Arturo Monaco | Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma (original) (raw)

Papers by Arturo Monaco

Since the end of the 1930s, surrealism has spread its principles throughout the Arab world. In ea... more Since the end of the 1930s, surrealism has spread its principles throughout the Arab world. In each place, it has never remained isolated and completely anchored to its original historical dimension, but the association and interaction with the local forms of literary, cultural and even religious expression have transformed it. One of these forms is the Islamic mysticism, i.e. sufism, and it is surprising that the association with surrealism took place even in contexts that were not related to each other. Critics have already detected the connection of surrealism with mysticism in the French context. This contribution aims to give an overview of the critical writings that display a similar attitude in drawing together surrealism and mysticism with reference to the Middle East and North Africa. It will try to present the different perspectives on the phenomenon and to offer some methodological guidelines for the study of a specific literary case

Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World, 2019

This research aims to determine the effect of Islamic banking internal factors include Capital Ad... more This research aims to determine the effect of Islamic banking internal factors include Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Non-Performing Financing (NPF), Debt to Asset Ratio (DAR) and Third Party Funds (DPK) on the amount of financing disbursed to the construction sector in Islamic banking in Indonesia. 2015-2019. The research method used in this research is descriptive research with a quantitative approach using multiple linear regression analysis techniques. The data used are secondary data obtained from the Annual Financial Statements of Islamic Banking that are published by Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK). The results of this research indicate that simultaneously the variables CAR, NPF, DAR and DPK have a significant effect on the financing of the construction sector. While partially, only NPF and DPK variables have a positive and significant effect on Construction Sector Financing.

The following essay will deal with the Algerian novelist Wāsīnī al-A‘raǧ, a writer in exile in Pa... more The following essay will deal with the Algerian novelist Wāsīnī al-A‘raǧ, a writer in exile in Paris, through one of his last novels, Aṣābi‘ Lūlītā (Lolita’s Fingers), candidate for the 2013 International Prize of Arabic Fiction (IPAF). The first part of the essay presents the author’s biography, from his youth and studies in Algeria until his exile to Paris, constantly keeping an eye on parallel events of his country’s history. The second part will focus on Aṣābi‘ Lūlītā, at first describing the novel’s plot and the two main characters, an Algerian writer exiled in Paris and the mysterious Lolita, then analyzing its central themes, its language and its genre which is between historical-political novel and thriller.. Finally, there will be an introduction to the author’s core message to the reader: the need of an inclusive definition of the identity.

MONDI MIGRANTI, 2016

Kulluna lagi’un (Siamo tutti rifugiati) e una serie radiofonica in sei episodi, prodotta dalla we... more Kulluna lagi’un (Siamo tutti rifugiati) e una serie radiofonica in sei episodi, prodotta dalla web radio SouriaLi e da Refuge Drama Productions e co-finanziata dall’Unhcr (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Al centro della soap opera c’e la storia di Rim, una ragazza siriana di quindici anni che vive con la famiglia nel campo profughi giordano di al-Za‘tari. Contro la sua volonta, il fratello maggiore Fadi cerca di darla in moglie a un cittadino giordano. Firas, un altro fratello, staccatosi dalla famiglia e trasferitosi ad Amman, decide di tornare ad al-Za‘tari per salvare la sorella. Accanto a loro, si intrecciano le vicende quotidiane della comunita di rifugiati siriani in Giordania. Dopo una breve presentazione del panorama letterario arabo riguardante la migrazione, il contributo prende in esame prima la genesi di questa serie radiofonica (sviluppo dell’idea, modelli, cast, trasmissione), poi la serie di problematiche centrali nella soap, che riflettono la difficile realta vissuta in uno dei piu grandi campi profughi del mondo: il matrimonio precoce, la violenza domestica, la crisi idrica, la disoccupazione, lo sfruttamento del lavoro nero, le tensioni tra le due comunita siriana e giordana. D’altra parte, si cogliera il profondo messaggio di speranza che la serie intende trasmettere agli ascoltatori.

“Rivista degli Studi Orientali”, XCIV, 2-4 (2021), p. 71-90, 2021

Between 1988 and 2004, the Lebanese poet, playwright and essayist ʿIṣām Maḥfūẓ (1939-2006) publis... more Between 1988 and 2004, the Lebanese poet, playwright and essayist ʿIṣām Maḥfūẓ (1939-2006) published a series of four works concerned with unusual interviews. In each of them, he dialogued with prominent thinkers of the ancient and modern Arab cultural heritage: in 1988 with the pioneers of the 19th century nahḍa; in 2000 with the so-called rebels of the turāth; in 2003 with Ibn ʿArabī; and in 2004 with three alleged atheists of the turāth. As the author stated, he was aided by the use of the dialogic form and the interview for increasing the vitality of the represented character, leaving apart the aridity of an academic study and, at the same time, without falling openly into fiction.
This paper aims to analyze these works by considering how a number of elements of his cultural background, namely journalism, adab narrative prose, and drama, combined to generate a novel literary product, both in form and in content. After an introduction to the author and his works, the paper will address the impact of journalism on his style of writing, that of some literary models of the past (al-Maʿarrī and chiefly adab narrative prose) and then includes a few references to drama.

“La rivista di Arablit”, IX, 17-18 (dicembre 2019), pp. 81-96. , 2019

The consequences of the First World War left a lasting mark on the life of many writers. The Leba... more The consequences of the First World War left a lasting mark on the life of many writers. The Lebanese critic, journalist, poet, and writer of fiction Mārūn ‘Abbūd (1886-1962) is one of them. During the conflict, extreme poverty and starvation forced him to abandon his work and move to a village on Mount Lebanon eking an existence for his family. Only after the end of the war did he return to writing. From that time on, references to the Great War and its aftermath started to appear in his writings. The aim of this paper is to document these references in Mārūn ‘Abbūd’s literary writing, chiefly through a selection of short stories from the collection Wuǧūh wa ḥikāyāt (Faces and Stories, 1945). As it will emerge from the analysis, however brief and rare, these writings bear witness to the enormous pain that remembering the event caused the author. They also belong to the number of voices that shed light on the dramatic changes that the Great War and its aftermath brought about in Lebanese society.

Monique Bellan; Julia Drost (eds.), Surrealism in North Africa and Western Asia: Crossings and Encounters, Ergon Verlag in Kommission, Beirut 2021, p. 117-135., 2021

Surrealism was introduced in Syria in the Forties and surprisingly it had no apparent link with e... more Surrealism was introduced in Syria in the Forties and surprisingly it had no apparent link with either the Parisian centre or the contemporary surrealist experiences elsewhere in the Arab world (Egypt, Lebanon). The appearance of surrealism in Syria would seem unexpected only if we maintained the image of a narrow-minded country, not as open to foreign influences as other countries were, such as Egypt and Lebanon. In fact, the long cultural tradition of the city of Aleppo, the proximity to Turkey and Lebanon and the introduction of French language and culture during the mandate help to explain how a number of Syrian intellectuals managed to establish contacts with the European culture overseas. This was coupled with the efforts of a polished, curious and eclectic intellectual from Aleppo, Ūrḫān Muyassar, who was unquestionably the introducer of surrealism not only in Syria but also to a large part of Arab readers. Being Muyassar a free thinker, he did not introduced a mere copy of French surrealism. On the contrary, he elaborated his personal version of it, even challenging Breton’s view in some respects. After a portrait of Muyassar’s life, education and thought, this contribution is focused on the features of the surrealism he introduced in Syria through two main channels: 1) the collection of poetry Suryāl (1947), written together with the poet ‘Alī al-Nāṣir and introduced by a fundamental essay on surrealism by Muyassar himself; 2) a number of essays published on the review “al-Ḥadīṯ”. In conclusion, the contribution considers the influence Muyassar had on his contemporaries and on the new generation of Arab poets.

