Syrian Poets and Vernacular Modernity
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A01=Daniel Behar
Arabic poetry
Author_Daniel Behar
Category=DCC
Category=DSBH5
Category=DSC
Category=DSM
Category=FYT
Category=NHG
Category=NHTB
civil society
comparative literature
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
everyday poetics
Modern Arabic poetry
poetry translation
Syrian literature
vernacular
Product details
- ISBN 9781474499774
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 31 May 2025
- Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book distinguishes a Syrian style of qas??dat nathr (prose poem) as a piece of collaborative performance called shafawiyya, vernacularised poetic speech. The book describes the poetic lineages, stretching from early Syrian independence to the 21st century, whose task it was to bring poetic expression closer to everyday life.
These poets are shown cultivating genres and translational practices rooted in a plebeian civilian identity that counters both heroised images of the prophet-poet and stern authoritarian rule. A comparative analysis is provided to understand shafawiyya poetics as a transnational mode of creative engagement. This analysis includes aesthetic affinities and instances of transmission between Arabic poetry and poetries written in formerly Soviet countries (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria). From this vantage point, matters of perennial debate in comparative literature - vernacular, translatability, postcolonial poetry - are shown from a new perspective.
The book closely examines a wealth of unknown primary poetic texts from Syria that make up the new poetics and challenge received ideas about modern Arabic poetry. It describes the institutional culture of poetry translations in Syria and analyses the modes of circulation by which translations pollinated original works. Behar rereads the works of famous Arabo-Syrian poets such as Niz?r Qabb?n? and Muh?ammad al-M?gh?t? along transnational lines, offering a substantial rethinking of the key terms in comparative literary studies as seen through the lens of everyday poetics.
Daniel Behar is Assistant Professor of Modern Arabic Literature in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is interested in comparative analysis of modern Arabic poetry, theories of translation, and socialist literary imaginaries in Syria.
