Literary Criticism
Razieh Nazari
Abstract
The time of narrative discourse is multidimensional and abnormal, creating scattered images to highlight the fictional concept. An idea refers to a dominant belief that results from repeating an image. The novel "Sleeping in the Cherry Field" by Iraqi writer Azhar Jerjis, nominated for the Arabic Booker ...
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The time of narrative discourse is multidimensional and abnormal, creating scattered images to highlight the fictional concept. An idea refers to a dominant belief that results from repeating an image. The novel "Sleeping in the Cherry Field" by Iraqi writer Azhar Jerjis, nominated for the Arabic Booker Prize in 2020, is an example of exile literary works. Its motif is the concept of the lack of individual identity in the shadow of homeland security, rooted in the idea of "desire for immortality". This current research is a qualitative and descriptive-analytical study based on library sources. It aims to discover the basis of the formation of the idea in "Sleeping in the Cherry Field", explain the relationship between time and personality traits, and determine the emotions emanating from the idea of immortality based on Gerard Genette's theory of narrative discourse in three themes: order, duration, and frequency. The application of this theory is necessary to prove the idea of narration as it highlights characteristics of the hero's character and emotions. The findings reveal that narrative structure as a labyrinth and fluid flow of mind create anachronisms in narrative discourse order. Its duration is based on dialogue, summarization, omission, and descriptive pause, while types of frequency including single, repeated, and repeating stories are used to highlight "desire for immortality". One result is a contrast between present and past as a basis for immortality. The protagonist's isolation in time creates emotions such as fear, hope, confusion, and disappointment.
Mahboobeh Habibi; Ahmadreza Heidaryan Shahri
Abstract
The issue of dystopia and related concepts, such as collapse and destruction in the Islamic worldview and philosophy, has a special prominence. After the Second World War and the collapse of the Palace of aspirations, poets paid more attention to the themes of the dystopia in their poems. The history ...
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The issue of dystopia and related concepts, such as collapse and destruction in the Islamic worldview and philosophy, has a special prominence. After the Second World War and the collapse of the Palace of aspirations, poets paid more attention to the themes of the dystopia in their poems. The history and the political and social situation of Iran and Iraq in the contemporary period has led to a surprising closeness in the themes of the poetic compositions of the two countries. Both countries have experience colonialism, tyranny, war, injustice, and oppression. In this way, the poets of both cultures, especially, Badr Shaker al-Sayyab and Mehdi Akhavan Sales, have become the reflection of the sufferings, pains, and aspirations of the people who have lived in the dystopia made by their poets. Since dystopia makes a large volume of poems of the poets in question, its study is important. Moreover, dystopia in their poetry has not been studied from a comparative point of view. Therefore, this study explores the poems and thoughts of these two poets and the idea of dystopia in their poems using the American school of comparative literature and applying the descriptive-analytical method. The results show due to the influence of the unsettled conditions in which Sayyab and Akhvan lived, they have included the themes of ruins in their poetry. Also, the use of elements of time and place and the technique of time interference in place have added to the beauty of their poems. On the other hand, Sayyab and Akhvan have tried to express the deterioration of the situation of their moment by using the images of dystopia and relying on the elements of time and place.
Bahar seddighi
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The fundamental indices of stream of consciousness in Arabic literature stretch back to a long time ago and appear to have been originated from a number of classic texts including “Hayy ibn Yaqdhan” by Avicenna, “Hayy ibn Yaqdhan” by Ibn Tufail, “Resalat ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
The fundamental indices of stream of consciousness in Arabic literature stretch back to a long time ago and appear to have been originated from a number of classic texts including “Hayy ibn Yaqdhan” by Avicenna, “Hayy ibn Yaqdhan” by Ibn Tufail, “Resalat Al-Ghufran” by Al-Maʿarri, and “Tawaba’a o Zavaba’a” by Ibn Shuhaid Andelosi. They have continued to date in novels written by Taha Hussain, Taqfiq Hakim, and Najib Mahfouz as well as stories by Gibran Khalil Gibran, poems by the poets of the Tammuz School, and fictional poems by Adonis, particularly in his “Qasayad Kolliyah”.
The main purpose of the study was to examine inquiries and research on reading poetic manifestations of stream of consciousness in Arabic literature along with the lack of research-based papers on the subject. In fact, research on stream of consciousness in the Arabic literature did not seek to detect and retrieve the signs of the stream within the contexts of philosophy and psychology in most instances; these inquiries solely sufficed with contrasting a certain number of formal indices of the stream with texts of contemporary stories. Accordingly, it was considered necessary to conduct this study due to the absence of an academic or general inquiry on retrieving the signs of stream of consciousness in Arabic contemporary poetry, particularly Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah”.
