Manifestations of exile and diaspora in the poetry of Abdullah al-Baradouni

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to shed light on the contemporary issue of exile and diaspora and their manifestations in the poetry of Abdullah al-Baradouni, a modern Yemeni poet. Within the postcolonial hermeneutics and postmodernist theory, exile in the poetry of al-Baradouni becomes a signifier indicating not only being expelled outside one’s homeland but experiencing the feelings of isolation, exile, and diaspora caused by hard conditions, power struggle, ideological heterodoxy, and identity loss. Al-Baradouni’s dialectics of exile revolves on the concept that exile is a human condition beyond physical boundaries. Thus, exile is no longer treated as a singular event, it rather becomes a heterogeneous and multifaceted phenomenon. He succeeds in depicting the impactful consequences of exile and diaspora through the employment of bizarre, macabre, and surrealistic images and techniques. Hence, this piece of research adopts surrealism as a theoretical framework in illuminating and investigating al-Baradouni’s poetic texts under study. In his poetry, al-Baradouni becomes the voice of the voiceless and embodies a collective national consciousness as he engages himself in poetic enterprises that demand intrepidity, determination, articulateness, genius, vision, and prophecy. His contribution to the literature of exile and diaspora is significant.