#d, Introduction. 167 The term ‘the prosaic world’, is used by both Fredman and Monroe. ‘The prosaic world’ is the world as experienced and perceived in the prose poem as a contrary to the romantic lyrical vision that is traditionally associated with poetry. For more details about the two concepts of the ‘prosaic world’ and the ‘lyrical world’ see Fredman, p. 156, and Monroe, p. 11. 168 See Shi‘r, no. 5, Jan. 1958.

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169 See Shi‘r, no. 6, ‘Qa@\y\ wa Akhb\r’/Issues and News. 170 See Khuz\m\ ™abr# (the pen-name of Kh\lida Sa‘#d in her early writings), ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al-Qamar Shi‘r, no. 11, summer 1959. 171 See Jayyusi, Fan of Swords: Poems, Foreword. 172 For more details see Graham Robb Arthur Rimbaud, Introduction. 173 See Metzidakis, p. 14. 174 This is how these writers defined their studies. For specific titles see the footnotes of this chapter. 175 See Metzidakis, p. 14. 176 For more details about Rimbaud’s biography see Robb, Introduction. 177 Mu©ammad ∂aydar, the renowned writer, was the poet’s teacher in his primary school. See Al-N\qid, ‘Monologue: An interview with Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ’, no. 36, summer 1991. 178 See Introductions in Khal#l ™uwayli© , Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ, Ighti§\b K\na wa Akhaw\tiha, and Lu’ayy £dam, Mu©ammad al-M\ghßt, Waµan F# Waµan. 179 See Al-N\qid, ‘Monologue’. 180 Jayyusi translated the title as ‘Sorrow in the Moonlight’. Though acknowledging the inspired translation that sought to maintain the beauty of the expression, I choose to translate ©uzn as ‘sadness’ for a number of reasons. ∂uzn is the direct translation of ‘sadness’ and the first one to be mentioned in Hans Wehr’s Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Studying the collection textually, I had to examine this keyword, its derivations and applications. In this respect, I found the adjective ©az#n, which is used in the collection more than its noun ©uzn, to be closer to ‘sad’ than to ‘sorrowful’. The latter sounds rather awkward in its repetitive mode. Furthermore, in its common daily application and general broad meaning the word ©uzn is closer to ‘sad’. In fact, translating it as ‘sad’ highlights the ability of al-M\ghßµ to poeticize worn-out words and literary clichés and charge them with a new spirit. This practice, which is considered now to be one of the basics of Arabic prose poem poetics, stands out as one of al-M\ghßµ’s achievements. 181 For more details see the section about earlier experiments with the prose poem, included in the first chapter of this book. 182 Several critics considered al-M\ghßµ the writer of the first prose poem; see ™uwayli©, pp. 58–9. 183 Al-∂\jj, quoted by £dam, p. 467. 184 See ™uwayli©, p. 54. 185 For more details see ™uwayli©, p. 4. 186 See ™uwayli©, p. 45. 187 See ch. 2 of this book, the part which is entitled ‘The prose poem and the new novel’. 188 See Richards, p. 50. 189 See Evans, p. 10. 190 The novel Al-Urjß©a (The Swing) was published as a series by the Al-N\qid journal between July 1989 and June 1990. Substantial information is included in Al-N\qid’s brief annotation that introduces the novel: ‘A novel that was written by al-M\ghßµ thirty years ago and has not been completed yet. It is a semi-autobiography which carries the visions and the turmoil of that period.’ See Al-N\qid between 13 July 1989 and 24 June 1990. 191 Counting in this section includes titles. 192 Although the best translation of nasr in modern Arabic is probably ‘eagle’, it may be useful to point out that the zoologically more ‘correct’ translation is ‘vulture’. 193 See Al-Saf#r, 8 Oct. 1999; quoted by £dam, p. 479. The image seems to be inspired by the myth of Prometheus, who was tied to a rock while an eagle tore out his liver perpetually. 194 See Al-Urjß©a, Al-N\qid, no. 13, July 1989. 195 Daniel Kane, ‘Angel Hair Magazine, the Second-Generation New York School and the Poetics of Sociability’.

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THE PROSE POEM AND THE JOURNAL SHI‘R For more details see Adßn#s An Introduction to Arab Poetics, Introduction. See Monroe, pp. 122–3. See Murphy, the section entitled ‘The Narrative Tendency’, pp. 70–4. Evans, p. 162. See Delville, prologue. See Richards, p. 67. See Richards, pp. 67–84. The first occurrence of the word is in the thirteenth poem. See the poem that is entitled ‘Salamiyya’ in Al-Fara© laysa Mihnat# (Joy is not my Profession). See Khuz\m\ ™abr#, Shi‘r, no. 11, summer 1959. See Khuz\m\ ™abr#, Shi‘r, no. 11, summer 1959. Wing is referring here to Rimbaud’s employment of theatre imagery in Illuminations. He reviewed the earlier writings of critics who considered that the motif of the world as theatre is so stereotypical and conventional. However, Wing calls this feature ‘naïveté of images’ and describes it as ‘a highly complex phenomenon’. For more details see Wing, pp. 134–7. See Wing, pp. 134–5. Quoted by Wing; see p. 135. See Al-N\qid, ‘Monologue, no. 36, summer 1991. £dam, pp. 75–6, and ™uwayli©, pp. 33–4. See poems 12 and 18, respectively. See poems 7, 15 and 13, respectively. Q\siyßn is name of a mountain, at the foot of which lies Damascus. For example, see Darw#sh’s Mad#© al-±ill al-‘£l# (A Panegyric for the High Shadow). See footnote 23 in this chapter. See Blanchard, pp. 104–5. See Al-N\qid, ‘Monologue’, no. 36, summer 1991. Arabic variations on Little Red Riding Hood. See ‘Fairy’, in Arthur Rimbaud, A Season in Hell: The lluminations, English and French, tr. Enid Rhodes Peschel. Wing, p. 50. Wing, p. 31. For more details and for translated examples from Baudelaire’s prose poems see Blanchard, pp. 74–7. ‘Al-A$\fir’. See Al-N\qid, ‘Monologue’, no. 36, summer 1991. Jan Vermeer (1632–75), a Dutch painter who concentrated on drawing domestic scenes; ‘The Cook’, portraying a woman in a kitchen pouring milk, is known to have inspired writers and artists. This is one of the stereotypical images of Arab women in Arab cinema. For example, see the Syrian film A©l\m al-Mad#na (Dreams of the City), and the Tunisian film ‘Asfßr al-Saµ© (The Roof-Sparrow). Monroe, p. 11. See Yßsuf al-Khaµ#b, Agh\ni min Filasµ#n. It was turned by several famous singers into one of the most popular Arabic songs. Anµßn Maqdis#, al-∂ayat, 1 Nov. 2003. For more details about the projects of ‘Writing down the memory of the Palestinian people’ and ‘the popular memory’ see the publications of the Arab Resource Centre for Popular Arts. For a quick review see its journal Al-Jana, no. 6, Feb. 1998. See Richards, pp. 61, 66, 67, 72, 89. See Richards, p. 96. See Monroe, p. 105. Al-N\qid, Al-Urjß©a, no. 14, August 1989.

