Literature And Nation In The Middle East

This compelling study presents an original look at how 'the nation' is represented in the literature of the Middle East. It includes chapters on Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and Israel, drawing on the expertise of literary scholars, historians, political scientists and cultural theorists.The book offers a synthesising contribution to knowledge, placing Arab literature within the context of emergent or conflicting nationalist projects in the area. Topics addressed include:*the roles of literature and interpretation in defining national identity*exile*conflicting nationalisms*conflict resolutionThe approaches taken by the authors range from textual and rhetorical analysis to historical accounts of the role of literature in contributing to national identity, and political analysis of the use of literature as a tool in conflict resolution. Genres covered include fiction (the novel), poetry and verbal duelling.This unique exploration of the subject of literature and the nation in the Arab world will be of interest to anyone studying Middle Eastern literature and nationalism, as well as historians and political scientists.Key Features*Includes chapters from a broad range of American, European and Middle Eastern contributors, providing a synthesising perspective on the Middle East*A unique exploration of the connection between literature and national identity in the Middle East, set against the background of conflict*Covers the subject of literature and nation in Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine and Israel

Enormous political and social changes brought about by modernization have naturally found expression in the literatures of the Near and Middle East. The contributors to this book, first published in 1991, trace the development of modern literary sensibility, in Turkish, Arabic, Persian and modern Hebrew. It is argued that the period can be divided into three broad phases – the age of translation after 1850, when formerly self-sufficient elites throughout the region began to reach out to the West for new ideas and stylistic models; the surge of romantic nationalism after the First World War and the decline of imperialism; and the modern period after 1950, a time of growing self-awareness and self-definition among writers against an often violent background of inter- and intra-state conflict. The product of different nations, races and traditions, there are nevertheless constant themes in the literatures of this period – the colonial heritage, nationalism, justice, poverty and wealth, migration from country to city, confrontation between self and other, and between East and West, collapse and rebirth.

In the Middle East, translation movements and the debates they have unleashed on language, culture and the politics and practices of identity have historically been tied to processes of state formation and administration, in the form of patronage, policy and publishing. Whether one considers the age of regional empires centered in Baghdad or Istanbul, or that of the modern nation-state from Egypt to Iran, this relationship points to the historical role of translation as a powerful and flexible tool of cultural politics. "Nation and Translation in the Middle East" focuses on this important aspect of translation in the region, with special emphasis on translation movements and the production of modernity in a historical context defined by European imperialism, enlightenment universalism, and globalization. While the papers assembled in this special issue of "The Translator" each address specific translation histories and practices in the Middle East, the broader questions they raise regarding the location and the historicity of translation offer a fruitful intervention into contemporary debates in translation studies on difference, fidelity and the ethics of translation. The volume opens with two essays that situate translation at the intersection of national canons, post colonial cultural hegemonies and 'private' market or activist-based initiatives in Egypt and Turkey. Other contributions discuss the utility of translation paradigms as a counterweight to the dominant orientalist historiography of modern print culture in the Arab World; the role of the translator as political agent and social reformer in twentieth-century Egypt; and the relationship between language, translation and the politics of identity in the multi-ethnic and multilingual Islamicate contexts of the Abbasid and Mughal Empires. The volume also includes a general bibliography on translation and the Middle East.

Known for her far-reaching examinations of psychoanalysis, literature, and politics, Jacqueline Rose has in recent years turned her attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict, one of the most enduring and apparently intractable conflicts of our time. In Proust among the Nations, she takes the development of her thought on this crisis a stage further, revealing it as a distinctly Western problem. In a radical rereading of the Dreyfus affair through the lens of Marcel Proust in dialogue with Freud, Rose offers a fresh and nuanced account of the rise of Jewish nationalism and the subsequent creation of Israel. Following Proust’s heirs, Beckett and Genet, and a host of Middle Eastern writers, artists, and filmmakers, Rose traces the shifting dynamic of memory and identity across the crucial and ongoing cultural links between Europe and Palestine. A powerful and elegant analysis of the responsibility of writing, Proust among the Nations makes the case for literature as a unique resource for understanding political struggle and gives us new ways to think creatively about the violence in the Middle East.

Examines the relationship between the political/social climate during which books were written and the works themselves. This volume focuses on major fiction, poetry and nonfiction from the Middle East.

The region of the Middle East has been called the cradle of mankind. This volume studies historical, cultural, religious, social and political legacies, which play a central role in obstructing intercultural dialogue in the Middle East. The region became home to numerous cultures, religions and ethnicities with long experience of living together in a multicultural environment and has an immense impact on the entire human civilization as first human civilizations were born there. Today, more than 50% of world population follow Abrahamic religions (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Judaism), which have their roots in the Middle East. This book focuses on multiple topics related to the Middle East, including ancient history, the religion and mythology of the Ancient Near Eastern regions, Arabic, Persian and Islamic studies, Persian, Turkish and Arab literature, as well as modern Middle Eastern issues related to politics, security, society and the economy.

Why didn't Arab civilization develop a capitalism of its own? Why didn't communism find popular support? Taking account of the differences between the Arab countries, this book analyzes their transition from a non-feudal tributary mode to a state capitalism and the hegemony of a state bourgeoisie.

An original collection of Middle Eastern literature that reveals a rich diversity of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures