Salim Barakat, Mahmud Darwish, and the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude: Qamishli Extended
The poetry of Salim Barakat aims to recapture the ancient oral culture of the “Kurdu,” and, in so doing, re-invent a distinctly Kurdish culture. Through poetic innovation, this intensely Kurdish poet brings modernity to ancient Kurdish structures.
This book provides an overview of new developments in modern Arabic poetry, as seen through the creativity of its leading exponents, Barakat and Mahmud Darwish, as well as the older Syrian poet Adunis. Its unsurpassed translations of the work of these poets open up possibilities for the reader to enjoy first-hand what modern Arabic poetry has to offer.
Translating Barakat’s poetry, and understanding something of what this great poet has to say has thrown new light on the output of his friend Mahmud Darwish. It becomes clear that the Palestinian poet uses a semblance of Barakat’s Kurdish Shahnama and also his Ballade, genres that hail from orality. Analyzing Darwish’s “Fewer Roses,” and “The Hoopoe,” we find that the former is an epic with 50 episodes telling of the wanderings of Palestinians in exile. “The Hoopoe” is specifically a Sufi poem based in the literary Sufism of medieval poets. Darwish has left us with clear instructions on how to translate his poetry, which this book carefully follows.
Aviva Butt is a writer, screenwriter, and translator. She received her MA from the Department of Semitic Studies of the University of Sydney, Australia. She has published articles in the International Journal of Kurdish Studies on the Kurdish poet-prophet Salim Barakat and the Kurdish biblical prophet Nahum, which can be found on various websites, as can her articles on Mahmud Darwish. She is currently working in consultation with Salim Barakat to translate his novel Sages of Darkness.
“In this remarkable work of Middle-Eastern scholarship, Aviva Butt has ranged over several cultures and languages, as well as translating into English large segments of the poetry of the Kurdish poet Salem Barakat (1951-) and the Palestinian poet, Mahmud Darwish (1941-2008). Aviva Butt demonstrates how Barakat’s poetry reaches back to the pre-Islamic era, to Zoroastrianism in particular, through to the Quran as a kind of template for the morphology of his own poetry, while Darwish, under the collaborative influence of Barakat’s Sufi sensibility, mourns the catastrophic dispersal of Palestinians from their homeland and looks forward to a renewed identity for his people through the medium of his art. […] One of the strengths of Aviva Butt’s scholarship is her evident knowledge of the cultures and languages of the region; and for speakers of Arabic, in particular, it is noteworthy that she not only provides translations from the original Arabic texts, but also includes quotations in Arabic, so that the quality of translation may be evaluated and appreciated. In addition to extensive translations from the work of both poets, Butt has included helpful footnotes by way of some linguistic and factual extrapolation – essential for readers whose knowledge of the languages discussed is lacking and whose historical awareness of the region is limited. Aviva Butt’s Salim Barakat, Mahmud Darwish, and the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude is a remarkable tour de force, and I can recommend it to any reader who seeks to be more informed about Barakat’s and Darwish’s work, and, most importantly, the cultural and political issues and preoccupations which concern them.”
Professor Antony Johae
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