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See Murphy, p. 111. See Murphy, p. 111. Murphy, p. 112. See Richards, pp. 66–72. See Blanchard, p. 126. Many articles and essays followed Adßn#s’ speech in the theatre of al-Mad#na, ‘Is Beirut a Real City or just a Historical Name’. For more details see, in particular, Al-∂ay\t newspaper, October and November 2003. For more details see the references in the footnotes of this chapter, and books of Blanchard, Evans, Rimbaud and Osmond, Richards and Wing, in particular. See Wing, ch. 4. See Evans, chs 1–2. See Evans, p. 21. Evans, p. 12. Evans, p. 148. See Evans, pp. 12–16. Al-N\qid, Al-Urjß©a, Nov. 1989, no. 17. See Al-N\qid, no. 24, June 1990. See Monroe, pp. 277–81. See Monroe, p. 281. Monroe, p. 10. See Wing, pp. 97–8. See Arthur Rimbaud and Nick Osmond (ed.), Illuminations: coloured plates, p. 142, and Wing, p. 98. See Evans, ch. 2. See Blanchard, pp. 76, 82. See Wing, p. 107, ‘Villes’. See Murphy, pp. 70–1, Monroe, pp. 122–4. See Evans, pp. 1–2. See Metzidakis, ‘Lexical Repetition’, 79–85. For an example see Shawq# ®\yf, Al-Ri©l\t, Funßn al-Adab al-‘Arab#.

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P IONEERS : T HE L EGACY

There is no official date to mark the termination of the Shi‘r movement; however, the progress of the movement followed that of the journal. Following the gradual disintegration of the group during the 1960s, the journal closed down at the beginning of 1970 and the movement started to dissolve. There was an unsuccessful attempt during the 1970s by al-Kh\l and the group, including the three pioneers, to resurrect the journal Shi‘r under the name Daf\tir al-Shi‘r.1 Nonetheless, the movement survived through its main writers who occupied eminent positions on the Arab cultural scene. In 1972, al-Kh\l established a publishing house al-D\r al-Mutta©ida li al-Nashr, from which he published the whole collection of Shi‘r in twelve volumes, and he continued translating and writing for the press until he died in 1987. Adßn#s published many works of poetry and criticism and continued his project on cultural modernity through his journal Maw\qif. Uns# al-∂\jj devoted himself to writing the prose poem and to supporting it through his work as the cultural editor in Al-Nah\r which turned under his supervision into one of the most lively and popular cultural forums in the Arab press. Al-M\ghßµ turned to other genres and practised writing the novel, TV and cinema scripts, drama and journalism. Some of these writings are recognized as landmarks in the history of those genres. With the beginning of the third millennium, the prose poem of al-M\ghßt made a strong comeback. His new collection, Sayy\f al-Zuhßr (2003), stirred debates in the press and cultural circles that recall the old debates surrounding his early publications. The legacy of the pioneers was sustained and revived by ensuing generations throughout the Arab world. The 1970s marked the rise of a new generation of poets in several Arab countries that stood against the ‘monophonic language, literary totalitarianism and poetic declamatory practices’ of the dominant poetic discourse represented by the movements of metrical verse.2 The task undertaken by the prose poets of the 1970s was an extension of the project that had been launched and pursued by the pioneers. As for the journal, the last few decades show that the legacy of Shi‘r continued and proliferated in the hands of subsequent generations throughout the Arab world. From the mantle of Shi‘r, several exquisite avant-garde journals were established by former Shi‘r members. Younger generations who gathered around Adßn#s’ Maw\qif and Riya@ al-Rayyis’ Al-N\qid picked up the cause of the new writing and modernity where it was left off by Shi‘r at the end of the 1960s.3 However, poetry was only a minor issue in the discourse of these journals, which

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catered for all spheres of intellectual and cultural life. On the other hand, some avant-garde poetic groups around the Arab world followed the model of Shi‘r in creating structural frameworks that revolved around poetic journals. Some of those followed the pioneers in basing their projects on the issue of innovative writing and the prose poem. These groups attempted to restart and continue Shi‘r’s endeavour to associate the new writing and the prose poem with cultural modernity. Among those representing landmarks in modern Arabic literary history are the Egyptian I@\’a in the 1970s, the Syrian Alif in the 1980s and 1990s, and the Iraqi–Parisian Far\d#s, also in the 1990s.4 These groups cultivated the older discourse of Shi‘r and kept alive the connection between the prose poem and cultural modernity. Furthermore, they tried to revive and resume Shi‘r’s project by relating their poetic writings to the wider cultural life in their regions. However, they fell short of bringing their projects into the battleground between the progressive modernizing forces and the traditional cultural authorities in Arab culture, as Shi‘r had done for fourteen years. Being in charge of the cultural sections of some leading political newspapers, some prose poets have turned these sections into platforms for the prose poem and its cultural project. Among those newspapers are Al-Nah\r in Lebanon, al-Thawra’s literary supplement in Syria and Al-Quds Al-‘Arab# in London.5 The news sections and political content took the limelight from cultural projects in these newspapers and assimilated their discourse. However, the high profile of these newspapers gave more credibility to the new genre and brought it closer to the mass culture and dominant discourse. By studying the comparative history of the genre in the light of cultural theory, this book has demonstrated how the prose poem progressed and survived through its interactive relation with journalism. After the closure of Shi‘r, these journals and newspapers created new forums for the Arabic prose poem – a new environment that has supported the genre and helped it to survive. However, as the book has likewise demonstrated, the social and institutional frameworks that accommodate poetic production also influence its progress and reception. This book explored the Arabic prose poem as a poetic practice within its context, through applying the methods of cultural studies. These methods were originally constructed and used to investigate modes of popular culture, but they were developed and adjusted by literary critics and were applied to the study of literary texts and practices. The application of these new approaches to the Arabic prose poem in this research has aspired to shift the focus away from the conventional methods of perceiving it as an aesthetic production independent of its historical, social and economic context. As was explained in the theoretical part of this book, the new approaches to studying poetry examine it as both a text and a cultural practice and broaden the focus of literary criticism to include, besides the text, two other areas: the groups that are involved in the production of the literary text and the channels they use in this process. Accordingly, the research into the chosen texts was preceded and accompanied by a study of the

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Shi‘r group along with their media, and the institutional and social frameworks in which they lived and worked.

