Would al-Ma’arrî „Forgive“ al-Madanî?

Abstract

The strong movement for uncovering, re-evaluating and the creative transformation of its own cultural heritage (turat) is one of the dominant features of the cultural climate in the modern Arab world. The way of finding of a new model of treatment of tradition is difficult, it oscillates between the conservative resistance of the futile traditionalism, and just as harmful pseudo-modern radical appeals for the complete abandoning of the past and its heritage. The paper Would Al-Ma'arrî forgive al-Madanî? is an attempt of presenting a concrete case of social and cultural differences concerning the modern artistic treatment of motives and works from the classical literary heritage of the Arab world. The matter in question is a controversy created in Tunisia in 1977 over a modern adaptation for the theatre, of the well-known Message of forgiveness (Risâla al-ġufrân), an original and provocative work by the philosopher-poet Abû al-'Alâ al-Ma'arrî (978-1058). That unique work of the classical Arab literature, which has been attracting an ever ·increasing attention of scientific and literary circles of the Arab world, was taken as a basis for creating a modern „theatrical message“ (risâla masraḥiyya) by the controversial Tunisian fiction writer 'Izz ad-Dân al-Madanî (born 1938). Choosing an extremely liberated, creative attitude towards the cultural heritage, al-Madanî placed himself among the representatives and prominent members of the certain literary genre in the Arab world, even with his early works (primarily his plays). The place of these writers in their total relationship towards the cultural heritage, is manifested by their establishing of a certain relationship towards those that hold different opinions.

The central part of the paper is devoted to the detailed description of all the aspects of the Tunisian case in question characterization of al-Madanî's literary works so far, with special regard to his treatment of the subject-matter, as well as the materials from the treasury from the cultural heritage, the author's relationship towards the Message of Forgiveness, ideological and literary-aesthetic analysis of the play al-Ġufrân, the reception of al-Madani's work in the Tunisian environment, the summary and analysis of the discussion prompted by al-Ġufrân, and the attempt to interpret it in sociological and cultural terms, as a specific, local expression of the broader .social and cultural phenomena of the Arab world as a whole.

Although the present paper, such as it is, does not aim at drawing the ambitious, theoretical conclusions, ·by the mere fact that the numerous aspects of a concrete situation it does direct one's considerations in several following directions:

1. The problem of attitude towards the past and the tradition, has been present and alive in the culture of the contemporary Arab world, and most opinions are crystalized with them in mind.

2. The conflict between the ·old •and the new, between traditionalism and modernism, although quite obvious, cannot be simplified and reduced to the Manichean opposition defined in terms of values, such as „negative-positive“, „backward-progressive“, as it is still often done. The real relationships are much more complex and they demand universal and objective research, without insistence on the stereotype, imposed systematizations.

3. Radical destructive modernism, with its superficial inspiration, with its misunderstood and often misinterpreted western paragons cannot give an important contribution to the establishment of the fruitful, critical and socially responsible dialogue with the positive values of tradition, and without those values it is impossible to create a modern, and at the same time, authentic Arab culture.

SrediÅ¡nji deo rada sveden je detaljnom prikazivanju svih aspekata konkretnog tuniskog sluÄaja (karakterizacija dosadaÅ¡njeg al-Madanîjevog književnog stvaralaÅ¡tva, sa posebnim osvrtom na njegov tretman tema i sadržaja iz riznica civilizacijskog nasleÄ‘a, autorov odnos prema Poslanici oproÅ¡taja, idejna i književno-estetska analiza drame al-Ä ufrân, recepcija al-Madanîjevog dela u tuniskoj sredini, Sumarni prikaz i analiza polemike koja se povodom al- Ä ufrân

razvila i pokuÅ¡aj njene socioloÅ¡ke i kulturoloÅ¡ke interpretacije, kao lokalnog, specifiÄnog izraza Å¡irih druÅ¡tvenih i kulturnih fenomena na nivou arapskog sveta u celini.

Iako rad po·zamisli i tipu ne pretenduje na izvoÄ‘enje teorijski ambicioznih ·zakljuÄaka, ·ispitivanjem brojnih aspekata jedne konkretne kulturne situacije on ipak upućuje na razmiÅ¡ljanje u nekoliko pravaca:

1. Problem odnosa prema prošlosti i tradiciji i dalje je nesmanjeno aktualan u kulturi savremenog arapskog sveta i upravo se s obzirom na njega kristališe većina polarizacija.

