The academic, critic, and translator Hoda Fakhr El-Din is one of the rich Lebanese experiences in the Lebanese and international cultural milieu, for what she collected from research and exploration on literature and poetic criticism from the Abbasid era until the modern era.
Professor of Arabic literature and criticism at the University of Pennsylvania, stresses the importance of reading and not to underestimate it because it is the main criterion for the presence of real poets and critics.
Hoda Fakhr El-Din dealt with the issue of the prose poem, and her study consisted of readings in an anthology of poetry that illuminates several aspects about this poem.
Fakhr El-Din received her PhD in Arabic and Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington and her MA from the American University of Beirut. She has several publications, including a critical book entitled “Metasha’arism in the Arab Heritage: From Modernists to Modernists.” It was recently translated into Arabic by Aya Ali, and deals with Fakhr Religion includes the experience of renewal and questions of poetry and its language, from the Abbasid era to the era of modernity, and Al Jazeera Net had this dialogue with it:
The Abbasid era is one of the eras that resulted in a revolution in literature in all its manifestations.
How were the manifestations of this renewal embodied and what were its continuing effects on the level of reception?
The Abbasid poets made a real revolution in the Arabic poem.
They did not abandon the inherited poetic form, even if some of them were tired of it or grumbled about it, as is the case of Abu Nawas.
The Abbasid poets expressed their critical positions on their poetic heritage in their poems, thus forcing the Arabic poem to think about itself more than ever before.
Thus, the Arabic poem at the hands of poets such as Bashar bin Bard, Abu Nawas and Abi Tammam became a project open to possibilities.
They succeeded in opening the horizon of the Arabic poetic language at the rhetorical level to an extent that no one before them and perhaps after them did in Arabic poetry.
On the level of reception, the Abbasid revolution lies in the fact that they revealed the power of language and poetic utterance to change the world.
The Abbasid poem was a shock that frightened the religious, political and monetary institutions of that era, and therefore the project of modern poets was portrayed as a heresy or sedition in the negative sense. exaggeration or exaggeration
As for the reception, the Abbasid revolution lies in the fact that they revealed the power of language and poetic speech to change the world.
The Abbasid poem was a shock that frightened the religious, political and monetary institutions of that era, and therefore the project of modern poets was portrayed as a heresy or sedition in the negative sense. exaggeration or exaggeration.
Of course, these efforts did not succeed, and the result was the emergence of Arab criticism that gradually moved away from normative and prejudicial until it reached a moment of critical maturity in the writings of Abd al-Qaher al-Jurjani, who presented a theory in poetics that we are still guided by as we study the secret of language in poetry or prose.
The book "The Arabic Prose Poem: Poetic Theory and Application" by Hoda Fakhreddin (Al-Jazeera)
How would you describe your experience in addressing and in-depth in your book about meta-sharism (the poem in the poem, or talking about poetry within the poetic framework itself), and where is the difficulty in the dialogue between modernists and modernists?
Almitacharia is the poet's creative response to his poetic heritage.
It is a case in which the poet is aware of his participation in the project of poetic change, but constantly looks back to see what his predecessors did, not necessarily to emulate or oppose them, but to point out the references in the light of which his rebellion becomes more evident.
My study of Metashahrism in the Arab heritage does not fall on Arabic poetry as an emergency concept;
Rather, it proceeds from the foreign term (Greek in origin) to prove the existence of this original tendency in Arabic poetry since its beginnings known to us (ie, pre-Islamic poetry) and in particular and more severely in the Abbasid era.
Metacharism or poetry on poetry as al-Jurjani calls it, is an expression of the renewed poets' interest in their heritage and their insistence on starting from it in their quest for a new poetic language.
The historical approach to our poetic heritage - an approach we inherited from the Western colonizer - is a view that makes Western modernity an example and a goal;
Other world cultures should aspire to it and strive to emulate it.
Herein lies the difficulty.