The Prose Poem Today: Universal Challenges and Prospects As this book has shown in its review of literature, Arabic theoretical studies of the genre did not progress significantly after Shi‘r disintegrated. Attempts to formulate new approaches to studying the genre in the light of new theories remain limited, and most still depend on the basic approaches developed during the era of Shi‘r. At present, two main theoretical trends dominate the study of poetry in the Arab world in general and of the Arabic prose poem in particular. The first uses the approaches of literary history, the second those of textual analysis. The proponents of each of these two disciplines blame the other for the misconducts and misjudgements in studies of the Arabic prose poem. This polarization of these two trends, which are given varied names by different critics,6 dominates contemporary theoretical studies of the Arabic prose poem. Integrating these two approaches has came a long way in Western literary theory, but still represents a challenge for Arab poeticists studying Arabic prose poem. Besides the theoretical challenges, the Arabic prose poem, both as a text and a practice, has to address several other challenges in order to strengthen its presence and to progress. In spite of its popularity, the genre is still alienated and dismissed by Arab institutional discourse, literary canons and cultural authorities.7 On the other hand, the Western prose poem is beginning to gain more recognition in the poetic canon and institutional discourse of the academy.8 Some recent observations indicate it is regenerating itself by maintaining itself as a counterdiscourse on the one hand and exploring new ways for interaction with the poetic canon and cultural mainstream on the other. Current Western studies are taking a critical look at the recent poetic scene and the increasing popularity of public spaces which host public poetry reading. In these studies, cultural critics place a stronger emphasis on collective poetics and poetic practices in order to understand how contemporary poetry in many ways was produced as and out of sociability. From this perspective, they view the conception of a poem as a communal gesture that affects literary reception and challenges established notions about authorship, reception and canonization. In the process, critics are analysing and historicizing the achievements of different literary formations and coteries, including the most-acclaimed poetic groups such as Black Mountain College poets, Beat poets, Language and Performance Poetry and New York School, in which prose poets played a central role in representing the poetic avant-garde, alternative writing and the counterdiscourse.9 Hence, critics are focusing on studying the practices and channels that these poets used to break out from what used to be small, socially determined

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circles and to establish different types of public spaces and forums, including academic conferences, poets cafés, communes, tribal rock concerts, mass anti-war demonstrations and the different rituals and practices of the counterculture and alternative community. In such milieu performance poetry and public weekly poetry readings and parties became the norm within the poetic community.10 In his ‘Epilogue: 1990’,11 Fredman notes an increasing effort by prose poets to integrate the genre with performing arts and mass culture. One of the evolving types he examines is the ‘talk poem’ in which the poet performs his prose poems by standing up in front of an audience and improvising speech around a certain topic. In a playful and provocative style, the poet combines philosophical speculations with humorous anecdotes and incorporates speech into writing. In their writings and performances, talk-poets derive their models from the traditions of various cultures and ethnic groups. By performing their multicultural prose poems in this new fashion, Fredman argues, prose poets want to shake loose from the formal, social and discursive restrictions of modern culture and to suggest alternatives to our rigid ways of thinking.12 A more recent observation by Beach also emphasizes new interest among poets in exploring fresh sources for alternatives and models. The critic notes that new generations of poets are enriching their prose poems as both a text and a practice by interacting with the multicultural heritage and traditions of different ethnic groups. He states that the prose poem in English is developing into a movement with significant international connections as Language poets from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand have started to participate in large-scale poetic projects. Prose poets writing in English are also interacting with their fellows beyond language borders. Poetic movements affiliated with Language poetry are now active in France, Italy, Germany, Russia and China.13 By becoming a crosscultural practice, the prose poem has enhanced its historical function as a universal text. These new developments pose critical challenges for Arab prose poets, who seem to be severely disconnected from the international prose poem.14 In comparison with the Shi‘r generation, younger Arab prose poets have a greater knowledge of other languages and more access to developments in the international poetic and cultural scene. Moreover, some of them have established strong connections with international cultural figures and institutions. However, their interaction with the international prose poem is passive, and their connections are personal, just like their projects. The Arabic prose poem, as a practice, has started to look like an isolated island that has lost touch with the fast-changing international cultural scene. As a text, the Arabic prose poem is under real threat of being left out in the upcoming renaissance of the genre and becoming closed, exhausted, self-centred and falling back upon itself. Comparing the Shi‘r group with different international avant-garde poetic groups, this book has investigated the relations of the pioneers to different elements in their socio-cultural contexts such as social structure, cultural atmosphere,

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institutions and trends of literature and thought. By investigating these elements, it has explored how Shi‘r as an avant-garde group behaved similarly in building an image of a counterculture by associating itself with certain practices and traditions. The research has revealed that Shi‘r shared common tendencies with other avant-garde groups such as experimentation, searching for alternative forms of writing and reading, instigating collective writing projects, formalizing movements by founding journals, combining ‘the international’ and ‘the national’, and adopting an antagonistic but balanced coexistence with the mainstream culture and dominant discourse. The book has taken as its basis recent groundbreaking writings in cultural and literary studies in general, and in studies on the prose poem in particular, which deal with the literary work as both a text and a practice. By exploring the Arabic prose poem and Shi‘r as a unit, the book has aspired to provide a wide-ranging model for reading different patterns of the Arabic prose poem, along with the structures and frameworks that support these pattern. This model can also be applied to study the Arabic prose poem in different historical stages and in different regions of the Arab world. Hence, the book has constructed a strategy for studying the Arabic prose poem that incorporates methods taken from several disciplines instead of restricting research to a certain school or approach. In the theoretical part, as well as in the applied analysis, this research has drawn on several major approaches taken from Western cultural theory and textual studies. These approaches incorporate methods taken from a wide range of disciplines including literary history, comparative studies, social studies, textual studies, narrative studies and semiotics. The book also includes a selection of landmark writings in Arabic about the genre during the stage of Shi‘r and afterwards. In the analysis of the texts, the research carried out a reading in the light of new textual, semiotic and narrative theories and examined their interaction with the institutional and historical contexts in the light of the new socio-cultural approaches. As this book has shown, the history of both the Arabic and international prose poem proves that historical developments of the genre are closely dependent on collective projects and frameworks and wide networks. Moreover, throughout its history the aspirations and objectives of the genre were and still are to reach a universal discourse and vision. This only proves that there is still a great deal to learn from the pioneers before moving beyond them. As the present book has shown, the Shi‘r project and writings of the pioneers might hold clues to some intricate questions about the genre as both a text and a practice. The Shi‘r group has created a unique experience in modern Arabic cultural history represented by the instigation of a project with an elaborate Arabic and international network of poets, critics, media and institutions which all took part in shaping the intellectual and cultural life of the region. They also established the genre as a counter-discourse with a universal vision on the one hand and brought it closer to the poetic canon and cultural mainstream on the other. Hence, they were able

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to establish the Arabic prose poem as part of the universal prose poem and to contribute to the crosscultural history of the genre.

