Published papers

The Arabic classical poetry (qasida), together with Qur'an, has been regarded as an eminent achievement of the Arabo-Islamic literature and its profound source of creativity. Traditional criticism both in the East and the West, however, has not sufficiently succeeded in evaluating it. The conventional view of qasida, which is realistic and fragmentary in essence, has limited its reading and failed to explore its rich world of imagery. Concerning classical qasida, Such cliches as Arab-bedouin's materialism, lack of imagination, boresome mannerism have been reproduced and they pervaded in general public. Around 1970, new trends of qasida study emerged. They criticized the conventional view of classical qasida and aimed at its revaluation by studying mainly pre-Islamic works from new perspectives. Chapter I of this paper reviews these trends, such as Yusuf al-Yusuf, Mustafa Nasif, the mythical critic school, the structuralist analysis of Kamal Abu-Deeb and Adnan Haydar, and Chicago School of Jaroslav Stetkevych and Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych. In Chapter II, based on the former studies, especially S. Stetkevych's, the author argues that the standard pattern of classical qasida shows a process of rebirth on two intertwined levels; the first is the rebirth of man represented by the poet's persona, and the second is the rebirth of tribal community. In contrast to the traditional critics, this paper, through the detailed discussion of such significant terms and images as dar (campsite), traces, questioning and separation, establishes that atlal (abandoned encampment), one of the dominant motifs of opening section of qasida, is a place of poetic imagination and plays crucial role within the whole structure of qasida.

Emile Habiby (1921-1996) is one of the most prominent writers in modern Arabic literature. Born in Haifa, the main industrial city on the Mediterranean coast of northern Palestine, he never left his beloved native city even after the foundation of Israel in 1948, and persisted in staying there until his death, struggling as statesman, journalist and novelist for the rights of Palestinians. This essay traces the modern history of Haifa alongside Habiby's course of life to confirm the significance that staying in Haifa had on his life and literary activity. Since Haifa became the stage of most of his novels like "Sixology of Six Days", "The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist", "Ikhtayye" and "Saraya, The Orge's Daughter", all of these important works are reviewed here with the special emphasis on the relationship between the author and the city, and his painful effort to recall and preserve the collective memory of both the Arab residents and of the city itself.

This paper aims at tracing images of pre-Islamic brigand-poets called Sa'alik, as reflected in their akhbar-traditions or stories accompanied by poetic texts, which tell the life of poets and the situation in which their poetry was composed. In chapter I, after reviewing previous studies on Sa'alik literature, I will reaffirm the significance of further investigation of pre-Islamic Sa'alik for developing total understanding of the picaresque tradition in Arabic literary heritage. In chapter II, I will examine the nature of akhbar, concluding that they should be regarded not as incomplete/unreliable historical biographies, but as narratives which were formed through interpenetration with the poetic texts, interweaving facts with fictions within them. Then I will argue that those images of Sa'alik, as reflected in akhbar, indicate three different types according to their attitudes toward the tribal society: "anti-tribal", "cross-frontier", and "quasi-tribal". The "anti-tribal" type is represented by al-Shanfara who is the true vendettist to his own tribe; the "cross-frontier" type is represented by al-Sulayk bn al-Sulaka and Ta'abbata Sharran, whose arbitrary and also ambiguous character shows an interesting similarity to the mythological trickster; and the "quasi-tribal" type is represented by 'Urwa bn al-Ward, whose image of social bandit is unique among pre-Islamic Sa'alik in spite of his fame as "the father of Sa'alik". Despite these variations, they have "off-tribal" characters in common, being perceived as strangers both in their behavior and their existence, who depart from the society and disturb its public order.

In pre-Islamic Arabia, tribal poets were highly esteemed members of society. They played a crucial role in advocating social norms and values through their poetry, chanting of tribal heroes who embodied those values. In this context, the brigand poets called Sa'alik stand out prominently. Their personalities are recounted in tradition as deviants from tribal society blessed with superhuman ability, as unstoppable plunderers who lived in endless poverty: quite contrary to the ideals of the rich and high-born heroes sung of by tribal poets. In the same way, poems attributed to the Sa'alik show distinctive features compared with the poetic convention of their time. Since my study aims to advance S. P. Stetkevych's argument on the Sa'alik in order to reveal the underlying structure and meaning of their poetry through analyzing its elements in the light of “inversion” (a key notion developed by B. A. Babcock, P. Stallybrass and others), the reversed perception of women and relationship between women and the poets are focused upon in this paper. The main part of this paper analyzes the opening of Ta'abbata Sharran's famous poem compiled into the Mufaddaliyat, the poetic anthology of Arab classics, to see how the conventional poetic motif of the Tayf al-Khayal (demon lover) is shifted and parodied. Furthermore, the perceptions of women in the poems and anecdotes of celebrated Sa'alik like Abu Khirash, 'Urwa b. al-Ward, al-Sulayk b. al-Sulaka and al-Shanfara are examined. This paper concludes that women in Sa'alik poetry are characterized by independence and strength of will, verbal skill, and occasionally physical strength, and that these qualities tend to be connected with an untrustworthy, demonic nature, concealing craftiness and betrayal. This image is sharply different from the sheltered, luxurious women sung of in tribal poems, which placed special emphasis on carnal charm. As for the relationship between women and poets, Sa'alik maintained a constant but unstable relationship, interwoven with controversy, contrasting with the tribal poets who, after showing deep attachment, were destined to break bonds with their mistresses to prove themselves potential tribal heroes. Moreover, this paper points out that these alternative ideas and images proposed by the Sa'alik contain interesting ambiguity and ambivalence, and this observation might reinforce our assertion that the Sa'alik's inversion serves not merely to replace mainstream ideas with peripheral ones, nor heroism with antiheroism, but to threaten the boundaries between opposites and disrupt our sense of values.