Leonardo Capezzone (ed.), Before Archaeology. The Meaning of the Past in the Islamic Pre-Modern Thought (and After), Artemide, Roma 2020, pp. 187-202., 2020

The paper explores the phenomenon of the reception of the Greek mythical past within modern Arabi... more The paper explores the phenomenon of the reception of the Greek mythical past within modern Arabic literature. In particular, it addresses the reception of the myth of Adonis in the 1948 epic poem ʿAshtarūt wa-Adūnīs of the Lebanese poet Ḥabīb Thābit. After a presentation of the author and its work, the contribution engages a textual analysis that highlights, on the one hand, the traits of continuity and discontinuity with the vast literary tradition concerned with the myth of Adonis, and on the other, the specificity of this work if compared to later samples of Arabic literary production. Indeed, Thābit’s epic poem emerges as the last to face the myth of Adonis without loading it with the symbolism of resurrection, which is typical of the poetic production after the nakbah. As the paper shows, the poet chooses Adonis not so much for his characteristics as for his alleged Lebanese origin. Adonis then is the expedient through which Ḥabīb Thābit can sing about his country, claiming back a mythical past that he believed was part of the Lebanese cultural heritage before being adopted by the Hellenistic-Roman and the European culture.

Maria Avino, Ada Barbaro; Monica Ruocco (Eds.). Qamariyyāt: oltre ogni frontiera tra letteratura e traduzione. Studi in onore di Isabella Camera d’Afflitto, Istituto per l’Oriente C. A. Nallino, Roma 2019, pp. 391-405, 2019

This chapter aims to examine the case of a Syrian revue, al-Qīṯārah (The Lyre, 1946-47), publishe... more This chapter aims to examine the case of a Syrian revue, al-Qīṯārah (The Lyre, 1946-47), published in Latakia in 1946 by an apparently unknown Ǧamā‘at al-Ši‘r al-Ǧadīd (The Group of the New Poetry). Completely devoted to arts and poetry, the revue aspired to contribute to the development of poetry. It involved a relevant number of poets who were to become the main representatives of the new upcoming trends: Nizār Qabbānī, Sa‘īd ‘Aql, Mišīl Ṭrād, ‘Alī Aḥmad Sa‘īd (Adonis), and Yūsuf al-Ḫāl, quoting only some of the most notable names. Clearly, this revue shared many features with a more well-known previous case, the Egyptian Abūllū (Apollo, 1932-33), including the short life. It had much in common with a later revue as well, Ši‘r (Poetry, 1957-1970), not least the presence of two of its main promoters. Yet, al-Qīṯārah did not obtain the same share of popularity, either among its contemporaries or in the academic studies. Given the relevance of its contributors and the period in which it appeared, al-Qīṯārah seems to effectively represent the poetic transition that occurred in Syria and Lebanon between the forties and fifties.

Dal Medio all’Estremo Oriente. Studi del dottorato di ricerca in Civiltà dell’Asia e dell’Africa, 2018

The Lebanese magazine “Ši‘r” played a fundamental role in the process of introducing surrealism t... more The Lebanese magazine “Ši‘r” played a fundamental role in the process of introducing surrealism to the modernist poetic discourse. Despite the fact that the Arab reader was already acquainted with surrealism at the time “Ši‘r” started to publish, it was the latter which consolidated, expanded and spread this knowledge. This was made possible thanks to both its relevance in the modernist poetic discourse, and the quantity and quality of the texts concerned with surrealism that it hosted in its pages.
The present contribution gives an overview of the surrealist contents promoted in the magazine, which can be classified into three categories: original texts and translations of French surrealist poetry, critical studies of French surrealists and critical studies of Arabic poetry influenced by surrealist theories. A large diversity of voices contributed to the enrichment of these contents. Yet, the link that connects them to each other suggests that, behind these voices, a sort of planning did exist, which confirms the hypothesis that considers “Ši‘r” not only as a magazine, where individual intellectuals could express their views, but also as a real cultural institution with specific objectives that transcend the single voices.