N OTES

1 See Salsi, pp. 93–4. 2 See Raf‘at Sall\m, ‘H\dh\ al-Kit\b wa Qa§#dat al-Nathr al-‘Arabiyya’, in Bernard, vol. 1. 3 For more details about the role of Al-N\qid in the prose poem see ‘A©mad Barak\t’ by Norddine Zouitni at http://morocco.poetryinternationalweb.org/. 4 For the first one see Sall\m’s, p. 17. For the second see ‘Al# Safar’s introduction to ‘The Anthology of Syrian Poetry in the Nineties’, in al-Shu‘ara’, no. 26 autumn 2004, and for the third see ∂ikmat al-∂\jj’s ‘Qa§#dat al-Nathr: Fi Sab#l Ta’rikha Adabiyya li Qa§#dat al-Nathr al-‘Ir\qiyya; ‘www.iraqun.com, articles, 20 Mar. 2005. 5 Among those are Uns# al-∂\jj in Al-Nah\r and Amjad N\§ir in al-Quds. 6 Sh\kir Lu‘ayb# calls them the sociological and the textual approaches and ∂ikmat al-∂\jj calls them ‘the historical’ and ‘the aesthetic’ approaches respectively. For the first see ‘Bay\n min ajl Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ in Adab wa Naqd, July 1995, which was also republished in ‘Ir\qiyyßn, www.iraqun.com, 20 Mar. 2005, in the section of al-Maq\l, ‘Essays’. For the second see the manifesto, ‘F# Sab#l Ta’r#kha Adabiyya li Qa§#dat al-Nathr al-‘Ir\qiyya’, www.iraqun.com, 20 Mar. 2005. 7 Khal#l ™uwayli© reported that young prose poets are still having their works rejected by some major publishers and literary institutions. See al-∂ay\t, book reviews, ‘Riw\ya F\’iza (An Awarded Novel), 10 Apr. 2005. 8 See Ward, p. 34 and Delville, epilogue. 9 For more recent studies about the prose poem and its central position in literary history see the article about Postmodern American Poetry edited by Paul Hoover in http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/postmodern. 10 For more about the subject see Daniel Kane, ‘Angel Hair Magazine, the Second-Generation New York School and the Poetics of Sociability’, in Contemporary Literature. 11 See Fredman, ‘Epilogue: 1990’. 12 See Fredman, pp. 136–42 and the epilogue. 13 See Beach, p. 174. 14 Except for some Arab poets who participated individually in the French festival of poetry, the traditionally exceptional Arab organizational representation in the festival was reduced to zero due to some bureaucratic problems in the Institute of the Arab World, which is in charge of organizing Arab participation in the festival. For more details see al-™\li©#’s article ‘Rab#‘ al-Shu‘ar\’ al-Farans#’.

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B IBLIOGRAPHY

Books in Arabic

Abu Deeb, Kamal. F# al-Shi‘riyya (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Ab©\th al-‘Arabiyya, 1987). Adßn#s. Al-£th\r al-K\mila (Beirut: D\r al-‘Awda, 1971). Adßn#s. Siy\sat al-Shi‘r, Dir\s\t fi al-Shi‘riyya al-‘Arabiyya al-Mu‘\§ira (Beirut: D\r al-£d\b, 1985). Adßn#s. Al-™ßfiyya wa al-Sury\liyya (London: Al-S\qi Books, 1992). £dam, Lu’ayy. Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ, Waµan F# Waµan (Damascus: D\r al-Mad\, 2001). ‘Aµ\, Mu©ammad. Khal#l Muµr\n (Cairo: D\r al-Ma‘\rif, 1959). ‘Awa@, Luw#s. Blutuland wa Qa§\’id Ukhr\ (Cairo: Maµba‘at al-Karnak, 1947). B\kath#r, ‘Al# Mu©ammad. Ikhn\tßn and Nifirt#t# (Cairo: D\r al-K\tib al-‘Arab#, 1967). Bann#s, Mu©ammad. Al-Sh‘ir al-‘Arab# al-∂ad#th, vols 1–4 (Casablanca: D\r ∑ßbq\l, 1990). B\rßt, Mu©ammad Jam\l. Al-∂ad\tha al-%l\ (Abu Dhabi: Itti©\d Kutt\b wa Udab\’ al-Im\r\t, 1991). Bazzßn, A©mad. Qa§#dat al-Nathr al-‘Arabiyya: Al-Iµ\r al-Na$ar# (Beirut: Mu’assasat D\r al-Fikr al-Jad#d, 1996), Br\ks, Gh\z#. Jibr\n Khal#l Jibr\n (Beirut: D\r al-Kit\b al-Lubn\n#, 1981). D\ghir, Sharbal. Al-Shi‘riyya al-‘Arabiyya al-∂ad#tha (Casablanca: D\r ∑ßbq\l, 1988). Darw#sh, Ma©mßd. Mad#© al-±ill al-‘£l# (Beirut: D\r al-‘Awdah, 1987). ®ayf, Shawq#. Al-Ri©l\t, Funßn al-Adab al-‘Arab# (Cairo: D\r al-Ma‘\rif, 1965). Fa@l, ™al\©. As\l#b al-Shi‘riyya al-Mu‘\sira (Beirut: D\r al-£d\b, 1995). Al-∂\jj, Uns#. Lan (Beirut: D\r Majallat Shi‘r, 1960). Al-∂\jj, Uns# (tr.). Nash#d al-Ansh\d/Song of Songs (Beirut: D\r al-Nah\r, 1967). ∂ammßd, Mu©ammad, Al-∂ad\tha f# al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# al-Mu‘\§ir (Beirut: D\r al-Kit\b al-Lubn\n#, 1986). Jibr\n, Jibr\n Khal#l. Dam‘a wa Ibtis\ma (Beirut: D\r Beirut and D\r ™\d#r, 1962). Jibr\n, Jibr\n Khal#l. Al-Majmß‘a al-K\m#la li Mu’allaf\t Jibr\n Khal#l Jibr\n, ed. Mikha’#l Nu‘ayma (Beirut: D\r Beirut, 1959). Al-Khaµ#b, Mu©ammad K\mil. Na$ariyyat al-Shi‘r, vol. 5, part 2 (Damascus: Syrian Ministry of Culture, 1996). Al-Khaµ#b, Yßsuf. Agh\ni min Filasµ#n (Beirut: D\r al-£d\b, 1959). Al-M\ghßµ, Mu©ammad. Al-£th\r al-K\mila (Beirut: D\r al-‘Awdah, 1981).

