Dr. Ghanim Jasim Samarrai, Western Impact on Modern Arabic Poetry, A Postcolonial Reading of T.S. Eliot's Influence on Badr Shakir Assayyab, Book Review

Preface
Modern Arabic poetry has, since the middle of the twentieth century, been subjected to a large corpus of criticism, perhaps far more than has any other literary genre in the Arab's modern times. The reason lies in the fact that the 1940s and 1950s witnessed an unprecedented turning point in the development of this forms and contents. Hundreds of books, studies and articles have been published and this controversial topic is still open to discussion. The debate does not only deal with the new poetic production and the new styles, metres, images and themes that prevailed following the revolutionary changes at the end of the first half of the century, but it also concerns the modernizing movement itself. It also tackles the attitudes, criticisms, and concepts which have accompanied and theorized the movement and, more specifically, the poets who launched the change. Central among these poets was the Iraqi poet Badr Shakir Assayab, who is considered by the majority of Arab critics as the leading figure in the process of Arabic poetry's modernization. Assayyab's poetry – representing the modern movement – has, therefore, received a great deal of critical attention. His experimentation and consequent poetic works enjoy a strikingly new style varying the numbers of feet in verse line, and using daring, unfamiliar images and new themes that seemed strange and alien. These new approaches have generated many arguments in the critical writings of the second half of the century. One sensitive issue in this regard is the presumed strong influence T.S. Eliot had on many of Assayab's poems, and this is the main concern of this book.
The book, however, does not stem from a hypothesis that emphasizes or refutes the visibility of the said influence. In fact, it aims at examining tow conflicting arguments on the scope, extent and nature of T.S. Eliot's influence. Opinions emphasizing a strong, obvious and lasting influence are examined against those emphasizing a mere skin-deep influence. The book also attempts to arrive at conclusions that may add to what his previously been done. The available critical literature will also be examined and analyzed to see if more systematic approach is required to be shown towards to corresponding themes and techniques in Eliot's { The Waste Land and Assayyab's Hymn of the Rain} . Such a specific examination of Assayyab's masterpiece is required since it has so far been subjected to criticism mainly leveled at the question of the influence upon it.
The book will attempt to work out a conceptual framework based on previous relevant literature. This framework will focus on finding answers to certain questions related to the extent of the validity of the two conflicting arguments, the substantiation of which calls for an examination of the issues of both the time setting and the channels of influence. Besides, the applicability of methods and tools developed in other relevant studies will be tested throughout this book.
Another principal task in this book is to examine the formal and thematic parallels between the works of the two poets. The contextual comparisons that will be carried out are aimed at investigating the visible similarities in themes, concepts and styles prevalent in their poems against the different views of both sides of the argument.
Ij asunder and documented book
Dr. Ghanim Jasim Samarrai, Western Impact on Modern Arabic Poetry, A Postcolonial Reading of T.S. Eliot's Influence on Badr Shakir Assayyab, Publications of The Department of Culture & Information Government of Sharjah, 2009
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