Lecture 05

Ajouté : 2026-05-09

[00:00:21]I welcome you to this fifth lecture of the first week.

[00:00:26]It will be focused uh on the concept of uh postmodernism, the postmodern literary paradigm as it emerged in the international literary arena and how it was adopted in the Arabic literary modern literary scenario.

[00:00:56]So the themes we'll be just uh going through briefly would be covering modernism, postmodernism, structuralism, post structuralism, deconstruction, the argumentative, the semiotics, the pragmatics, feminism, postcolonialism and post postmodernism.

[00:01:20]Before modernism, it was uh something like uh neocclassicism and before which we find uh classicism, the concepts of language and literature as uh propounded by the classical parameters, paradigms right from the Greek uh philosophers.

[00:01:52]who had uh theorized uh uh concerning uh language and literature just like Aristotle in his poeta and rhetoric.

[00:02:05]These traditions were translated into Arabic uh during the heyday of translations in Baghdad under the patronage of the rulers uh in under the banner of uh Bthulhikma.

[00:02:22]So that uh continued uh constituted uh a literary tradition which is known as the classical literary tradition.

[00:02:35]This classicism was modified by new trends. These new trends were known as uh modernism.

[00:02:45]Modernism that is known as al-hadasa in Arabic.

[00:02:50]Modernism emerged in the backdrop of the new light in Europe followed by uh the east the eastern literary philosophical cultural mills absorbs in things borrowing themes or adjusting themselves to the new parameters in literary philosophical cognitive uh epistemology ological etc. which were developed in uh modern Europe in specific uh uh geographic uh civilizational and intellectual uh millios and parameters.

[00:03:37]This modernism was uh made the way for postmodernism when uh new ideas and ideas related to language and literature were uh accommodated were formulated then accommodated in the literary perspectives.

[00:03:57]In the postmodernism we have the structuralism then post structuralism deconstruction the argumentative the semiotics etc which we'll be just passing uh through briefly uh before focusing on how they were adopted represented and represented in modern Arabic literary perspectives.

[00:04:23]The postmodernism actually is the cultural pluralism.

[00:04:30]It uh focuses uh on uh the perceptions of language and literature as uh modified by the structuralist uh thinkers in uh uh postmodern period.

[00:04:55]And if you just uh look at it in terms of uh time we'll be finding that uh the he start with the 1990 at the last episode of uh the 20th century when we finding the postmodern ideas postmodern paradigms postmodern philosophizing of language and literature and their uh literary representations uh taking place rather storming the world.

[00:05:30]What uh actually uh makes a difference or draws a line between the classical and the modern thinking of humans related to language, literature, culture, culture etc. is uh the cultural pluralism as we find in modern times rather postmodern times.

[00:05:57]This cultural plurality uh sums up humans uh endeavors, experimentations, expediences and the realities based on society. Of course, not based on uh some theoretical assumptions or philosophizing, mere philsizing rather based on the reality in society.

[00:06:32]uh was uh the plurality of the uh units ethnic, cultural, linguistic, literary units found in human societies of east and west in vast geographical stages that constituted uh the concept of pluralism.

[00:06:55]So the world has a pluralist society. Of course, the world never has been uh uh something like a monolithic in nature in regard to cultures or paradigms or languages or literatures.

[00:07:11]But uh the thing that uh these things made uh us think uh a fresh or revisit our concept of uh language and literature accommodating multi- uh lingualism, multiculturality, multithnicity etc. So this brings to us uh the very core of uh or the theme of pluralism as it was estab established in modern times. It was very much eclectic in style and the performative irony among other features. So this paradigm was the cultural pluralistic paradigm propounded by postmodernism was uh eclectic uh in its nature as well as representation.

[00:08:09]It had uh many facets uh uh within it embedded uh with it that is feminism, multiculturalism and postcolonialism building upon post structural theory postmodern thought defined itself by the rejection of any single foundational historical narrative.

[00:08:31]So before that there was a single foundational historical narrative regarding language and literature. The very concept of language and concept of literature in which uh one entity uh actually did away with the others with the other entities.

[00:08:55]So it was very much uh monotheistic but the postructural theory revolted against this uh singistic or the monotheistic uh uh monolithic u uh perspective of narrative monolithic nar uh nature of narrative and rejected it and replaced it with the concept of meta language.

[00:09:24]Althala in Arabic the word here is metala.

[00:09:29]What is metala? Metal language. A systematic way of talking about concepts like meaning and grammar beyond the constraints of a traditional first order language. In the metal language symbols replace words and phrases. So here the symbols uh replaced words and phrases by and large uh on the very domain of a theory like what was what is language? So language is a symbol it's an image based on the meaning that we find in our mind. So when we conceive about any sentence, when we conceive about a meaning related to an uh an event that takes place in the external world like John is walking. So when we say John is walking or say Mahmud Yamshi Yamshi Mahm. So we simply imagine that uh we can find the imprint of uh of of this sentence in terms of image. We had an image of this sentence like uh John is walking or Mahmud Yamshi or Yamshi Mahmod.

[00:10:45]So this verb and this act that is taken that that is that has taken place in the external world outside me outside us it uh becomes embodied by an image by a symbol by a symbol we can see this symbol we can see this image if we whether or not we close our mind our eyes if we close our eyes we can see it very clearly so That was uh the very concept of uh or it happens to be something very fundamental related to the uh basic concept of language in postmodern perspective especially in regard to the semiotic theory.

