Conscious Voices. Concepts of Writing in the Middle East : proceedings of the Berne Symposium, July 1997

Conscious Voices.  Concepts of Writing in the Middle East

Writers’ understanding of their tasks and the role they should play in so­ciety is decisive for the nature of their writing: Will they indulge in mere Part pour Part, or should literature serve political, social, or moral ends? A prominent question also in the Islamic world, past and present.

Conscious Voices assembles contributions of renowned specialists in the field of Middle Eastern literatures, dealing with modern as well as classical literatures (Arabic, Persian, Turkish), prose as well as poetry, fiction as well as non-fiction and metafiction. Important issues are raised: the self-image of the ancient Arab poet, the emergence of the writer as a public moralist during the 19th century, the reception of the concept of litterature engagee in the Middle East, the role of commit­ment in the process of nation-building, commitment to a homeland, to Islam, to the cause of humanity, the purpose of writing as appearing in self-reflexive texts, sources of literary inspiration, the importance (and character) of literary `beauty’ and `quality’, the effectiveness of certain techniques such as recurring on archetypes or earlier literary models, etc.

Language: English
ISBN: 9783899130713
1999, Paperback, 343 pages,  17.0 x 24.0 cm