The Poet and Identity: A Critical Reading of Identity and Belonging in Mahmud Darwish's Poetry

Abstract

A new literary and critical phenomenon emerged lately after the appearance of globalization and it attracted the attention of Arab critics and scholars because it raises a question about the position of Arabic literature and thought in the contemporary intellectual milieu. It also indicated that an intellectual crisis is at hand which may drive the Arab intellectual to the verge on the unknown creating disorder and confusion in his thinking by trying to thrust him into the turmoil of the information technological revolution, driving him to forget his past under the pretext of the demise of ideology, self-denial, freedom and awareness. In the field of literature and literary criticism, these nomenclatures produced new literary and critical movements which did not belong to a particular identity; on the contrary, they were close to unconsciousness and absorbed in unawareness and irresponsibility which contributed to man's loss of identity. These thoughts caused the vanishing of many principles and values of the Arabs. However, literature as an enormous organism of values retained some of them that upkept the spirit of belonging and showed the importance of identity as thought and practice which are able to bring originality back to maintain the Arabian poet's attitude to colonialist wars, cultural invasion, alienation and attempts of annihilating the Arabic identity. Mahmud Darwish is among the poets who succeeded in mingling the interior and the exterior; the past and the present of the Arabic personality. His attitude is that of the omniscient of the splendor of his personality and its unique potentialities in many of his poetic texts; he even wrote a poem entitled An Identity Card which will be the main concern of this paper. This paper attempts to shed light on the concept of identity and belonging and to analyze the poem to explore its aesthetic value in expressing the contemporary phase, sustaining the importance of identity and belonging, and emphasizing the necessity of identity for man as different from others in cultural, spiritual and material aspects. The paper shows, through analysis, the nature of identity and belonging, according to the poet, from aesthetic perspective. What gives the text more significance is the poet's deep personal experience in facing the attitude of anti-Arabic identity.