We have to reveal and treat ourselves from this approach that is rooted in our educational curricula and in our imagination of ourselves and our literary heritage.
The historical approach to our poetic heritage - an approach we inherited from the Western colonizer - is a view that makes Western modernity an example and a goal;
Other world cultures should aspire to it and strive to emulate it.
Herein lies the difficulty.
We have to reveal and treat ourselves from this approach that is rooted in our educational curricula and in our imagination of ourselves and our literary heritage.
This historical approach to the Arab poetic heritage often refers Abbasid poetry to a mere classic category, that is, to a worn-out moment that contemporary Arab poets must transcend in their quest to join the ranks of world literature, contemporary literature, or other problematic label.
The historical approach to poetry is a deficient approach.
Time in poetry is not time outside.
The past of poetry is always present, and there is no way to poetic renewal without a creative engagement with heritage.
The dialogue between the modernists and the modernists in the Arab heritage is a dialogue of course.
There is no project in poetry without dialogue with the past.
This is true in all languages and all cultures.
Everything loses its memory except language, says George Steiner.
Poetry is language and it remembers and imagines itself at the same time.
Therefore, I see that the historical approach to poetry is a deficient approach.
Time in poetry is not time outside.
The past of poetry is always present, and there is no way to poetic renewal without a creative engagement with heritage.
There have always been several tributaries that led to the formation of criticism, building perceptions around it and expanding its horizons. Where are we from criticism today?
Literary criticism is based on reading.
Reading, especially poetry, is an intellectual occupation that is no less important than writing.
A true poetry reader needs a culture and an anchor that produces an attitude, a taste, and a vision.
The critic is the reader who has a vision of the language and its literary memory that enables him to read each new text in the light of other texts and qualifies him to read the text separately and also qualifies him to read it in different contexts that illuminate its multiple aspects: formal, rhetorical, linguistic, intellectual, philosophical, historical, etc.
The critic credits his readings, as it is the network in which he places the text for tasting, and it is the tributary that enables him to establish a relationship between the literary text and the world.
Where are we today?
I don't think we give reading it the attention it deserves.
Our contempt for reading as an intellectual occupation that requires culture parallels our contempt for writing.
Therefore, we have many poets and critics, and poetry and criticism are scarce.
We note the dominance of the impressionistic vision of the text world and the absence of an objective scientific vision.
To what extent can a critic reconcile the two?
Impressionism is of great importance in the appreciation of literature and art in general.
It is preferable that the first moment of interaction with the text be impressionistic.
But the impression alone is not cash.
The impression must lead to a critical reading based on culture and science, so you will be guided by the standards and be familiar with them, but without being governed by them.
Real criticism is a creative reading capable of modifying standards or introducing new standards.
An objective vision is an impression that is repaid by culture and directed by devotion to a literary or poetic approach that is not disturbed by motives urgent on literature, such as political positions or personal relationships, for example.
Thus, literary theory arises from a reading stemming from a culture and a vision, as I mentioned earlier.
As for the reading that proceeds from the criteria and seeks to project them onto the text, it is a deficient and sterile reading.
In your recently published book, "Metasharia", you consider that there is neglect or lack of interest on the part of the Arabs in language and literature, and even the rarely directed students towards literary and human studies, which pushes them to specialize abroad.
How can the Arab student be attracted towards language and literature amid the rapid development that has swept our time and changed the course of interest for young people?
In my personal experience, my disappointment with Arab educational systems and institutions prompted me to travel to pursue my studies in literature.
Before that, I had obtained a master's degree from the American University of Beirut, and I studied English literature and language at the Lebanese University and the Lebanese American University for a year.
I tried very hard to continue my studies of Arabic literature in Lebanon, but it was a very frustrating experience.
The American University of Beirut had not at that time revived the PhD program in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, so my only option was the Lebanese University, where I was studying as a contractor.
The experience of applying for admission alone was a surreal journey into the corridors of bureaucracy and corruption, as if drawn from Kafka's writings.
I will not go into its details here, but it made me desperate to study in America.
