DUBAI—Globalization may threaten Arab culture but also offers an opportunity to learn from others, poets said in a discussion in Dubai.
In a discussion at the Dubai International Poetry Festival this past spring, writers discussed whether Arab poetry should close itself off against the “corruption” of Western verse.
Egyptian writer and translator Muhammed Eid Ibrahim rejected the perception that Western poets were “bloated by philosophy and literature” and their styles present a challenge to Arab poetry.
“The ones who are barbarians think that those all around them are barbarians,” he said.
“Sometimes we should learn to appreciate the beauty in the things that people of other cultures create.
“We should appreciate the past but we should not remain fossilized to it. We should learn from diversity. We live in towers but our minds still live in primitive tents.”
Ibrahim said that learning from others can help the tradition grow, but it will not necessarily threaten the Arab identity.
“Poetry should be honest to the environment,” he added. “The individual can’t help but write based on his own culture if he is writing from the heart.”
Under the patronage of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, the festival offered poets from around the world recitals and discussions on issues affecting poetry in the region.
One of the attendees, Dr Wolfgang Kubin, a German poet and translator, said that he noticed there was a major difference between European and Arab poetry.
“When I come to Arab countries I am always impressed with the performances given by poets,” he told the Epoch Times. “European poets don’t know how to read their poems in public.
“This is because poetry is still a living and breathing tradition in Arab countries. In Europe or China poets are normally on the fringes of society. The traditions of reciting poetry have been lost.”
He said that European poetry has a philosophical and intellectual locus whereas Arab poetry is rooted in “conservative traditionalism”, he said.
“In the Arabic world, religion, society and poetry are all part of the same coin,” he said.
“There doesn’t appear to be any post modern tendencies. The majority of poems are about love, whereas the three German poets who are here focus their poems on issues such as permanence, vanity and transcendence.”
It is precisely those qualities in Western poetry which could divorce Arab poetry from its Islamic identity said Syrian literature professor Samar Ruhi Al Faysal.
“I’m afraid that the Arab society and culture will be lost,” he said. “The language of globalization has been forcibly imposed on the Arab nation without the Arab nation being prepared for it.
“Media and TV stations make the young people follow what is going on without any question. People are losing their creativity and not thinking for themselves,” he added.
