Mahmoud Darwish, Exile's Poet
Critical Essays
edited by Hala Kh. Nassar and Najat Rahman

Mahmoud Darwish’s work has long been considered seminal in shaping modern Arabic poetry. He has received wide international recognition and is regarded as a contender for the Nobel Prize. Often deemed the “Poet of the Resistance,” no substantial critical study exists that addresses the complexity of Darwish’s poetry in rewriting the homeland and articulating exile. His later poetry consciously marks a move away from his earlier portrayals of identity, home, and poetry, yet many critics have failed to take note of this shift. His oeuvre yokes poetry and history, the political and the poetic, probing identities in perpetual exile. This book examines the complex connections between poetry, myth, lyric, prose, and history in Darwish’s poetry. The scholarly articles in this volume situate his work in relation to both modern Arabic and world poetry. In addition, the articles address issues such as the future of poetry, the role of the poet, language, cultural heritage, lyrical modes, as well as the relationship of place and identity.

About the Editors
Hala Kh. Nassar is an assistant professor of modern Arabic culture and literature at Yale University. She is at work on a book about Palestinian theater and the culture of martyrdom. Najat Rahman is assistant professor of comparative literature at the University of Montreal. Her work explores Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry in relation to contemporary articulations of home.

Reviews
"Born in upper Galilee, Palestine, in 1941 but in exile since 1948, Darwish has become the most famous Palestinian poet and one of the leading poets of the Arab world. This excellent volume places Darwish's poetry and thought in their cultural and intellectual context. Against the background of the power of poetry in Arab culture, and Darwish's own exile from his homeland, one sees him creating a new homeland in language. The essays closely examine Darwish's interaction with the Arab literary tradition and his changing relation to exile and homeland, to the Hebrew Bible, and to the interaction of history and myth. The idea that colonial powers have appropriated and denatured the Palestinian past recalls Derek Walcott's thoughts in Omeros (1990), and a chapter on Darwish's prose writing sharply delineates parallels with Mourid Barghouti's I Saw Ramallah. This volume reveals that Darwish is motivated not by self-pity or victimhood but rather by a proactive effort to counter the master narratives of imperialism, in a poetry that is not overtly political. This is an important volume for those interested in Arabic, Middle Eastern, and comparative literature. Highly recommended."
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