“Metempsychosis” and “Marvelous Affinities”: Re-Imagining the Past in the Ilyāḏah by Sulaymān al-Bustānī (1904) and in the Divano di ʿOmar ben al-Fared by Pietro Valerga (1874)

This article focuses on the image of the past in two translations produced in the contexts of the Arab Nahḍah and of the Italian Risorgimento. The first translation is the Italian rendering of ʿOmar ibn al-Fāriḍ’s mystical poems, published in 1872 by Pietro Valerga (1821-1903). The second is the Arabic translation of the Iliad, published in 1902 by Sulaymān al-Bustānī (1856-1925). Both translators refer to the past as a translation strategy: Pietro Valerga reads Ibn al-Fāriḍ through the verses of Petrarch and, in his work’s introduction, emphasizes the transmission of medieval Arab poetry to Italy; Sulaymān al-Bustānī reconstructs the world of the Iliad through Arabic poetic tradition and compares Greece to the ǧāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic age). The article sheds light on the potential of translation as a space of re-imagination of the past and invites us to read the works as two distinct, yet akin, attempts to express original interpretations of Italian and Arabic literary histories based on syncretism and cross-cultural translatability.

Intertextuality in Selected Narrative Poems of Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí

The creative works of Adébáyọ Fálétí, a renowned literary writer in Yorùbá, ̀ have been the focus of literary critics. Notable among such are Olatunji (1982a; 1982b; 1982c), Ogunsina (1991), Ìṣọ̀lá (1998) and Adebowale (1999). These scholars have examined the issues of form, style and theme in Fálétí’s poetry. It has been established that Fálétí is a philosophical poet influenced by the historical, political, social and cultural contexts of the society that produced his poems. According to Olatunji (1982), “the oral poetic tradition of the Yorùbá constitutes the weft and woof of Fálétí’s poetic genius.” This attests to the claim that “no artist creates in a vacuum” (Agyekum, 2007:31). It could be deduced from the above position that there is an interplay between the text of Fálétí’s poetry and the context that produced it. Using intertextuality approach, this paper, therefore, examines the interplay of the text, context and the writer in selected poems of Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí with a view to determining the correlation between the Yorùbá oral poetic genres and the written form in Fálétí’s poetry and determining the continuity of the oral poetic genre in the written form. Fálétí’s biography has been discussed by Olatunji (1982). He was born at Agbóóyè in Ọyọ̀ ́ and had his elementary life on the farm, where he was exposed to the Yorùbá culture undiluted. He was a novelist, playwright, poet, scriptwriter and actor when alive. His works include Ọmọ Olókùn Ẹṣin, Thunderbolt, Baṣọrun Gáà, Fẹrẹ bí Ẹkùn, ̀ and Ogún Àwítẹ́lẹ. Fálétí’s works ̀ are greatly influenced by his family background because his father was a 120 Arinpe Adejumo and Adefemi Akinseloyin prominent member of the sàkàrá calabash beating oral poets and entertainers under Olatunji Kúdẹẹ̀ ̀fù in the court of Ọba Ṣiyanbọ́lá Oníkẹẹ̀ pé Ládìg ́ - bòlù I, the Aláàfin of Ọyọ̀ (1911-1944). Fálétí learnt a lot about narratives and ́ other techniques of rendition from his father’s poetic influence. There are also cases of intertextuality in his narrative poems and other literary works. Fálétí’s narrations and literary works are inspired by the tales he heard from his father, aunt and members of the larger family (Olatunji 1982). These influenced his narrative poems, as they reflect chronicles, heroism and expositions, which he borrowed from the Yorùbá oral poetic genre. Since oral poets are imbued with repertoires of praise poetry, legends, myths, proverbs, songs and history, Fálétí’s narrative poems are filled with the intertextuality of Yorùbá oral materials.

Exhaustion and Recycling

This paper examines the works of representative modernist authors who have rewritten the myth of the Danaids in a self-reflective way. They reuse certain elements of the myth in order to address some of the crucial issues of cultural transmission: interpretation, poetic tradition and communication. The argument focuses on the recycling of the myth of the Danaids as a symbol of endless historical-philological (Nietzsche) and psychological (Freud) interpretations, the exhaustion and the reinvention of the classical literary tradition (Babits), and the impossible possibility of mediating the living voice through telephonic communication (Proust).

Optazianismi. Elementi formulari di un poeta visuale

In poetry, particularly in the hexametric one, the use of formulas determines the stylistic fingerprint of an author. The contribution examines the poetic material used by the Constantinian poet Optatianus Porfyrius, trying to identify formulas and motifs peculiar to this author, employed by him several times, or even introduced by him for the first time, some of which appeared successful in the later tradition. The figure of an author well integrated into the poetic tradition emerges, but not without an inventive spirit and auctoritas.

