seecAbd al-Wahhmb Al-Baymtl, Abdul Wahab al-Bayati: Love, Death and Exile,
trans. Bassam K. Frangieh, (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press,
1990), pp. 21–23. Zaklal-Arsnzlbegan preaching Pan-Arabism, based on a
change in social order, socialism, nationalism, and anti-imperialism. He devel-
oped an independent line of thought ahead of other nationalist parties, and was
hailed as a national hero by dissident Ba’th leaders in the mid-1960s. See Majid
Khadduri, Political Trends in the Arab World: The Role of Ideas and Ideals in Politics
(Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970), p. 207.
29 cAbd al-Wahhmb al-Baymtl, “Ilm T. S. Eliot,” Al-Acmml al-shicriyyah(The
Poetic Works), 2 vols (Beirut: Al-Mu’assasah al-cArabiyyah lil-Dirmsmt, 1995),
1, pp. 359–60.
30 On Riffaterre’s semiotics of poetry, see John Frow, Marxism and Literary History
(London: Basil Blackwell, 1986), p. 153; and Jonathan Culler, The Pursuit of
Signs(London: Routledge, 1992), p. 89.
31 cAbd al-Wahhab al-Baymtl, “>ubb ta.ta al-Mayar,” in Al-Acmml al-shicriyyah,
2, p. 387; and “Love Under the Rain,” trans. George Masri, in Abdul Wahab
al-Baymtl: Love Under the Rain(Madrid: Editorial Oriental, 1985), n.p.
32 See, for instance, al-Baymtl, Al-Acmml al-shicriyyah, 1, pp. 307, 417, 439, 443,
458, 466, 471, 487; 2, pp. 141–46, 219–352, 449.
33 See M. M. Badawi, A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry(Cambridge
and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 246; also Zahra
A. Hussein Ali, “The Aesthetics of Transgression: Khalll Hmwl’s ‘The Sailor and
the Dervish’ and the European Grotesque,” Journal of Arabic Literature 28
(1997), pp. 219–34; and Franz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans., Charles
Lam Markann (New York: Grove, 1967).
34 For more, see Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic
Poetry, 2 vols (Leiden: Brill, 1977), 2, p. 742.
35 Nadia Bishai, trans., Badr Shaker As Sayab: Selected Poems(London: Third World
Center for Research and Publishing, 1986), p. 17 (Arabic), pp. 30–31 (English).
36 Al-Baymtl, Al-Acmml al-shicriyyah, 2, p. 11.
37 Al-Baymtlwrote for Al-Mdmb, 8 (1953), p. 74:
Fly hunters, we are tired of them. How can we burn them and their
flies? My friend [from whom al-Baymtlallegedly quotes]means those
poor poets...who still hunt out rhythms and rhymes to win the
admiration of some...imaginary beloved, or some degenerate bellied
patron in an age full with heroic feats, transformations and revolu-
tions...However, my friend looked around with fear and ran away;
leaving me alone, face to face with one of those fly hunters.
In another instance, al-Baymtlblames al-Sayymb for leaving him by himself, defending
the free verse movement and its aspirations for a break-through in culture. “Poetic
heresy was addressed as an accusation against me, more than al-Sayymb who began to
regress and retreat, settling for a truce with powers of darkness which had been hunt-
ing out intellectuals and poets.” See cAbd al-Wahhmb al-Baymtl, >arm’iq al-shucarm’
(The Fires of Poets), (Beirut: Al-Mu’assasah al-cArablyyah, 1994), p. 82.
38 Al-Baymtl, Al-Acmml al-shicriyyah, 2, p. 16.
39 Ynsuf al-Khml, Al-Bi’r al-mahjnrah(The Deserted Well) (Beirut: Dmr Majallat
Shicr, 1958). His dedication to Ezra Pound introduces the collection.
40 Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence(London and New York: Oxford
University Press, 1973), p. 151.
NOTES