Ideological Critical Discourse in Contemporary Poetry Selections
Two Poetic Anthologies; Al-Alawi and Al-‘Allaq as Models
Zein Al-Abideen AlAwawdeh, Arabic Department, Bethlehem University, West Bank- Palestine.
Abstract
This study aims to identify the role of personal ideology in the process of compiling poetry selections by contemporary editors. It also aims to uncover the extent to which editors utilize critical theory, explicitly or implicitly, as a means of expressing their personal ideological vision. Although contemporary editors of literary selections assert that the selection process is based primarily on personal preference, the editor’s critical- ideological vision has such a pronounced role in the selection process that some poetic selections have become an unambiguous indicator of that vision. This study investigates two poetic anthologies that clearly represent this trend: mukhtarat diwan al-hijaa’ al-carabi by Hadi Al-Alawi and qasaa’id mukhtarah min shucaraa’ aTTaliica al-carabiyyah by Ali Ja’afar Al-‘Allaq, The First is a leading Iraqi Writer-critic and the second is a poet-critic. Although both editors are Iraqi, their anthologies manifest their opposite ideological discourse. While Al-Alawi lives in exile as he was a political dissident, Al-‘Allaaq is affiliated with Socialist Arab Ba'th party, the ruling party in Saddam’s Iraq. This critical study is significant because it traces the development of critical approach in old and contemporary poetic selections. It also examines how critical-ideology and personal ideology are intertwined in the practice of contemporary critics. The present study also examines the role of personal ideology as a basis for poetic selections by some contemporary editors.
Keywords: Ideological Critical Discourse, contemporary poetic selections, personal ideology, critical ideology.