The Arabic Prose Poem: Poetic Theory and Practice (Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature) - Softcover

Fakhreddine, Huda J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474474977 ISBN 13: 9781474474979

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2022

Synopsis

When the modernist movement in Arabic poetry was launched in the 1940s, it threatened to blur the distinctions between poetry and everything else. The Arabic prose poem is probably the most subversive and extreme manifestation of this blurring, often described as an oxymoron, a non-genre, an anti-genre, a miracle and even a conspiracy. This 'new genre' is here explored as a poetic practice and as a critical lens which gave rise to a profound, contentious and continuing debate about the definition of an Arabic poem, its limits, and its relation to its readers. Huda Fakhreddine examines the history of the prose poem, its claims of autonomy and distance from its socio-political context, and the anxiety and scandal it generated.

About this title

About the Author

Huda J. Fakhreddine, Associate Professor of Arabic Literature, University of Pennsylvania.

From the Back Cover

Examines one of the most controversial poetic forms in Arabic: the Arabic prose poem When the modernist movement in Arabic poetry was launched in the 1940s, it threatened to blur the distinctions between poetry and everything else. The Arabic prose poem is probably the most subversive and extreme manifestation of this blurring, often described as an oxymoron, a non-genre, an anti-genre, a miracle and even a conspiracy. This 'new genre' is here explored as a poetic practice and as a critical lens which gave rise to a profound, contentious and continuing debate about the definition of an Arabic poem, its limits, and its relation to its readers. Huda Fakhreddine examines the history of the prose poem, its claims of autonomy and distance from its socio-political context, and the anxiety and scandal it generated. Key Features  Examines the 'new genre' of the prose poem as a poetic practice and as a critical lens  Adopts a case-study approach to a number of poets, including: Adonis, Muhammad al-Maghut, Salim Barakat, Mahmoud Darwish and Wadi Saʿadeh  Adopts a comparative approach which operates across time periods and genres, racial identity and cultural traditions Huda J. Fakhreddine is Associate Professor of Arabic literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Metapoesis in the Arabic Tradition: From Modernists to Muhdathun (2015).

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474474977
• ISBN 13: 9781474474979
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288