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Al-M\ghßµ, Mu©ammad. Fan of Swords: Poems (tr. Mayy Jayyusi; intro. by Salma Jayyusi) (Washington, DC: Three Continent Press, 1991). Al-M\ghßµ, Mu©ammad. ∂uzn f# ®aw’ al Qamar (Beirut: D\r Majallat Shi‘r, 1959). Al-M\ghßµ, Mu©ammad. Al-Urjß©a ‘The Swing’, Al-N\qid between no. 13, July 1989, and no. 24, June 1990. Al-Mal\’ika, N\zik. Sha$\y\ wa ram\d. 2nd edn (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Tij\r#, 1959). Al-Mun\§ira, ‘Izz al-D#n, Qa§#dat al-Nathr, al-Marji‘iyya wa al-Shi‘\r\t (Ramalla: Bayt al-Shi‘r, 1998). Muµr\n, Khal#l. D#w\n Khal#l Muµr\n (Cairo: Maµba‘at D\r al-Hil\l, 1949). Nu‘ayma, Mikh\’il (ed.). Al-Majmß‘a al-K\m#la li Mu’allaf\t Jibr\n Khal#l Jibr\n (Beirut: D\r ™adir, 1964). Sa‘#d Kh\lida. ∂arakiyy\t al-Ibd\‘, Dir\s\t f# al-Adab al-‘Arab# al-∂ad#th (Beirut: D\r al-‘Awda, 1979). ™\li©, Fakhr# (ed.). Al-Mu’aththir\t al-Ajnabiyya f# al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# al-Ma‘\§ir (Beirut: Al-Mu’assasa al-‘Arabiyya li al-Diras\t wa al-Nashr, 1995). Al-S\lsi, Jacques Amateis. Yßsuf al-Kh\l wa Majallatuhu Shi‘r (Beirut: D\r al-Nah\r li al-Nashr, 2004). Sh\r, ‘Al#. Lughat al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# al-Mu‘\§ir (Irbid: al-Yarmßk University, 1991). Shawq#, A©mad. Asw\q al-Dhahab (Beirut: D\r al-Kit\b al-‘Arab#, 1932). ™uwayli©, Khal#l. Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ, Ighti§\b K\na wa Akhaw\tih\ (Damascus: D\r al-Balad, 2002). ∑ab\na, Badaw# A©mad. Mu‘allaq\t al-‘Arab: Dir\sa Naqdiyya T\r#khiyya f# ‘Uyßn al-Shi‘r al-J\hil# (Cairo: Maµba‘at al-Anjlß al-Mi§riyya, 1976). Al-Zah\w#, Jam#l ™idq#. D#w\n Jam#l ™idq# al-Zah\w# (Beirut: D\r al-‘Awda, 1972). Unattributed

Al-Tafs#r al-Taµb#q# lil Kit\b al-Muqaddas, Holy Bible, Arabic Version (Cairo: Master Media, 1997). Books in English

Adßn#s. An Introduction to Arab Poetics (tr. Catherine Cobham) (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990). ‘Abdul-Hai, Mu©ammad. Tradition and English and American Influence in Arabic Romantic Poetry (London: Ithaca Press, 1982). Badawi, Muhammad Mustafa. A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975). Badawi, Muhammad Mustafa (ed.). Cambridge History of Arabic Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Beach, Christopher. Poetic Culture (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1999).

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Bernard, Suzanne. Qa§#dat al-Nathr, Le Poème en Prose de Baudelaire jusqu’à nos Jours, vol. 1 (tr. R\wiya ™\diq) (Cairo: D\r Sharqiyy\t, 1994). Blanchard, Marc Eli. In Search of the City, Stanford French and Italian Studies 37 (Saratoga: Anma Libri, 1985). Boullata, Issa (tr. and ed.). Modern Arab Poets 1950–1970 (London: Heinemann, 1976). Caws, Mary Ann and Riffaterre, Hermine (eds). The Prose Poem in France: Theory and Practice (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983). Delville, Michel. The American Prose Poem: Poetic Form and the Boundaries of Genre (Gainesville: Florida University Press, 1998). El-Hassan, Nayef Khaled. The Complex Poem in New Arabic Poetry (Piedmont: Jahan Book Co., 1987). Evans, Mary. Baudelaire and Intertextuality: Poetry at the Crossroads (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Fredman, Stephen. Poet’s Prose: The Crisis in American Verse, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Ghar#b, Andrew. Khal#l Gibr\n (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1946). Gibb, H. A. R, and others (eds). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edn (London: Luzac & Co., 1960). ∂\w#, Khal#l. Khal#l Gibr\n (Beirut: The Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, 1972). Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, 6th edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry, vols 1 and 2 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977). Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. ‘Modernist Poetry in Arabic’, in M. M. Badaw# (ed.), Cambridge History of Arabic Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Kass#s, ∂anna. A Concordance of the Qur’an (London: University of California Press, 1983). Kendall, Elisabeth. Literature, Journalism and the Avant-Garde in Egypt: From al-Hil\l to Gallery 68, DPhil thesis (Oxford: Oxford University, 1997). Khouri, Mounah Abdulla. Studies in Contemporary Arabic Poetry and Criticism (Piedmont: Jahan Book Co., 1987). Lowney, John. The American Avant-garde Tradition: William Carlos Williams, Post-modern Poetry and the Politics of Cultural Memory (London: Associated University Presses, 1997). Kirby-Smith, Henry Tompkins. The Origin of the Free Verse (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1960). Metzidakis, Stamos. Repetition and Semiotics: Interpreting Prose Poems (Alabama: Suma Publication Inc., 1986). Miki, Roy. The Pre-Poetics of W. C. Williams (London: Bowker Publishing Company, 1983).

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Monroe, Jonathan. A Poverty of Objects: The Prose Poem and the Politics of Genre (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1987). Moreh, Samuel. Modern Arabic Poetry 1800–1970 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976). Murphy, Margueritte S. A Tradition of Subversion: The Prose Poem in English from Wilde to Ashbery (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992). Perloff, Marjorie. Poetry On and Off the Page (Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1999). Perse, Saint-John. Amers: Seamarks (bilingual edn, tr. Wallace Fowlie) (New York: Bollingon Foundation Inc., 1958). Reinfeld, Linda. Language Poetry: Writing as Rescue (Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1992). Richards, Marvin. Without Rhyme or Reason: Gaspard de la nuit and the Dialectic of the Prose Poem (London: Bucknell University Press, 1998). Riffaterre, Michael. Semiotics of Poetry (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1978). Riffaterre, Michael. Text Production (tr. Terese Lyons) (New York: Colombia University Press, 1983). Rimbaud, Arthur. Prose Poems from Illuminations of Arthur Rimbaud (Norfolk: New Directions, 1943). Rimbaud, Arthur. A Season in Hell: The Illuminations, English and French (tr. Enid Rhodes Peschel) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974). Rimbaud, Arthur and Osmond, Nick (ed.). Illuminations: Coloured Plates (London: Athlone Press, 1976). Robb, Graham. Arthur Rimbaud (London: Picador, 2000). Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1993). Scot-Meisami, Julie (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Arabic Literature (London and New York: Routledge, 1998). Simon, John Ivan. The Prose Poem as a Genre in Nineteenth Century European Literature (New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987). Strong, Berete. The Poetic Avant-Garde: The Groups of Borges, Auden, and Breton (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1997). Taylor, Carole Anne. A Poetics of Seeing: The Implications of Visual Forms in Modern Poetry (New York and London: Garland, 1985). Terdiman, Richard. Discourse/Counter-Discourse: The Theory and Practice of Symbolic Resistance in Nineteenth-Century France (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985). Todorov, Tzvetan. The Poetics of Prose (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1977). Al-‘Udhar#, ‘Abdulla. Modern Poetry of the Arab World (Reading: Penguin Books Ltd, 1986). Venderborg, Susan. Paratextual Community, Avant-Garde Poetry since 1950 (Illinois: Southern Illinois University, 2001). Ward, Geoff. Language Poetry and the American Avant-garde ([England]: British Association of American Studies, 1993).

