Sargūn Būluṣ: Writing Iraq baʿd al-qiyāmah
In: Journal of Arabic LiteratureSearch for other papers by Sinan Antoon in
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Abstract
This paper explores how the poetry of the late Iraqi poet, Sargūn Būluṣ (1944–2007), responds to the material and epistemic violence inflicted on Iraq and Iraqis in recent decades. While Būluṣ was vehemently against podium poetry, he was never detached from politics. He believed that poetry could shelter the voices of those displaced and wounded by history. By reading several representative poems, this paper identifies the configuration of the aesthetic and the political in his poetic discourse. It explores the following questions: What are the strategies and tropes the poet deploys to mark and mourn the destruction and disintegration of a home/land? How does he do so without eliding the foundational violence of the nation-state or resorting to nationalisms? Which of the many Iraqs, real and imagined, does Būluṣ mourn, and how does he excavate the country’s history?
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Sargūn Būluṣ: Writing Iraq baʿd al-qiyāmah
In: Journal of Arabic LiteratureSearch for other papers by Sinan Antoon in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper explores how the poetry of the late Iraqi poet, Sargūn Būluṣ (1944–2007), responds to the material and epistemic violence inflicted on Iraq and Iraqis in recent decades. While Būluṣ was vehemently against podium poetry, he was never detached from politics. He believed that poetry could shelter the voices of those displaced and wounded by history. By reading several representative poems, this paper identifies the configuration of the aesthetic and the political in his poetic discourse. It explores the following questions: What are the strategies and tropes the poet deploys to mark and mourn the destruction and disintegration of a home/land? How does he do so without eliding the foundational violence of the nation-state or resorting to nationalisms? Which of the many Iraqs, real and imagined, does Būluṣ mourn, and how does he excavate the country’s history?
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 140 | 140 | 13 |
| Full Text Views | 12 | 12 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 191 | 191 | 23 |