Silencing the Sea: Secular Rhythms in Palestinian Poetry

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

Abstract

Silencing the Sea follows Palestinian poets'debates about their craft as they traverse multiple and competing realities of secularism and religion, expulsion and occupation, art, politics, immortality, death, fame, and obscurity. Khaled Furani takes his reader down ancient roads and across military checkpoints to join the poets'worlds and engage with the rhythms of their lifelong journeys in Islamic and Arabic history, language, and verse. This excursion offers newfound understandings of how today's secular age goes far beyond doctrine, to inhabit our very senses, imbuing all that we see, hear, feel, and say. Poetry, the traditional repository of Arab history, has become the preeminent medium of Palestinian memory in exile. In probing poets'writings, this work investigates how struggles over poetic form can host larger struggles over authority, knowledge, language, and freedom. It reveals a very intimate and venerated world, entwining art, intellect, and politics, narrating previously untold stories of a highly stereotyped people.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationStanford, California
PublisherStanford University Press
ISBN (Electronic)9780804782609
ISBN (Print)9780804776462
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Arabic poetry--20th century--History and criticism
  • Arabic poetry--Palestine--History and criticism
  • Poetics
  • Secularism in literature

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