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235

Wehr, Hans and Cowan, Milton J. (ed.). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (New York: Ithaca, 1976). Wing, Nathaniel. Present Appearances: Aspects of Poetic Structure in Rimbaud’s Illuminations (Mississippi: Romantic Monograph, 1974). Wolfreys, Julian (ed.). Literary Theories: A Reader and Guide (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999). Al-Yßsuf#, Mu©ammad Luµf#. Modernism and the Intrigues of the Antique: A Reflection on Arabic Poetry (tr. and ed. Robin Ostle and Wal#d Khazend\r) (Oxford: St John’s College Research Centre, 2003). Unattributed

Holy Bible (The British Isles: The Gideons International, n.d). Articles in Arabic

Adßn#s. ‘Al-Shi‘r al-‘Arab# wa Mushkil\t al-Tajd#d’, Shi‘r, winter 1962, no. 21. Adßn#s. ‘Mu©\wala f# Ta‘r#f al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, Shi‘r, summer 1959, no. 11. Adßn#s. ‘F# Qa§#dat al-Nathr’, Shi‘r, no. 14, 1960. Adßn#s. Tishr#n al-Usbß‘#, Tishr#n Weekly Supplement, Mu’assasat Tishr#n, 14 Oct. 2002, no. 233. Adßn#s. ‘∂iw\r ma‘a Adßn#s’, Al-£d\b, Sept–Oct. 2000. Bazz# Yßsuf and J\bir Ya©y\. ‘Monologue’, an interview with Mu©ammad al-M\ghßµ. Al-N\qid, summer 1991, no. 36. ∂aydar, ‘Adn\n. ‘M\ al-∂ad#th f# al-Shi‘r al-∂ad#th’, Al-N\qid, Sept. 1990. Maqdis#, Anµßn. ‘Ma©mßd Darw#sh and Shi‘r’, Al-∂ay\t, 1 Nov. 2003. Sa‘#d Kh\lida. ‘∂uzn F# ®aw’ al-Qamar’, Shi‘r, summer 1959, no. 11. Safar, ‘Al#. ‘Malaff al-Shi‘r al-Sßri al-Tis‘#n#’, ‘The Anthology of the Syrian Poetry of the Nineties’, in Al-Shu‘ar\’, Palestinian Poetic Society, autumn 2004, no. 26. al-™\li©#, ‘Abd al-Il\h. ‘Rab#‘ al-Shu‘ar\’ al-Farans#’. Al-Quds al-‘Arab#, 8 Mar. 2005. ™uwayli©, Khal#l. ‘Riw\ya F\’iza’, Al-∂ay\t, book reviews, 10 Apr. 2005. Articles in English

Harrington, Joseph. ‘Why American Poetry is Not American Literature’, Journal of American Literary History, autumn 1996, vol. 88, no. 3. Kane, Daniel. ‘Angel Hair Magazine, the Second-Generation New York School and the Poetics of Sociability’, Contemporary Literature, summer 2004, vol. 45, no. 2. Theado, Matt. ‘Beat Generation Literary Criticism’, Contemporary Literature, vol. 45, no. 4. Van Gelder, Geert Jan. ‘Rhyme in Maq\m\t’, The Journal of Semitic Studies, spring 1999, vol. 44.

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Unattributed

‘The Editorial: Al-Shi‘r’ al-®iy\’, 15 Sept. 1899, 15 Oct. 1899, 31 Dec. 1990, and 31 Mar. 1900. Articles in Electronic Media

Lu‘Ayb# Sh\kir. ‘Bay\n min ajl Qa§#dat al-Nathr’ ‘Ir\qiyyßn on www.iraqun.com, al-Maq\l, ‘Essays’, 20 Mar. 2005. Zouitni, Norddine. ‘A©mad Barak\t’, http://morocco.poetryinternationalweb. org/cwolk/view/24606. Al-∂\jj, ∂ikmat. ‘Qa§#dat al-Nathr: F# Sab#l Ta’rikha Adabiyya li-Qa§#dat al-Nathr al-‘Ir\qiyya’, www.iraqun.com, articles, 20 Mar. 2005. Johnson, Peter. ‘An Interview with Robert Bly’, The Prose Poem: An International Journal, vol. 7, 1998; http://wedbelsol.com/. Arabic Periodicals

Al-£d\b. A monthly literary magazine (Beirut, 1953–). Al-Bay\n. A monthly magazine (Cairo, 1897–). Al-®iy\’. A bi-weekly magazine (Cairo, 1898–). Al-Hil\l. A monthly magazine (Cairo, 1892–). Al-N\qid. A magazine (London, 1988–95). Shi‘r. Quarterly magazine (Beirut, 1957–64, 1967–69). Tishr#n al-Usbß‘#, Tishr#n Weekly Supplement (Damascus, 1974). Websites

Egyptian Poetry: www.egyptianpoetry.jeeran.com. Ir\qiyyßn: www.iraqun.com. Jih\t: www.jehat.com. Kashkßl: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kashkolgroup. Morocco Poetry International: http://morocco.poetryinternationalweb.org/. Nis\b\: www.nisaba.net, http://www.mediterraneancentre.net/. The Prose Poem: An International Journal: http://wedbelsol.com/tpp. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/.

