Standing by the Ruins: Elegiac Humanism in Wartime and Postwar Lebanon (Modern Language Initiative)

Since the mid-1970s, Lebanon has been at the center of the worldwide rise in sectarian extremism. Its cultural output has both mediated and resisted this rise. Standing by the Ruins reviews the role of culture in supporting sectarianism, yet argues for the emergence of a distinctive aesthetic of resistance to it. 
Focusing on contemporary Lebanese fiction, film, and popular culture, this book shows how artists reappropriated the twin legacies of commitment literature and the ancient topos of “standing by the ruins” to form a new “elegiac humanism” during the tumultuous period of 1975 to 2005. It redirects attention to the critical role of culture in conditioning attitudes throughout society and is therefore relevant to other societies facing sectarian extremism.
Standing by the Ruins is also a strong intervention in the burgeoning field of World Literature. Elaborating on the great Arabist Hilary Kilpatrick’s crucial insight that ancient Arabic forms and topoi filter into modern literature, the author details how the “standing by the ruins” topos―and the structure of feeling it conditions―has migrated over time. Modern Arabic novels, feature films, and popular culture, far from being simply cultural imports, are hybrid forms deployed to respond to the challenges of contemporary Arab society. As such, they can take their place within a World Literature paradigm: they are cultural products that travel and intervene in the world.

Literature & Fiction

Seigneurie, Ken

History & Criticism

Modern Language Initiative

This volume explores the literary representation of social and political crises that have punctuated the second half of the 20th century in the Middle East. From the creation of the state of Israel and its continuing aftermath, to the Suez crisis, to the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan, to the Lebanese Civil War, literature "has been there" but seldom has it been considered a useful lens for understanding the causes and perpetuation of these crises. This collection of essays aims to show how literature can illuminate crises of ethnicity, gender, class, religion, and nation. While the contributors hail from several countries and display a variety of critical approaches, they all focus on the representation of space in narrative.

Crisis and Memory: The Representation of Space in Modern Levantine Narrative (Literaturen Im Kontext. Arabisch - Persisch - Turkisch)

Dr Ludwig Reichert Verlag

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Seigneurie, Ken. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Seigneurie, Ken

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Seigneurie, Ken. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Standing by the Ruins: Elegiac Humanism in Wartime and Postwar Lebanon (Modern Language Initiative)

Standing by the Ruins: Elegiac Humanism in Wartime and Postwar Lebanon (Modern Language Initiative)

Crisis and Memory: The Representation of Space in Modern Levantine Narrative (Literaturen Im Kontext. Arabisch - Persisch - Turkisch)