The book "Metasha'arism in the Arab Heritage" by the Lebanese critic Hoda Fakhr El-Din (Al-Jazeera)
Although traveling to America was not my first choice, I was fortunate to work with honest and loyal professors of Arabic literature and poetry such as Susan and Yaroslav Stetkevich.
But in general, I do not believe much in the interest that Arabic literature receives in foreign universities, and I do not count on it.
Although it provides opportunities for the diligent Arab expatriate student and provides sources and references, it does not compensate for our shortcomings in the Arab world.
I do not have a plan to attract the Arab student towards literature and language, but I am sure that the first step is to nurture a relationship with language from childhood, a relationship of love and appreciation, if not to raise a feeling of pride in this language and its rich heritage.
This is something we are missing.
We are under the illusion that education and culture can only be achieved in foreign languages, so we raise generations alienated from themselves in our Arab countries.
As if the Arabic language is not fit for life.
I do not have a plan to attract the Arab student towards literature and language, but I am sure that the first step is to cultivate a relationship with the language from childhood, a relationship of love and appreciation, if not to raise a feeling of pride in this language and its rich heritage.
This is something we are missing.
We are under the illusion that education and culture can only be achieved in foreign languages, so we raise generations alienated from themselves in our Arab countries.
As if the Arabic language is not fit for life.
I return here to what I mentioned earlier about the approaches to our language and culture that we inherited from the Western colonizer.
The manifestations of cultural colonialism are still evident in our educational institutions and curricula.
I hope that we will soon witness a balanced cultural movement that is aware of our position in the world today and the possibility of a relationship with the other without being crushed and abandoning our language and our heritage.
They are our credit that enables us to truly participate in global culture, otherwise we will remain imitators, consumers and passive recipients.
The prose poem is one of the transformations in Arabic poetry.
How do you view the problematic of this poem and its classification?
My book "The Prose Poem between Practice and Theorizing" is a continuation of the project that I started in the book Metasha'arism in the Arab Heritage.
I am interested in renewal movements in poetry.
Poetry is not safe to the borders and does not live to it.
Therefore, we find that the greatest poetry is the one who wrote outside the agreed templates, and he who invented new forms and did not adhere to the theoretical rules and definitions, but rather stimulated criticism and theory to catch up with him.
Poetry is not safe to the borders and does not live to it.
Therefore, we find that the greatest poetry is the one who wrote outside the agreed templates, and he who invented new forms and did not adhere to the theoretical rules and definitions, but rather stimulated criticism and theory to catch up with him.
In the case of Arabic poetry in particular, the prose poem arose with Western influences, as studies confirm to us, but the most important catalyst for it is the Arabic poetry that preceded it.
Weight has remained a condition of Arabic poetry, although it has been disrupted and subjected to experimentation and sabotage.
The tampering poem, which remained restricted by conditions (ie the tampering system), was a limit that had to be crossed.
It was bound to provoke a more loose and expanded project, such as the Arabic prose poem.
Proposing the prose poem is an insistence on the possibility of poetic construction in prose.
This is a seductive proposition in theory, but it is right and wrong in practice.
Thus, the prose poem was the first Arabic poem that assumes the possibility of poetic construction outside the meter.
The prose poem project did not stop at claiming the possibility of poetry outside the meter. This is an old proposition and we have many examples of it in the heritage.
Proposing the prose poem is an insistence on the possibility of poetic construction in prose.
This is a seductive proposition in theory, but it is right and wrong in practice.
My book deals with the Arabic prose poem as a poetic practice with motivating theoretical premises that aims at subversive questions that expand the boundaries of poetry in the Arabic language.
I did not intend in it to present a comprehensive survey or a complete picture, but rather a series of readings in an anthology of poetry that illuminates aspects of this critical issue for us.
I was not interested in presenting a survey of the Arabic prose poem or an index of poets and poets that takes into account regions, gender, balances, and other considerations that have no artistic or critical justification.