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I NDEX

A Abbasid prose 7–8 ‘Abd al-™abßr, ™al\© 24, 27 Abrams, M.H. 48 Abu Deeb, Kam\l 41, 44, 50 Abß Nuw\s 22, 110, 121 Abß Sh\d# 24, 26 Abß Shaqr\ 76, 78 Abß Tamm\m 22, 110 academic connections of Shi‘r 90 Al-£d\b (journal) 73, 87, 93, 97 Adßn#s xvi–xvii, 2, 4–6, 9, 15, 18–22, 30–2, 41–4, 50, 75–8, 85–7, 91–3, 101–2, 109–34, 168, 170, 179, 225 aestheticism 17 Alexis, St 54 Algeria 99–100 ambivalence 44 Antin, David 17 antitheses 44 Apollo magazine 26 Aristotle 3–4 Artaud, Antonin 157, 159, 165 Ashbery, John 17, 43, 62, 67 Auden, W.H. 90 avant-garde movements 60–4, 67–8, 77, 83–4, 87–96, 99, 121, 225–9 ‘Awa@, Luw#s 26 al-‘A$ma, Nadh#r 75, 78 B Badawi, Muhammad Mustafa 77, 80 B\kath#r, ‘Al# A©mad 26 B\kath#r, ‘Al# Mu©ammad 24 Bakhtin, Mikhail 65–6 Balzac, Honoré de 172 Bannis, Mu©ammad 133 Barak\t, ∂al#m 77 Barthes, Roland 56–7 B\rßµ, Mu©ammad Jam\l 77, 93 Baudelaire, Charles 2, 10–14, 17, 22, 44, 47, 51–2, 55–7, 110, 121, 136, 160, 172, 180, 191, 202, 207–8, 211–14 al-Bayy\t#, ‘Abd al-Wahh\b 27, 96 Bazzßn, A©mad 75–7, 80 Beach, Christopher 61–2, 83–90, 93–4, 228

Beaujour, Michel 42, 45, 48, 55–6 Beirut 181, 189–92, 196–8, 207, 214 Bernard, Suzanne 1–11, 20–1, 39–45, 184, 186 Bernstein, Charles 85 Bertrand, Aloysius 9, 47, 57, 172, 202, 205, 207 Bible, the 4–7, 13–14, 144, 194 see also Old Testament; Psalms, the; Song of Songs al-Bisµ\m# 6 Blanchard, Marc Eli 54, 191, 207–8 blank verse 23 Bly, Robert 17 Bonnefoy, Yves 12 Boullata, Issa 147 Breton, André 12, 121, 166 brevity in prose poetry 42–3 al-Bust\n#, Sulaym\n 20, 23 Butor, Michel 55–6 C Carlyle, Thomas 7 Caws, Mary Ann 40, 43 Cervantes, Miguel de 172 Chaplin, Morris 1 Chateaubriand, René 47, 172 Christianity 176–7 classical theories of literacy 3–4 Claudel, Paul 12 closure in prose poems 41, 178, 215 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 13 ‘committed’ poetry 91 Creeley, Robert 17 crosscultural models 64–9 cultural studies 58–63, 75, 226 D Dadaism 156, 163 D\ghir, Sharbal 4 ®\hir, ‘£dil 77 Damascus 181, 187–203, 207–14 D\r Majallat Shi‘r 58, 173 Darw#sh, Ma©mßd 96, 189, 199–200 Davidson, Michael 17 Dawson, Ernest 12–15, 41, 122, 180 Le Décadente and Decadence 11–12, 15, 17

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Delville, Michel 15–16, 41, 63, 67–9, 135–9, 143–6, 151–4, 162–3, 180 ‘dialogicity’ (Bakhtin) 65 Dickinson, Emily 7 Diderot, Denis 6, 172 ‘displaced referentiality’ (Terdiman) 64 Donne, John 5–6 dual nature of prose poetry 43–4, 51, 125 E Edson, Russell 17 Eliot, T.S. 15–16, 27, 100, 109 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 7 Emmanuel, Pierre 100 Evans, Mary 57–8, 171–2, 180, 207–9, 213–14 experimentation with poetic forms 92–4 F Fa@l, ™al\© 43–4 Fayy\d, Niqßl\ 26 flexible form and structure in prose poetry 41 France 6–9, 12 Fredman, Stephen 7, 15, 47, 56, 60, 146, 148, 228 free verse 23, 31, 92–3, 103, 200 G Gallery One 87 ‘gender shift’ (Murphy) 150 Genette, Gérard 56–7, 66 al-Ghar#b, Kam\l 76–7 Gide, André 14 H ∂add\d, Naj#b 20 al-∂\jj, Uns# xvi–xvii, 2, 5, 9, 18–19, 30, 43, 58, 75–8, 97, 101, 134–41, 225 al-∂all\j 6 ∂assßn, Rizqallah 23 ∂\wi, Kh\lil 75, 78, 82, 118 ∂aydar, Mu©ammad 169 al-∂aydari, Buland 27 Helen of Troy 193 Homer 51, 121 Horace 172 Howe, Irving 162 Hugo, Victor 11 ∂ßsayn, ∑\h\ 102 I Ibn ‘Arab# 6 Ibn al-Ath#r 131 Ibn Ja‘far 4 Ibn Khaldßn 4, 21

Ibn Kulthßm 147 Ibn al-Rayb 154 Ibn Rushd 4 Ibn Shahray\r 131 Ibn S#n\ 4 Imagists 15 improvisation 156 incongruity 44 institutional systems 84–9, 226 intertextuality 47, 51–5, 111–13 J Jabr\, Jabr\ Ibrah#m 30–1, 79, 82, 118 Jacob, Max 12 al-J\©i$ xiv, 4 Jameson, Frederic 65 Jaw\d, Kaz#m 27 Jayyusi, Salma 5, 8, 19–20, 25, 27–30, 42, 46, 77–80, 96–7, 118, 168, 170 Jibr\n, Jibr\n Khal#l 8, 28–9, 124, 133 Johnson, Barbara 47 Jouffroy, Alain 100 journalism 9, 11 journals, literary 94, 225–6 Jouve, Pierre Jean 100 al-Jurj\n#, ‘Abd al-Q\hir xiv, 4, 22, 110 K Kandinsky, Wassily 156 Keats, John 51 Kendall, Elisabeth 94 al-Kh\l, Yßsuf xiii, 24, 75–8, 82–7, 90–1, 95–8, 102–3, 118, 225 al-Kh\lid#, Rßh# 20 Khaµ#b, Yßsuf 199–200 Khouri, Mounah Abdulla 5, 46 Kirby-Smith, Henry Tompkins 5–6, 14, 16, 43, 45 Krea, Henri 100 al-Kubays#, ∑arr\d 5 L L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (journal) 61, 94 La Fontaine, Jean de 172 al-L\dhiq\n# 6 Language poets and Language poetry 17, 60–2, 84, 91–4, 227–8 Lawler, James 46 literary theory 74–5, 136, 150, 179–80 Lowel, Amy 15–16 Lowney, John 61, 86, 96 Lucan 172 M Macleish, Archibald Macpherson, James

