Mahmoud Darwish : Literature and the Politics of Palestinian Identity PDF
Preview Mahmoud Darwish : Literature and the Politics of Palestinian Identity
Muna Abu Eid is a Palestinian academic researcher specializing in Arabic literature, history, and political science. She has published numerous articles in newspapers, popular magazines and scholarly journals and her areas of interest include intellectuals, Palestine and thePalestinianquestion,nationalism,cultureandresistance,national poets and issues of nation-building. She holds a PhD from Bar-Ilan University. ‘This is a riveting and highly original study into the life and days of Mahmoud Darwish, the foremost Palestinian poet, who died in 2008 after four decades of intellectual leadership among Palestinians in Palestineandtheirdiasporas.MunaAbuEid’sworkdigestshundredsof documents in Arabic and other languages which have often been neglectedbyearlierscholarsandcritics.Theargumentiswellconceived and the style is simple but highly sophisticated, reflecting a great familiaritywithsociologicalandhistoricaltheory.Thebookendeavours toanswerseveralquestionssofarrarelydelvedinto.ManyofAbuEid’s formulationsallowustoreachclearerandsharperrepliesaboutthepoet and his world.’ Sasson Somekh, Emeritus Professor of Arabic Literature, Tel Aviv University ‘MunaAbuEidhaswrittenanexcellent,comprehensivebiographyofthe mostimportantandmostinfluentialPalestinianpoet,whodiedin2008, ahead of his time. The author bases her study on key primary sources, including interviews with Darwish’s fellows. Her book is an original multi-disciplinary contribution to several fields: Arab and Palestinian literature, Palestinian literature and politics, intellectuals and their national struggle, intellectual political criticism and activism.’ Menachem Klein, Professor in the Department of Political Studies, Bar-Ilan University MAHMOUD DARWISH Literature and the Politics of Palestinian Identity M A E UNA BU ID Publishedin2016by I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd London•NewYork www.ibtauris.com Copyrightq2016MunaAbuEid Firstpublishedin2013asMahmoudDarwish:PoetofthePalestinianIliadinHebrew bytheMosheDayanCenter. TherightofMunaAbuEidtobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedbythe authorinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypartthereof,may notbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyform orbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutthe priorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher. Referencestowebsiteswerecorrectatthetimeofwriting. WrittenCultureandIdentity4 ISBN:9781784530716 eISBN:9781786720139 ePDF:9781786730138 AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available TypesetinGaramondThreebyOKSPrepressServices,Chennai,India PrintedandboundbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY To the memory of the Nakba survivors, my parents Yusuf and Najiya Abu Eid, and my uncles Lutfi, Ahmad, and Adnan al-Nabulsi CONTENTS Introduction 1 1. On the Role of the Intellectual 7 2. Displacement and Exile 15 3. Literature and Nation-Building 49 4. Speaking Truth to Power 93 5. Attitudes and Principles 117 6. On Peace and War 139 Conclusion 157 Table 1: Original Arabic Citations 159 Table 2: Transliteration from Arabic to English 171 Table 3: Transliteration from Hebrew to English 173 Notes 175 Bibliography 221 Index 237 INTRODUCTION Over the last two decades many studies have been published about Mahmoud Darwish. Most of these are literary studies, examining the style,themes,andmotifsofhispoetry.1Sincetheendofthe1980s,many of Darwish’s poems and books have been translated from Arabic and publishedinmanylanguages,includingHebrew.Nevertheless,wehave yettoseethepublicationofacomprehensivestudyaboutDarwishasan intellectual in Palestinian politics and society. Many studies have been written about the Palestinian national movement – inArabic,inHebrew,andinotherlanguages.Themajority oftheseengagedinthedebateaboutthebirthandoriginsofthePalestinian national movement.2Somedealtwiththereawakeningofthe Palestinian nationalmovementunderthePalestinianLiberationOrganization(PLO), andlaterunderthefundamentalistIslamicorganizations.3 Despite the factthatDarwishspent more than30 yearsinthe PLO, wascloselyassociatedwithYasirArafat,andevendraftedthePalestinian DeclarationofIndependencein1988,noneofthewritersofthesestudies have thoroughly examined Darwish’s activities and role in the Palestinian national movement. Time and again, Darwish aroused public controversy in Israel and outside.Onesuchcontroversyarosein2000,duringtheperiodofEhud Barak’s government (1999–2001), when then-Minister of Education and Culture Yosi Sarid proposed introducing Darwish’s poetry into the curricula of the Hebrew schools. Sarid noted at a press conference that Darwish’s poetry should be included in the school curricula not only becauseheisPalestinian,butbecauseoftheliteraryqualityofhiswork.
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