Theoretical Framework
Initially, the present study attempts to explore origins and foundations of stream of consciousness in the West; to this end, first the history of the orientation towards mental reflection in the West’s fictional literature is represented. Then, the origins of the stream of consciousness method in the 20th century are provided in two dimensions including psychological and philosophical aspects, respectively. Next, the fundamental indices of stream of consciousness are presented in brief. As a conclusion, it is attempted to retrieve the theoretic emergence and the main constructs of stream of consciousness within the modern theory of contemporary Arabic poetry, i.e., Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah”.
Method
The present study attempts to recognize and uncover the clear signs of stream of consciousness in the most advanced and complex type of contemporary Arabic poetry, that is Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah” based on description and analysis according to psychological criticism. Through retrieving the prominent constructs of stream of consciousness in Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah”, this study seeks to provide answers to the following questions:
Given the emergence of stream of consciousness indices in contemporary Arabic fiction, from which type of Arabic modern poetry can the clear manifestation of the stream be retrieved?
What are the most prominent indices of stream of consciousness manifested in modern types of poetry?
The most prominent hypotheses posed as responses to the previous questions include: 1. within the world of poetry, the theoretical foundations of “stream of consciousness” can be retrieved in the area of poetry with respect to “the new theorization of Arabic poetry”, i.e. “Qasidah Kolliyah” which is in line with contemporary Arabic fiction as well. 2. the most prominent constructs and indices of stream of consciousness are clearly manifested in Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah” including expression, text, plot, music, language as ambiguity and rhetorical devices, time and narrative.
Results and Discussion
According to the present study, “stream of consciousness” can be explained as a mental strip containing what is said and unsaid by the mind that are set free from the lawful, linear path of the real life; it passes through every barrier against the reckless storm of the unconscious mind. It also passes through the Aristotelian concept of time and his triple unities within the infinite river of time, sweeping over all types of calendars; similar to a flood that washes away everything in its path, consciousness is a narrative formed by moments, hours, days, months and seasons in the form of poetry and prose at a short, yet watchful moment using an ambiguous expression while employing a writing style linked to the unconscious. Accordingly, restricting such a mental stream when writing a “story” is a considerable disgrace towards figures such as Adonis who had stepped into this river where fresh waters pass through at every second.
Conclusion
Given the results, Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah” is the first and purest example of the use of stream of consciousness in Arabic poetry, whether classic or contemporary; this was observed particularly in the third poetic section as a coherent whole and a conflicted diary in terms of new linguistic structures, integration of various types of soliloquy, collocations and interference between time and place, mentioning the future and particularly the constant presence of the mental stream to observe and uncover within the dream world and the unconscious. This has also been proved by the style of writing as well as how punctuation marks are use across this work of poetry. Moreover, the footprints of James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf’s beliefs regarding time and memories can clearly be observed in Adonis’ “Qasidah Kolliyah”.
reza mohammadi
Abstract
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Eliot and Adonis believe that tradition and the individual talent are indicative of two fundamental concepts; i.e., mind and language. Mind as the subject perceives phenomena and represents them in the form of language. From their viewpoint, mind and language are so ...
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Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Eliot and Adonis believe that tradition and the individual talent are indicative of two fundamental concepts; i.e., mind and language. Mind as the subject perceives phenomena and represents them in the form of language. From their viewpoint, mind and language are so interwoven that language equals existence .From Heidegger's point of view, these two concepts are closely related to the concept of "time"in philosophy. This relationship was investigated under the name of "tradition" in the present study. On the other hand, there is the concept of "the individual talent" which can be investigated as "psychoanalytic criticism" from Freud's point of view. The present study was aimed at investigating the concepts of mind, language, and time from the viewpoint of Eliot and Adonis. Taking into account a poetic view of existence, it finally presents a general overview of the ideas of these two Arab and English poets.
2.The relationship between mind, language, and time from Adonis's viewpoint
Taking into account Adonis's theories of existence and phenomena, we find out that he was also influenced by noumenon and phenomenon. Adonis considers literature as a literary man's perception of nature. His viewpoints regarding the perception of literature are completely obvious in his books Zaman al-Shir, Siyasat al-Shi'r, and Arab Poetics .Literature is a ubiquitous feeling of our being that creates phenomena anew, exposing them to eternal questioning. This feeling emanates from the metaphysic or the mind that has heuristic view of things; one can say, therefore, that the new literature is the metaphysicality of human.