94 6–7

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INDEX al-M\ghßµ, Mu©ammad xvi–xvii, 19, 30–1, 42–3, 58, 75, 78–81, 92–3, 101, 168–216, 225 Ma©fß$, ‘I§\m 76, 100–1 al-Mal\’ika, N\zik 26, 97, 101 Mal©as, Thurayy\ 30 Mallarmé, Stephane 10–12, 22, 45, 100, 127 Marx, Karl (and Marxism) 64, 66 Mary the Virgin 194–5 matrix sentences 49–50 Merill, Stuart 13 Merwin, W.S. 162–3 metatextuality 141, 165, 175 Metzidakis, Stamos 47, 50–5, 113, 166, 169 Miki, Roy 16 Milton, John 7, 24 mimesis 48 ‘modern’ poetry 91 modernity, cultural xiii, 73–4, 92–3, 97, 102–3, 109–10, 225–6 Monroe, Jonathan 7, 10, 45, 63–9, 146, 148, 202, 211–12 Moreh, Samuel 7–8, 26, 28–9, 46, 77, 79, 82, 109 al-mu©dathßn xiv–xv, 109 al-Mun\§ira, ‘Izz al-D#n 6, 82 al-Muq\li©, ‘Abd al-Az#z 6 Murphy, Marguerite 6, 13–17, 41, 45, 63, 66–9, 109, 122, 131, 136–40, 142, 145, 150, 156, 163, 180, 205 al-Mutanabb# 149–50 Muµr\n, Khal#l 20–6, 29 Muyassar, Orkh\n 29–30 myth in poetry 118 N Al-Nah\r (journal) 76 narrative studies 55–8 al-N\§ir, ‘Ali 29 Nerval, Gérard de 172 ‘new poetry’ 91 al-Niffar# 6 Novalis 7 nuclear words 49–50 O Objectivism 17 Old Testament 129 ontology 45 P paired rhyme 23 Palestine 91, 98, 199–200 paratext 57–8

323

partnerships, intellectual 99–100 Pater, Walter 7, 14 Pen Club 25 Perse, Saint-John 12, 15, 109–10, 113, 124 Poe, Edgar Allan 7 poetic prose 3, 6–8, 18, 43 poetry definition of 32 as distinct from prose xiv, 4, 125 in prose 27–31 polemics 93 Ponge, Francis 12, 49 postmodernism 17 Pound, Ezra 15, 109 Pound, ‘Umar 90 pregnancy 147–8 Prévert, Jacques 100, 165 Projectivism 17 prose poem genre xiii–xviii, 78, 92–3, 100, 168 American 17–18 comprehensive strategies towards 48–69 contemporary situation of 227–30 credibility and acceptance of 109, 226 definition of 1–2, 27 in English 13, 228 features of 40–8, 54–5, 125 foundation and formation of 9–32 historical development of 229–30 origins and roots of 2–9, 102 singular approaches to 40–8 Psalms, the 4–5 Q Qabb\ni, Niz\r 87, 147 al-Qamar’, ‘∂uzn f# ®aw 31 al-Qarµ\janni 4 al-Qayyim, Henri 95, 100 al-Qays, Imru’ 127, 147 Quintilian 3 Qur’an, the xiv, 5–6, 157, 194 R Rabelais, François 172 al-Rai©an#, Am#n 28–9 al-Rayyis’, Riy\@ 76, 225 Razzßq, As‘ad 77 Razzßq, Razzßq Faraj 27 readings of poetry 227–8 Regnier, Mathurin 172 Reinfeld, Linda 61, 85, 94 repetition as a poetic device 45–7, 50–5, 112–13, 166 Reverdy, Pierre 12 Ricardou, Jean 57 Richards, Marvin 57–8, 171, 180, 200

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Riffaterre, Hermine 40–1, 46–7 Riffaterre, Michael 47–51 Rifqa, Fu’\d 76, 78 Rimbaud, Arthur 11–13, 17, 22, 41, 51–4, 100, 122, 165, 169, 180, 184, 186, 193, 206–13 Ronsard, Pierre de 51 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 6, 172 S Said, Edward xv, 67 Sa‘#d, Kh\lida 43–7, 77–8, 101–2, 118, 133–4, 155–6, 163–5, 168, 171, 183, 185 Sainte Beuve, Charles Augustin 10, 172 Sal\ma, ∂ab#b 29 Salamiyya 181–2, 186, 190 ™\yigh, Tawf#q 30–1, 79, 82 al-Sayy\b, Badr Sh\kir 26, 79, 118 semiotics 49–55, 63 sentences used as structural units 42 Shar#‘a xv Shi‘r group xv, 18–19, 39, 75–84, 88–96, 103, 229 disintegration of 74, 225 Shi‘r journal 73–84, 87, 91–103 closures of xv–xvi, 74–8, 103, 225 editorials in 95–103 founding of xiii, 31, 75, 94 legacy of 225 mission of 103 opposition to 73–4, 95–7, 101–2 permanent fixtures in 102 Volumes 17 and 18 of 100 Shi‘r movement xiii–xiv, 61, 74, 77, 80–4, 91, 94–6, 101 termination of 225 short lines in poems 167 Shukrallah, Ibr\h#m 100 Silliman, Ron 17 Simon, John 3–4, 7–8, 13, 42, 136 Sinfield, Alan 59 socio-cultural studies 58–61, 83, 86, 89 Socrates 3 Song of Songs 5, 137, 143, 160–1, 167–8 Spender, Stephen 103 Stein, Gertrude 16, 67 Sterne, Laurence 172 Strong, Berete 62, 83, 87–90 structural features of prose poems 41–2 Sufi literature 6, 22, 110, 112, 132 al-Suhraward# 6 Surrealism 12, 30, 90, 132, 156–7, 163–6 Swift, Jonathan 7 Swinburne, Algernon 26

Symbolism 11–16, 30 Syrian National Party 90 T al-∑abar# 131 ‘talk poems’ 228 Tammßzi group 85, 118, 125 al-Taw©#d# 6 Taylor, Jeremy 5–6 Terdiman, Richard 11, 45, 63–5, 69 textual studies 49–55 Theocritus 172 This magazine 94 Thoreau, Henry David 7 Tidafi, Nordine 100 Todorov, Tzvetan 44 Torah, the 5 Traherne, Thomas 5–6 translation of poems 8–9, 99 typographical appearance of prose poems 41–2 Tzara, Tristan 100 U Usigli, Rodolfo

100

V Valéry, Paul 46 Venderborg, Susan 62, 89, 94, 97 Vermeer, Jan 198 Vigée, Claude 100 Virgil 172 visionary poetry 132–3, 165–6 W Ward, Geoff 61, 90–4, 97 Whitman, Walt 7 Wilde, Oscar 12–15 Williams, William Carlos 16, 61, 67, 156, 163, 205 Wing, Nathaniel 54, 184, 186, 207, 212 Y al-Y\zij#, Ibr\h#m 20–1 Yeats, W.B. 14 Yßsuf, Sa‘d# 96 al-Yßsuf# 4, 7–8 Z al-Zah\w#, Jam#l ™idq# Zayd\n, Jurj# 28 Ziy\da, Mayy 29