The Erinyes in Aeschylus’ Oresteia

<p>This dissertation explores the Erinyes’ nature and function in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. It looks at how Aeschylus conceives the Erinyes, particularly their transformation into Semnai Theai, as a central component of the Oresteia’s presentation of social, moral and religious disorder and order. The dissertation first explores the Erinyes in the poetic tradition, then discusses the trilogy’s development of the choruses, before examining the Erinyes’ / Semnai Theai’s involvement in the trilogy’s establishment of justice and order and concluding with an analysis of why Aeschylus chooses Athens (over Argos and Delphi) as the location for trilogy’s decision making and resolution. Chapter One explores the pre-Aeschylean Erinyes’ origin and primary associations in order to determine which aspects of the Erinyes / Semnai Theai are traditional and how Aeschylus innovates in the tradition. It further identifies epithets and imagery that endow the Erinyes / Semnai Theai with fearsome qualities, on the one hand, and with a beneficial, preventive function, on the other. The discussion of the development of the choruses throughout the trilogy in Chapter Two takes three components: an examination of (1) the Erinyes’ transformation from abstract goddesses to a tragic chorus, (2) from ancient spirits of vengeance and curse to Semnai Theai (i.e. objects of Athenian cult) and (3) how the choruses of Agamemnon and Choephori prefigure the Erinyes’ emergence as chorus in Eumenides. Of particular interest are the Argive elders’ and slave women’s invocations of the Erinyes, their action and influence upon events, and their uses of recurrent moral and religious ideals that finally become an integral part of the Areopagus and the cult of the Semnai Theai. The Erinyes’ / Semnai Theai’s role as objects of Athenian cult supports the institutionalised justice of the Areopagus, putting an end to private vendetta, promoting civic order and piety and rendering the city and its citizens prosperous as a result. Chapter Three explores how the Erinyes’ transformation into Semnai Theai relates to the Oresteia’s development from conflict and disorder to harmony and order. It examines a selection of the trilogy’s speech acts, emotions and attitudes, socio-religious practices and laws and their relationship to the Erinyes’ function as goddesses of vengeance and curse and objects of Athenian cult. It suggests that Athens’ reception of the Semnai Theai runs analogous with the removal of corruption and perversion from the key terms analysed in the chapter (i.e. curse and oath, fear and reverence, sacrifice, the guest-host relationship and supplication, and laws); the promotion of social, moral and religious norms that benefit the polis is integral to the Semnai Theai as objects of Athenian cult. Chapter Four examines Athens’ ability to settle differences without violence in the trilogy; it explores the polis’ capacity to resolve the trilogy’s cycle of vengeance and curse, particularly to placate the Erinyes, and relates Athens to Argos as a hegemonic city and to Delphi as Panhellenic centre of worship. The dramatic events at Athens positively represent the polis’ ideology and hegemony: addressing the social and political situation at 458BC, the trilogy’s final scenes advocate internal civic harmony, encourage alliances and metoikia, and the pursuit of imperialistic strategies to project Athens as Panhellenic leader.</p>

The Erinyes in Aeschylus’ Oresteia

<p>This dissertation explores the Erinyes’ nature and function in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. It looks at how Aeschylus conceives the Erinyes, particularly their transformation into Semnai Theai, as a central component of the Oresteia’s presentation of social, moral and religious disorder and order. The dissertation first explores the Erinyes in the poetic tradition, then discusses the trilogy’s development of the choruses, before examining the Erinyes’ / Semnai Theai’s involvement in the trilogy’s establishment of justice and order and concluding with an analysis of why Aeschylus chooses Athens (over Argos and Delphi) as the location for trilogy’s decision making and resolution. Chapter One explores the pre-Aeschylean Erinyes’ origin and primary associations in order to determine which aspects of the Erinyes / Semnai Theai are traditional and how Aeschylus innovates in the tradition. It further identifies epithets and imagery that endow the Erinyes / Semnai Theai with fearsome qualities, on the one hand, and with a beneficial, preventive function, on the other. The discussion of the development of the choruses throughout the trilogy in Chapter Two takes three components: an examination of (1) the Erinyes’ transformation from abstract goddesses to a tragic chorus, (2) from ancient spirits of vengeance and curse to Semnai Theai (i.e. objects of Athenian cult) and (3) how the choruses of Agamemnon and Choephori prefigure the Erinyes’ emergence as chorus in Eumenides. Of particular interest are the Argive elders’ and slave women’s invocations of the Erinyes, their action and influence upon events, and their uses of recurrent moral and religious ideals that finally become an integral part of the Areopagus and the cult of the Semnai Theai. The Erinyes’ / Semnai Theai’s role as objects of Athenian cult supports the institutionalised justice of the Areopagus, putting an end to private vendetta, promoting civic order and piety and rendering the city and its citizens prosperous as a result. Chapter Three explores how the Erinyes’ transformation into Semnai Theai relates to the Oresteia’s development from conflict and disorder to harmony and order. It examines a selection of the trilogy’s speech acts, emotions and attitudes, socio-religious practices and laws and their relationship to the Erinyes’ function as goddesses of vengeance and curse and objects of Athenian cult. It suggests that Athens’ reception of the Semnai Theai runs analogous with the removal of corruption and perversion from the key terms analysed in the chapter (i.e. curse and oath, fear and reverence, sacrifice, the guest-host relationship and supplication, and laws); the promotion of social, moral and religious norms that benefit the polis is integral to the Semnai Theai as objects of Athenian cult. Chapter Four examines Athens’ ability to settle differences without violence in the trilogy; it explores the polis’ capacity to resolve the trilogy’s cycle of vengeance and curse, particularly to placate the Erinyes, and relates Athens to Argos as a hegemonic city and to Delphi as Panhellenic centre of worship. The dramatic events at Athens positively represent the polis’ ideology and hegemony: addressing the social and political situation at 458BC, the trilogy’s final scenes advocate internal civic harmony, encourage alliances and metoikia, and the pursuit of imperialistic strategies to project Athens as Panhellenic leader.</p>

