Resistance Poetry of Mahmoud Darwish as Cultural Memory

Abstract

One of the essential poetic qualities of resistance poetry is linked to its ability to be part of the cultural memory, and to disseminate new and different aspects of memory. Numerous cultural memory references in the resistance poetry create a complex poetic “mnemothopos”, wherein the memory is inaugurated as the basic structural-semantic principle. Resistance poetry “remembers” at least in two ways. The first is a mimetic way or memory of “paraliterary” reality. Another aspect of the art of memory in the resistance poetry is intertextual memory. Poetry of Mahmoud Darwish is abundant with cultural and mnemonic constants and variables to the extent that it can be understood as a complex poetic “mnemotopos” or singular literary space of memory. The subject of this study is mimetic way of poetic memorization which is realised through reconstructive act of representability of real Palestinian chronotope, recollection of its genuine, preoccupied geography, as well as through remembrance of the tragedy of Palestinians whereby poetic martyrology.