(Zaman al-Shiʻr, p.10). This definition includes some key concepts that need to be explained. The first concept is that of emotion, which is a part of brain function. The second one is that of existence. Since Adonis has used "our being "in his definition, it is evident that his view is subjective/objective. It means that human being defines the world and existence in connection with self in this perception and does not define self in connection with God. The third concept is that of noumenon which is deduced from "appearance" and means the constitution of objects in themselves . The fourth one is that of phenomenon meaning manifestation of objects which is included in the key word " heuristic " and the last concept is that of "metaphysics" which is the same as the concept of "mind" in Western philosophy which influenced Adonis as well. Therefore, Adonis considers literature as manifestation of nature constituted in human mind .Like the Western philosophers and literary men, Adonis as a literary man and an ontological critic pays attention to "existence" and how to define its relationship to human being which is the same as what we see in noumenal/phenomenal or objective/subjective viewpoints.
3. Writing and speech from Adonis's point of view (Interpretation based on Eliot's theory of new criticism)
From among the approaches of the science of interpretation, what is of significance in this study is hermeneutics with regard to new criticism. Paying too much attention to a text is the obvious characteristic of this viewpoint. From Eliot and Adonis's viewpoint, the theory of new criticism is a kind of secondary revision of a literary text which fills the gaps and diminishes the contradictions in order to attain coherence, deep structure or original meaning. The aim is to make the text more comprehensible to the readers so that it paves the way for the reader who doesn’t want to deal with unjustifiable irregularities (Eagleton,1996, p248). Therefore, like Husser land other phenomenologists, the followers of this school such as Adonis and Eliot are in quest of the original meaning in literary texts. Therefore, literary works are representative of human values and new criticism of a text is an objective, practical, and impartial one.
4. Language and Time in Adonis's Poetry
Adonis believes that not only human but also the universe is limited to the concept of language. This concept is in close connection with the concept of time. From Gadamer's point of view, the content of a literary work is by no means limited to the author's intentions. When there is a change in the historical and cultural context of a literary work, new meanings might be found in it which have by no means been already predicted either by the author or the contemporary audience. In his opinion, any interpretation of a literary work which belongs to the past includes a dialogue between the past and the present. This attitude toward literature is completely evident in Eliot and Adonis's works: As a result, Adonis like Heidegger believes in the existence of human nature and like Gadamer he believes that everyone's capacity of knowledge can be displaced.
5. Overall Conclusion
From the Western intellectuals' point of view, metaphysics is in the mind and language and it is considered to be an absolutely mental and lingual issue in ontology of literature and is categorized under the heading of "the science of linguistics and semiology". Adonis who was excessively influenced by the western philosophers and linguists such as Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer considers literature as a merely mental and lingual issue which is mainly concerned with the concepts of existence and time. As a result, Adonis like western intellectuals believes that language is considered as the foundation of metaphysics and any occult phenomenon like spirit and the concept of presence is considered to belong to the areas of the mind and language. This group of poets attempt to reproduce nature and the universe in their poetic and mental world. In Adonis's opinion, subject and not object is of originality. Language is considered as the universe in this approach which has taken a very high position in Adonis's literature. In his book entitled Sufism and Surrealism, Adonis attempts to make a connection between Islamic sufism and surrealism. However, this book is also indicative of the fact that he couldn't free himself of subjectivism and mentalism and his viewpoint is the same as that of Noumenon and Phenomenon from the point of view of Kant and Husserl.
Key words: Tradition, Individual Talent, Mind, Language, Time, Eliot, Adonis.
References (in Persian)
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Bressler, Ch. (2007). Literary Criticism (An Introduction to Theory and Practice) (1sted.) (M. Abedinifard, Trans.) Iran: Niloofar Press.
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References (in Arabic)
Adonis, (1985).Al-Sheriah Al-Arabiah. Beirut: Dar Al-Aadaab.
Adonis, (1981).Siasat Al-Shear. Beirut: Dar Al-Aadaab.
Adonis, (1983).Zaman Al-Shear. Beirut: Dar Al-Owdah.
Adonis , (1990).Kalam Al-Bedayat. Beirut: Dar Al -Aadaab.
Adonis, (1980). Fatehat L- Nehayat Al-Garn. Beirut: Dar Al-Owdah.
Adonis , (1992). Al-SoofiahVa Al-Sorealiah. Beirut: Dar Al-Sagi.