New Geographies: Texts and Contexts in Modern Arabic Literature, 2018

With its revolutionary principles to be found in art, literature, politics and life as a whole, s... more With its revolutionary principles to be found in art, literature, politics and life as a whole, surrealism has also conquered the Arab world. The first country in which it bore fruit was Egypt, where in 1938 Jūrj Ḥunayn (Georges Henein), together with Ramsīs Yūnān, Anwar Kāmil, Kāmil al-Tilmisānī and others, gave birth to the surrealist group al-Fann waʾl-Ḥurriya (Art and Liberty). In the same period, surrealist ideas spread to Lebanon and Syria. In the latter country, in particular, a remarkable, highly educated intellectual, Ūrkhān Muyassar, studied the new revolutionary ideas and applied them to the Syrian context of his time. It was the period of the French mandate in Syria, when Arab nationalism was gaining strength. Muyassar belonged to a group of intellectuals who devoted themselves to the cause of independence and freedom.

It is that same struggle for freedom that forms the basis for the contemporary uprising started in Syria in 2011. One of the voices of this revolution is Radio SouriaLi, a station that is trying to confront the country’s surreal situation in a modern surrealistic guise. A comparison of these two voices, Muyassar and the radio station, with their totally different approach to what surrealism means, will show how they share a similar purpose, despite the time gap that separates them.

Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World, 2019

Is it possible to consider Facebook as a marketplace where the contemporary folk culture can find... more Is it possible to consider Facebook as a marketplace where the contemporary folk culture can find one of its spaces of expression? If so, would it be wrong to consider this space a source for the contemporary folk literature, through which we may read our age in a more “popular” light?
Recalling Bakhtin’s description of the marketplace and the folk culture as represented in Rabelais’ work, this paper analyses a corpus of posts published by the Syrian poet and writer Luqmān Dayrkī (1966) on his Facebook page. It argues that the form, the technique, the characters, the language, and the images of these posts have most of the features of the comic folk literature and therefore can be representative of a view of the world (Syria in particular) which opposes and subverts the official, serious narrative.

La rivista di Arablit, 2017

Since the end of the 1930s, surrealism has spread its principles throughout the Arab world. In ea... more Since the end of the 1930s, surrealism has spread its principles throughout the Arab world. In each place, it has never remained isolated and completely anchored to its original historical dimension, but the association and interaction with the local forms of literary, cultural and even religious expression have transformed it. One of these forms is the Islamic mysticism, i.e. sufism, and it is surprising that the association with surrealism took place even in contexts that were not related to each other.
Critics have already detected the connection of surrealism with mysticism in the French context. This contribution aims to give an overview of the critical writings that display a similar attitude in drawing together surrealism and mysticism with reference to the Middle East and North Africa. It will try to present the different perspectives on the phenomenon and to offer some methodological guidelines for the study of a specific literary case.

‘Alī al-Nāṣir was a Syrian poet and doctor. In his long life, he experienced the many development... more ‘Alī al-Nāṣir was a Syrian poet and doctor. In his long life, he experienced
the many developments that occurred in Arabic poetry during most of the XX century. Open to external as well as internal influences, he wrote neoclassic, romantic and surrealist poetry, experimenting in both content and form. This paper focuses on the romantic and surrealist trends in al-Nāṣir’s poetry, in particular in two collections of him: al-Ẓamā’ (The thirst, 1931) e Suryāl (Surreal, 1947). After an introduction to the literary context in which ‘Alī al-Nāṣir wrote his poetry, the paper will explore the poet’s life, his poetic production and the principles he followed in his writing. In the second part, it will analyse the two collections in more detail, highlighting the innovations in form and content through a selection of examples.

