Najat Rahman

Palestinian Artists After Darwish

In the Wake of the Poetic

Literary Disinheritance examines post-nationalist articulations of "home" in the writing of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and the Algerian writer Assia Djebar, providing a rare comparative and interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary writers from the Mashreq and the Maghreb.

The Writing of Home in the Work of Mahmoud Darwish and Assia Djebar

Literary Disinheritance

Hala Kh. (ed. ) Nassar

Salma Khadra Jayyusi

Mahmaud 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.

Critical Essays

Mahmoud Darwish, Exile's Poet

Heralding a new period of creativity, In the Wake of the Poetic explores the aesthetics and politics of Palestinian cultural expression in the last two decades. As it increasingly gains a significant presence on the international scene, much of Palestinian art owes a debt to Mahmoud Darwish, one of the finest contemporary poets, and to Palestinian writers of his generation. Rahman maps the immense influence of Darwish’s poetry on a new generation of performance artists, visual artists, spoken-word poets, and musicians. Through an examination of selected works by key artists—such as Suheir Hammad, Ghassan Zaqtan, Elia Suleiman, Mona Hatoum, Sharif Waked, and others—Rahman articulates an aesthetic founded on loss, dispersion, dispossession, and transformation. It interrupts dominant regimes, constituting acts of dissension and intervention. It reinscribes belonging and is oriented toward solidarity and future. This innovative wave of experimentation transforms our understanding of the national through the diasporic and the transnational, and offers a profound meditation on identity.

Najat Rahman

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