Militarism and the Bedouin: Intersections of colonialism, gender, and race in the Arab Gulf

This article investigates the development of militarism in the Arab Gulf using the militarized representation of the Bedouin and their poetic tradition as a site for its analysis. The article traces the ways in which Bedouin ‘martial masculinities’ and Bedouin culture have been appropriated and transformed by British colonialism and postcolonial nationalisms to produce unusual patterns of militarism within the Gulf. It addresses a gap in international relations and security studies literature, in which militarism is examined through state-centric and methodologically nationalist framings that largely overlook transnational and colonial histories. The article argues that contemporary displays of militarism by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates should be read in relation to how colonialism engendered militarism across the Gulf region through the paradoxical representation of the Bedouin as a ‘martial race’ whose martial-ness was also seen as a security ‘threat’ for the colonial/postcolonial state. Militarized responses and rationalities were normalized within Gulf society through the ‘Bedouin warrior’ stereotype, which served as a timeless and fixed construct, connecting the Gulf’s disjointed past to its present-day context. Significantly, the ‘Bedouin warrior’ stereotype helps foster the belief that stability and historical continuity underpin state-modernization processes in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The article’s intervention seeks to disrupt this continuity by looking at how militarism and its martial constructs created ruptures in state trajectories, using the example of the 1996 coup attempt, citizen revocations, and the depoliticization of the poetic act as evidence for the claim that militarism engenders particular insecurities for Bedouin populations in the Arab Gulf.

Female Voice in Urdu Poetry

This essay aims at understanding the development and struggles of a ‘female voice’ within Urdu poetic tradition through the writings of women poets of the Nineteenth century in contrast to the women poets of the twentieth-century feminist movement. The women in traditional Urdu poetry have remained a silent cruel beloved, the image offered is that of a ‘feckless beloved, endowed with heavenly beauty, reigned: fair to face, doe-eyed, dark hair, tall and willowy, a woman who vacillated from indifference, shyness and modesty to wanton cruelty. The essay is an attempt to understand the level of autonomy of the female voice in the poems of women poets through the years. To portray the development of a feminine expression in Urdu poetry the paper will be ranging from the poems of tawaifs (courtesan) of the eighteenth century like Mah Laqa Chanda, their attempts to acquire a place within the patrilineal Urdu literary tradition; the rekhti tradition where men wrote poems in a female voice, to the twentieth century feminist poets like Kishwar Naheed and Fehmida Riaz. The paper is based on Hakim Fasihuddin Ranj’s anthology ‘Baharistan-i-Naz’ which provides a brief yet important introduction on the status of various tawaif poets within the Urdu literary circle; Rahat Azmi’s Halat-i-Mah Laqa, a biographical work on the life and works of Mah Laqa Bai Chanda; and Rukhsana Ahmad’s ‘We Sinful Women’, a compilation of the original and translated works of feminist women poets of twentieth-century Pakistan. Various secondary sources have been used to understand the dynamics behind the writing style of these poets and how similar terms came to be used for portraying completely distinct themes.

THE EAGLE BASKING IN THE LIGHT OF FAME: THE INDO-EUROPEAN POETIC BACKGROUND OF PINDAR, NEMEAN 3.80–4

This article contributes to a discussion raised more than forty years ago in this journal by Richard Stoneman on how to interpret the unexpected image of an eagle at Pind. Nem. 3.80. Without excluding the possibility of a reference to the poet himself, this article argues, mainly based on a survey on the traditional elements used in that passage, that the eagle also refers—at least partially—to the victorious athlete Aristocleides. This is demonstrated by an internal investigation of the structure of the ode and the use of signal words (–θεν, δέδορκεν, φάος). Moreover, the image of the eagle stands in a series of other ancient and traditional motifs, such as the ‘song of milk and honey’ (77–9) and ‘(far-)shining fame’ (64, 81–4), which can be also found in the Rigveda and therefore can be regarded as an inheritance of the Indo-European (= IE) poetic tradition. Parallels from the Rigveda can be found for the avian imagery too, in which the eagle is compared to someone striving for fame in an athletic contest; this suggests that the image of the eagle is another traditional motif from IE times in Pindar, who uses it as a device to transition from a poetological to a laudatory part of the epinician, perhaps deliberately playing with the ambiguity of the image.