University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 8-2018 The aN ture of Influence: Fu'ad Rifqa's Wilderness Poetry at the Intersection of Nation and Modernity Delilah Clark University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, and the Translation Studies Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Delilah, "The aN ture of Influence: Fu'ad Rifqa's Wilderness Poetry at the Intersection of Nation and Modernity" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 2869. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2869 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Nature of Influence: Fu’ād Rifqa’s Wilderness Poetry at the Intersection of Nation and Modernity A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies by Delilah Clark Texas Tech University Bachelor of Arts in English, 2006 Texas Tech University Bachelor of Arts in Natural History and Humanities, 2006 University of Louisiana at Monroe Master of Arts in English Literature, 2008 August 2018 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. _____________________________________ Adnan Haydar, Ph.D. Dissertation Director _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Sean Dempsey, Ph.D. Robert Cochran, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member Abstract: Fundamental changes in the form and content of Arabic poetry occurred rapidly in the first half of the twentieth century, resulting in the development of free verse and prose poetry as well as the jettison of traditional requirements including end-stopped two-hemistich long lines, strict adherence to meter, and monorhyme. These changes draw from innovation within Arabic poetry, competing nationalist agendas, increased translation of European texts into Arabic, and the productive engagement of Arab poets with Western literatures. In 1957, Syrian poet Fu’ād Rifqa embarks upon a five-decade poetic project of intentional intertextuality that acknowledges these sometimes collaborative, sometimes competing narratives. Rifqa’s poetry creates a dialectic between literary and cultural influences through shifting metaphors drawn from the natural world and Mesopotamian and Greek mythology while also reflecting the evolution of form and content from both Arab Romanticism and Modernism as well as his extensive engagement with German Romantic and post-Romantic poets Friedrich Hölderlin and Rainer Maria Rilke. This dissertation examines the interplay between influence and innovation throughout Rifqa’s self-aware poetry by first examining the development of Rifqa’s preferred combination of landscape and character, the forest-philosopher, in Arab Romantic poetry. Romantic Mahjar poets writing from Lebanese and Syrian diaspora communities in the Americas quieted the declamatory tone of poetry as they transformed the poet from rational orator into questioning youth in the setting of the forest, rather than urban or desert settings of classical import. Alongside his avant-garde contemporaries, Rifqa’s early work mobilizes natural and mythological metaphors from the first-person perspective in service of the ideological agenda of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. After breaking with the party in 1961, Rifqa’s forest philosophers complete the Romantic move away from the oratorical mode through their silence and narrative distance. Rifqa’s revisions on this theme demonstrate the role of the poet as reflective mediator of modernity through the synthesis of influences from German Romanticism that resonate with his experience of transition. Engaging contemporary structural innovations in Arabic avant-garde poetry, Rifqa underscores poetry’s role in individual and cultural transformation, and cultural exchange’s role in poetry, through a poetic based largely in landscape. ©2018 by Delilah Clark All Rights Reserved Acknowledgements: This project would not have been possible without the expert guidance of my dissertation director, Professor Adnan Haydar, who has been supremely supportive of me as a scholar and person as well as generous with his time and expertise throughout seven years of coursework, research, and writing. Adnan and Paula Haydar, through their combination of rigor and genuine enthusiasm for teaching language, have made the Arabic language come alive for me. Every translation in this dissertation reflects the benefit of Professor Haydar’s expertise in language and translation as well as the countless hours of productive conversation and revision that we have shared during my doctoral study at the University of Arkansas. For this I am forever grateful. Professor Sean Dempsey’s expertise in critical theory and philosophical approaches to literature have contributed immensely to the development of the framework of this project, as has his thorough and thoughtful feedback. Professor Robert Cochran’s critical eye and healthy skepticism for initial incarnations of the project encouraged me to overhaul its direction early in the process, which has expanded the project’s scope and quality greatly. I wish to thank the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies program for facilitating my study of the Arabic language in tandem with graduate coursework and for supporting my final year of research through the CLCS Dissertation Fellowship. I would also like to thank the Program in Rhetoric and Composition and Professor Elias Dominguez Barajas for providing the opportunity for me to teach composition and world literature courses for five years as well as providing excellent support of my entry into the academic job market. Without the skilled staff of the University of Arkansas Library’s Interlibrary Loan Department, collection of materials from libraries across the United States and Lebanon would have been difficult or impossible. The ILL staff helped me locate rare and out-of-print books necessary to my research, and for that I thank them heartily. Faculty members at the University of Louisiana at Monroe who encouraged my scholarly pursuits deserve recognition as well. Professor Mary Adams guided me through my first experiences teaching world literature as a teaching assistant and later provided me with encouragement as an instructor. Professor Gene Eller taught me basic web design and enhanced my multimedia production capacities alongside providing life advice and a seat at his family’s holiday dinners. The director of my master’s thesis, Professor Janet Haedicke, roundly supported my forays into postcolonial Indian drama and shared her expertise and time freely. Thank you to the professors in Monroe who encouraged me both professionally and personally. Through service at Tri Cycle Farms in Fayetteville during my period of study in Fayetteville, I learned about community organizing, sustainable urban farming, and food recovery programs. Working with Don Bennett and Kelly Bassemier was and continues to be extremely beneficial to my development as a citizen and scholar. Service at Tri Cycle Farms has provided me physical, mental, and social sustenance. I deeply value the long-term relationships and the shared vision of a better world that Tri Cycle Farms cultivates. Central to my efforts has been the support of my parents, Larry and Karen Clark, as well as my sister Hope Cox, her husband Ty, and my wonderful nieces Cameron, Crosby, and Callan. Thanks are due to my father for instilling a sense of place in me. I thank my mother for consistently emphasizing the value of education, independent thinking, and pursuing goals throughout my life. My sister and her family have brought endless joy to my life, which keeps my spirits up during long periods of intense research. My lifelong best friend Addie Bressler’s combination of comic relief and empathy has always lent balance to my life. I cannot thank my beloved and brilliant partner Brent Linsley enough for his support in both scholarly and personal capacities, for providing so much feedback, and for being a wonderful person. Dedication: This dissertation is dedicated to my grandparents, Ted Heath, whose epic tales I recount to this day, and Shirley Heath, whose love of reading and storytelling have enriched my life so much. Contents: Introduction The Nature of Influence: Fu’ād Rifqa’s Wilderness at the Intersection of Nation and Modernity .................................................................................................................. 1 Fu'ād Rifqa in Context ........................................................................................................... 16 The Rebirth of Levantine Poetry ........................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1 Voices from the Forest: Romantic Landscapes and Modern Arabic Poetry .... 30 What is Arab Romanticism? .................................................................................................. 33 The Question of Mobility ........................................................................................................ 35 Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān: The First Voice in the Forest .......................................................... 39 The Interwar Years ................................................................................................................