Surrealismi arabi 1938-1970. Il Surrealismo e la letteratura araba in Egitto, Siria e Libano

Surrealismi arabi investigates the surrealist trend in modern Arabic poetry in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon between the 1930s and the 1960s. The research is made up of an introduction, four chapters, a conclusion and an index. The introduction gives an overview of the Arabic surrealist experience, the place of Surrealism in the existent literature, limits, objectives and structure of the research, the corpus description, the methodology. The first chapter analyzes the phase that can be defined as pre-surrealist. It includes the description of the literary context prior to the introduction of Surrealism in Arabic literature, starting from the innovations introduced by the romantic movements in Arabic literature, (Mahǧar, Dīwān and Apollo groups). It continues with the vaguely surrealist inspirations of some poets in the Arab Mašriq. Finally, the chapter ends with some notes on the Egyptian poet Muṣṭafà Ṣādiq al-Rāfiʿī, placed halfway between Symbolism and Surrealism. Second, third and fourth chapters represent the central part of the work, because they display the history and the poetic theory of Arab Surrealism as conceived in each of the considered countries. The second chapter examines Egypt, being the first place where a heterogeneous surrealist group was formed, taking the name of al-Fann wa-l-Ḥurriyyah. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first one takes into consideration the activities of the three most important exponents, Ǧurǧ Ḥunayn [Georges Henein], Ramsīs Yūnān and Anwar Kāmil, prior to the official foundation of the group. The second section describes the activities and theories of the group through their manifesto, their magazines, with particular attention to those in Arabic (al-Risālah, al-Taṭawwur and al-Maǧallah al-ǧadīdah), the art exhibitions they organized and the political battles. The chapter closes with a brief evaluation of the contribution of Egyptian Surrealism. The third chapter presents Surrealism as it appeared in Syria. The first section introduces to two poets: Ūrḫān Muyassar, the driving force of the Surrealist principles in the country, and ʿAlī al-Nāṣir. The section considers both Muyassar’s main lines of thought and al-Nāṣir’s poetic innovations in the collection al-Ẓamāʾ (1931) before his surrealist collaboration with Muyassar. The second section represents the fulcrum of the chapter, as it examines the characteristics of Syrian Surrealism, as presented, on the one hand, through the first surrealist poetic collection in Arabic, Suryāl (1947), by both Muyassar and al-Nāṣir; on the other hand, through Muyassar’s essays published in the magazine al-Ḥadīṯ. As in the case of Egypt, this chapter also ends with an assessment of Muyassar’s influence on the generation of his time as well as on the one immediately after. The fourth chapter deals with development of Surrealism in Lebanon. It begins with a section on Georges Schéhadé, the one who was the first to introduce Surrealism in the country, even though he mainly addressed a French-speaking audience. The second section focuses on the magazine Šiʿr, examining the surrealist contents published in it, divided into: translations of French surrealist works, critical studies on French surrealist poets and critical studies on Arabic poetry that display some traits of surrealist theory. Finally, at the margins of Šiʿr’s experience, the third part considers the surrealist elements in Unsī al-Ḥāǧǧ’s introduction to his first poetic collection, Lan (1960). The conclusion highlights the possibilities of further research in this field.