Kulluna lagi’un (Siamo tutti rifugiati) è una serie radiofonica in sei episodi, prodotta dalla we... more Kulluna lagi’un (Siamo tutti rifugiati) è una serie radiofonica in sei episodi, prodotta dalla web radio SouriaLi e da Refuge Drama Productions e co-finanziata dall’Unhcr (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Al centro della soap opera c’è la storia di Rim, una ragazza siriana di quindici anni che vive con la famiglia nel campo profughi giordano di al-Za‘tari. Contro la sua volontà, il fratello maggiore Fadi cerca di darla in moglie a un cittadino giordano. Firas, un altro fratello, staccatosi dalla famiglia e trasferitosi ad Amman, decide di tornare ad al-Za‘tari per salvare la sorella. Accanto a loro, si intrecciano le vicende quotidiane della comunità di rifugiati siriani in Giordania. Dopo una breve presentazione del panorama letterario arabo riguardante la migrazione, il contributo prende in esame prima la genesi di questa serie radiofonica (sviluppo dell’idea, modelli, cast, trasmissione), poi la serie di problematiche centrali nella soap, che riflettono la difficile realtà vissuta in uno dei più grandi campi profughi del mondo: il matrimonio precoce, la violenza domestica, la crisi idrica, la disoccupazione, lo sfruttamento del lavoro nero, le tensioni tra le due comunità siriana e giordana. D’altra parte, si coglierà il profondo messaggio di speranza che la serie intende trasmettere agli ascoltatori.

The prolonged violence in Syria since 2011 has unveiled the truth on a number of social issues am... more The prolonged violence in Syria since 2011 has unveiled the truth on a number of social issues among which sectarianism plays a central role. Any discussion on the topic was silenced in the past but the explosion of sectarian-based hatred entailed the start of a serious reconsideration of the phenomenon. This contribution aims to show, firstly, how the coexistence of different religious and ethnic communities in Syria has carried on, especially in the last decades. Secondly, it will try to underline the role of the al-Asad family’s government in exacerbating sectarian hatred through its policies, like and more than the previous ones did. Finally, it will argue the need of recognizing and freely speaking about the colourful composition of Syrian society to switch the discourse from a sectarian perspective to a communitarian one. In order to deal with these points, the paper will introduce the reader to some excerpts from different kinds of literary expression, which all deal with the issue of sectarianism in Syria. After a brief overview on the ideas of three leading intellectuals of the nahḍah (renaissance), al-Bustānī, al-Kawākibī and al-Rīḥānī, the paper will move to recent years and consider four works. Two of them, the novel Lā sakākīn fī maṭābiḫ hāḏihi ’l-madīnah (No Knives in the Kitchens of this City, 2013) by Ḫālid Ḫalīfah (1964) and the series of comics for children “Tīn ba‘l” (The Fig Tree which is Naturally Watered by Rains), describe the sectarian situation before the start of the uprising. The other two, the diary Taqāṭu‘ nīrān (Crossfire, 2012) by Samar Yazbik (1970) and the oral stories of Ḥakawātī sūriyālī (Surrealist storyteller), examine the development of sectarian discourse during the revolution.

“al-Risālah” was one of the leading journals of Egypt’s liberal age which, thanks to the dedicati... more “al-Risālah” was one of the leading journals of Egypt’s liberal age which, thanks to the dedication of its owner and editor, Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Zayyāt, accomplished the goal of introducing Arab reader to world culture. This essay will focus on the contents which refer to Italian culture in particular, through a selection of a number of articles and translations which deal with the subjects that mostly attracted the journal’s attention, i.e. literature and politics. Finally, the possibility will be considered of an influence of these contents on Arabic culture.

Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World, 2019

MONDI MIGRANTI, 2016

“Rivista degli Studi Orientali”, XCIV, 2-4 (2021), p. 71-90, 2021

“La rivista di Arablit”, IX, 17-18 (dicembre 2019), pp. 81-96. , 2019

Monique Bellan; Julia Drost (eds.), Surrealism in North Africa and Western Asia: Crossings and Encounters, Ergon Verlag in Kommission, Beirut 2021, p. 117-135., 2021

Leonardo Capezzone (ed.), Before Archaeology. The Meaning of the Past in the Islamic Pre-Modern Thought (and After), Artemide, Roma 2020, pp. 187-202., 2020

Dal Medio all’Estremo Oriente. Studi del dottorato di ricerca in Civiltà dell’Asia e dell’Africa, 2018

New Geographies: Texts and Contexts in Modern Arabic Literature, 2018

Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World, 2019

La rivista di Arablit, 2017

Since the end of the 1930s, surrealism has spread its principles throughout the Arab world. In ea... more Since the end of the 1930s, surrealism has spread its principles throughout the Arab world. In each place, it has never remained isolated and completely anchored to its original historical dimension, but the association and interaction with the local forms of literary, cultural and even religious expression have transformed it. One of these forms is the Islamic mysticism, i.e. sufism, and it is surprising that the association with surrealism took place even in contexts that were not related to each other.
Critics have already detected the connection of surrealism with mysticism in the French context. This contribution aims to give an overview of the critical writings that display a similar attitude in drawing together surrealism and mysticism with reference to the Middle East and North Africa. It will try to present the different perspectives on the phenomenon and to offer some methodological guidelines for the study of a specific literary case.

Mercoledì 15 maggio alle 15.00, presso l'Aula 304 del Dipartimento di Scienze politiche, si terrà... more Mercoledì 15 maggio alle 15.00, presso l'Aula 304 del Dipartimento di Scienze politiche, si terrà la presentazione del libro "Anime fiere. Resistenza e riscatto delle minoranze in Medio Oriente" di Chiara Zappa. Il volume fornisce una guida al pluralismo religioso ed etnico del Medio Oriente, ribaltando il paradigma del concetto di minoranza: nel mondo globale, infatti, gli spazi di coabitazione e convivenza si ridefiniscono in senso plurale ed aperto. L’incontro è promosso dalla cattedra "King Hamad for inter-religious dialogue and peaceful coexistence" e vedrà la partecipazione dell’autrice, del docente Fabio Grassi del Dipartimento di Storia, antropologia, religioni, arte e spettacolo e del giornalista Riccardo Cristiano. Q&A con Arturo Monaco, Agnese Tatì, Beatrice Tramontano

International Conference organised by Francesca Rondinelli (Université Grenoble Alpes), Arturo M... more International Conference organised by Francesca Rondinelli (Université Grenoble Alpes),
Arturo Monaco (Università La Sapienza-American University of Beirut) and Morad Montazami (Zamân Books and Curating) at the Istituto per l'Oriente C.A. Nallino in Rome. Date: 14-15 December 2023. NEW Deadline: 5 September 2023.

Negotiating Stories in Cohabitation: Dynamics and Narratives of Peace in the Great Empires of the... more Negotiating Stories in Cohabitation: Dynamics and Narratives of Peace in the Great Empires of the Past (from Antiquity to Present Times) is a Sapienza Project (RG11916B85F0352C). The project will focus mainly on the concept of border and conflicts of identity across the boundaries and on the role of historical narratives in conflicts and their resolution. The approach is interdisciplinary, rooted in the discursive approach to conflict and reconciliation through the language of myth, theology, philosophy, law, and arts. During the project, we will become acquainted with concepts and theories of peacebuilding and conciliation, as well as social, political, and cultural issues related to the position of minorities in the empires of Late Antiquity, Middle Ages, and the long Renaissance, from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. We will also explore the repercussions that certain narratives of the past continue to cast on the contemporary images of minority group in the socio-cultural and political scenarios of the present.