2. Sukob izmeÄ‘u starog i novog, izmeÄ‘u tradicionalizma i modernizma, iako evidentan, ne može se uprošćeno svoditi na manihejske vrednosno definisane opozicije, po sistemu „negativno-pozitivno „nazadno-napredno“ i sl., kako se to joÅ¡ uvek Äesto Äini. Stvarni odnosi su -znatno složeniji i moraju se svestrano i objektivno osvetljavati, bez insistiranja na stereotipnim nasilnim sistematizacijama.

3. Radikalni destruktivni modernizam, inspirisan povrÅ¡no, nepotpuno shvaćenim i Äesto pogreÅ¡no protumaÄenim zapadnim uzorima, ne može dati istorijski bitan doprinos uspostavljanju plodonosnog kraiÄkog i druÅ¡tveno odgovornog dijaloga sa pozitivnim vrednostima tradicije, a bez tih vrednosti nemoguće je graditi istovremeno modernu i ·autentiÄnu arapsku kulturu.

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Would al-Ma' arrî „forgive“ al-Madanî?

Summary

The strong movement for uncovering, re-evaluating and the creative transformation of its own cultural heritage (turat) is one of the dominant features of the cultural climate in the modern Arab world. The way of finding of a new model of treatment of tradition is difficult, it oscillates between the conservative resistance of the futile traditionalism, and just as harmful pseudo-modern radical appeals for the complete abandoning of the past and its heritage. The paper Would Al-Ma'arrî forgive al-Madanî? is an attempt of presenting a concrete case of social and cultural differences concerning the modern artistic treatment of motives and works from the classical literary heritage of the Arab world. The matter in question is a controversy created in Tunisia in 1977 over a modern adaptation for the theatre, of the well-known Message of forgiveness (Risâla al-ġufrân), an original and provocative work by the philosopher-poet Abû al-'Alâ al-Ma'arrî (978-1058). That unique work of the classical Arab literature, which has been attracting an ever ·increasing attention of scientific and literary circles of the Arab world, was taken as a basis for creating a modern „theatrical message“ (risâla masraḥiyya) by the controversial Tunisian fiction writer 'Izz ad-Dân al-Madanî (born 1938). Choosing an extremely liberated, creative attitude towards the cultural heritage, al-Madanî placed himself among the representatives and prominent members of the certain literary genre in the Arab world, even with his early works (primarily his plays). The place of these writers in their total relationship towards the cultural heritage, is manifested by their establishing of a certain relationship towards those that hold different opinions.

The central part of the paper is devoted to the detailed description of all the aspects of the Tunisian case in question characterization of al-Madanî's literary works so far, with special regard to his treatment of the subject-matter, as well as the materials from the treasury from the cultural heritage, the author's relationship towards the Message of Forgiveness, ideological and literary-aesthetic analysis of the play al-Ġufrân, the reception of al-Madani's work in the Tunisian environment, the summary and analysis of the discussion prompted by al-Ġufrân, and the attempt to interpret it in sociological and cultural terms, as a specific, local expression of the broader .social and cultural phenomena of the Arab world as a whole.

Although the present paper, such as it is, does not aim at drawing the ambitious, theoretical conclusions, ·by the mere fact that the numerous aspects of a concrete situation it does direct one's considerations in several following directions:

1. The problem of attitude towards the past and the tradition, has been present and alive in the culture of the contemporary Arab world, and most opinions are crystalized with them in mind.

2. The conflict between the ·old •and the new, between traditionalism and modernism, although quite obvious, cannot be simplified and reduced to the Manichean opposition defined in terms of values, such as „negative-positive“, „backward-progressive“, as it is still often done. The real relationships are much more complex and they demand universal and objective research, without insistence on the stereotype, imposed systematizations.

3. Radical destructive modernism, with its superficial inspiration, with its misunderstood and often misinterpreted western paragons cannot give an important contribution to the establishment of the fruitful, critical and socially responsible dialogue with the positive values of tradition, and without those values it is impossible to create a modern, and at the same time, authentic Arab culture.