Mourid Barghouti: The Blessings of Exile

Abstract

Although the reputation of poet Mourid Barghouti (b. 1944) in the west rests on two personal memoirs, this article suggests that Barghouti's poetry deserves equal recognition. The long poem in Midnight and Other Poems (2005), the subject of this article, wrestles with the options of the modern exile. Suffused with memory, I argue that Midnight opens a creative window out of multiple historical sites and personal encounters that interrogates the notions of modernity and progress, victory and loss, and nationalism and patriotism. Out of political dilemmas emerge a beauty in words of resistance and defiance, “guns of mutiny” with deep ethical responsibility toward humanity. From within spiritual orphanage and alienation, Barghouti constructs clear, concrete poetry, an aesthetic that articulates the Palestinian memory, crossing borders of history, geography, and literary traditions. Midnight's tender poetic images reposition the Palestinian exile alongside other unique voices worldwide within memory studies.