Istituto per l’Oriente C. A. Nallino, Roma 2020, 2020

Surrealismi arabi investigates the surrealist trend in modern Arabic poetry in Egypt, Syria and L... more Surrealismi arabi investigates the surrealist trend in modern Arabic poetry in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon between the 1930s and the 1960s.
The research is made up of an introduction, four chapters, a conclusion and an index.
The introduction gives an overview of the Arabic surrealist experience, the place of Surrealism in the existent literature, limits, objectives and structure of the research, the corpus description, the methodology.
The first chapter analyzes the phase that can be defined as pre-surrealist. It includes the description of the literary context prior to the introduction of Surrealism in Arabic literature, starting from the innovations introduced by the romantic movements in Arabic literature, (Mahǧar, Dīwān and Apollo groups). It continues with the vaguely surrealist inspirations of some poets in the Arab Mašriq. Finally, the chapter ends with some notes on the Egyptian poet Muṣṭafà Ṣādiq al-Rāfiʿī, placed halfway between Symbolism and Surrealism.
Second, third and fourth chapters represent the central part of the work, because they display the history and the poetic theory of Arab Surrealism as conceived in each of the considered countries.
The second chapter examines Egypt, being the first place where a heterogeneous surrealist group was formed, taking the name of al-Fann wa-l-Ḥurriyyah. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first one takes into consideration the activities of the three most important exponents, Ǧurǧ Ḥunayn [Georges Henein], Ramsīs Yūnān and Anwar Kāmil, prior to the official foundation of the group. The second section describes the activities and theories of the group through their manifesto, their magazines, with particular attention to those in Arabic (al-Risālah, al-Taṭawwur and al-Maǧallah al-ǧadīdah), the art exhibitions they organized and the political battles. The chapter closes with a brief evaluation of the contribution of Egyptian Surrealism.
The third chapter presents Surrealism as it appeared in Syria. The first section introduces to two poets: Ūrḫān Muyassar, the driving force of the Surrealist principles in the country, and ʿAlī al-Nāṣir. The section considers both Muyassar’s main lines of thought and al-Nāṣir’s poetic innovations in the collection al-Ẓamāʾ (1931) before his surrealist collaboration with Muyassar. The second section represents the fulcrum of the chapter, as it examines the characteristics of Syrian Surrealism, as presented, on the one hand, through the first surrealist poetic collection in Arabic, Suryāl (1947), by both Muyassar and al-Nāṣir; on the other hand, through Muyassar’s essays published in the magazine al-Ḥadīṯ. As in the case of Egypt, this chapter also ends with an assessment of Muyassar’s influence on the generation of his time as well as on the one immediately after.
The fourth chapter deals with development of Surrealism in Lebanon. It begins with a section on Georges Schéhadé, the one who was the first to introduce Surrealism in the country, even though he mainly addressed a French-speaking audience. The second section focuses on the magazine Šiʿr, examining the surrealist contents published in it, divided into: translations of French surrealist works, critical studies on French surrealist poets and critical studies on Arabic poetry that display some traits of surrealist theory. Finally, at the margins of Šiʿr’s experience, the third part considers the surrealist elements in Unsī al-Ḥāǧǧ’s introduction to his first poetic collection, Lan (1960).
The conclusion highlights the possibilities of further research in this field.

Between the 17th and 18th July 1973, Georges Henein passed away in Paris, marking the end of the ... more Between the 17th and 18th July 1973, Georges Henein passed away in Paris, marking the end of the most significant historical phase of Surrealism in Egypt. Cosmopolitan above all, deeply Egyptian, and weaver of relations between the two shores of the Mediterranean, Georges Henein is an author whose activities and writings, partly still unpublished, have left a lasting impact on the Egyptian cultural world in the 1930s. His various activities were instrumental in the development of the avant-garde in Egypt, in fostering international connections, and contributing towards the renewal of Surrealism in its second phase. Despite his numerous contributions, Georges Henein remains relatively unknown in many respects.
This conference aims to study his work and delves into stylistic issues, art criticism, literary networks with contemporary poets, and the echoes of Georges Henein’s influence in French, Arabic, Iranian, and Romanian contexts.