[00:11:39]Right.

[00:11:58]or it combines linguistic, psych, linguistics, psychology, anthropology and other fields to interpret those structures.

[00:12:12]So this is a fundamental point of departure between the modernist the classical the modernist classical the classicist and the modernist paradigms compared to the postmodernist paradigm or the postmodernism perspectives.

[00:12:33]The fallout of this concept is the nehistic form of relativism.

[00:12:39]So the thing is that when we think when you take the the the the scheme or the schema of the things in perspectives of a plurality.

[00:12:52]So here the primary concern or the focus is on on the fact that uh things are relative.

[00:13:02]So if uh there is no universal like uh or standardized uh line single line of interpretation or uh regarding any con concept of language of course we are concerned with the language and literature rather you are accommodating so many things it is the polality domain Then of course it is relativism something like the the nihilistic form of relativism. Nahhilistic because uh it is not fixed. It is not eternal. It is not uh taken as uh canonical as standard rather it accommodates the things and when we accommodate the things the concepts the paradigms the perspectives the experimentations the literary creations whe whether in uh uh the pros narrative or the poetic narratives then it tends to be something like uh neihilistic in its form. The critics claim it supplants moral, political and aesthetic ide ideals with mere style and spectacle.

[00:14:24]So this is one of the uh interpretations or the the views or uh the critical views of regarding the postmodern paradigm of language and literature that is represented uh in some perspectives by the nhistic form of relativism.

[00:14:50]Post structuralism proposes that human culture can be understood by means of high structure that is modeled on language. As a result, there is concrete reality on the one hand of abstract ideas about reality on the other hand and the third order that mediates between the two. A post stateless response then might suggest that in order to build meaning out of such an interpretation, one must assume falsely that the definitions of these signs are both valid and fixed and that the author implying a structuralist theory is somehow above and apart from these structures they are describing so as to able to wholly appreciate them.

[00:15:30]The rigidity and tendency to categorize intimations, intimations of universal truth found in structuralist thinking is a common target of postructuralist thought while also building upon structuralist conceptions of reality mediated by the inter relationship between the science.

[00:15:49]uh we know that Rona Bart, Jaca, Michel FCO, Gile, Janna, Bodla etc. with their known books like mythologies, the death of the author, uh speech and phenomena of grammarlogology, writing and difference, margins of philosophy etc. Uh uh these are the postural thinkers with their works.

[00:16:18]Uh this uh uh image, this sort of diagram gives uh the basic components of uh the uh post uh modernist structure that is globalization has narrowed time in space. Search for truth. People less likely to follow rigid ideology.

[00:16:44]Greater pluralism in modern life where there are no absolutes. Absolutes the cultural and uh culture and structures are fragmented means they are less predictable. Traditional levels and categories lose relevance in the backdrop of the transformation of the self and impact of uh ICT on social life consumerism etc. So this actually focuses it shows us the cracks of u uh the constructs that make up postmodern paradigm.

[00:17:23]These postmodern perspectives have been well absorbed in modern uh illiterary uh scenario.

[00:17:32]So here we are simply concerned about uh these things as uh prologina to the history of Arabic literature or the introduction to Arabic literature.

[00:17:46]Uh it's not a detailed study or lecture or a specific lecture about that because we'll be dealing uh about these things separately uh in the last segment of uh these lectures related to the modern times and postmodern times. Here uh the very idea is that uh the history of Arabic literature as a subject in encompasses all these aspects all these paradigms and there is hardly any literary tradition or literary perspective whether it is modern or uh postmodern or before that it is the classical or the neocclassical.

[00:18:29]uh but we have that uh they have their representations adaptations in the uh literary in the contemporary or the modern or contemporary literary perspectives Arabic Arab literary perspectives if you just look at the modern uh postmodern Arabic novels we have Kala written by Abd Rahman Halak was a Syrian uh author We have Nihad Sirius uh he was uh he's again a Syrian writer in his uh novel that is we have Yasmin from Algeria Watan Zaj Idris Ali an Egyptian novelist in his book in his novel that is in Fija it's a postmodern novel Mahmud a muharama and uh as regards the books we'll be having that uh approximately all the books all the books written by the postmodern ideologues the thinkers the writers in [clears throat] Arabic in in in English or French or other European languages. Their books have been translated into Arabic like uh Jaca Alaba.

[00:20:09]We have this translation by Jaca and others. It has been translated into Arabic. Michel and they translated for me in Arabic.

[00:20:28]translated into Arabic and we have these translators like Omar Muhammad Milad Muhammad by the way and others tal Roland MD Michel Jill Dulus The same thing as we have one of the difference lies in the translator that is the first first translator was and the second translation uh of this book was done by Abdul Aiz Aliari.

[00:21:42]Uh it is followed by uh many books written uh in uh analysis, study, analysis and and introspection, critical uh appreciation, analysis or introspection of modernism, postmodernism etc. These literary series like written by written by written by Ahmed Abdul that is the materialist philosophy materialism and the deconstruction of the man human deconstruction Dr. Abdah by Muhammad Malik written by Mushid Ahmed Abdah. Ibraim.

[00:23:31]Then dealing with how this this paradigm the literary paradigm of postmodernism was applied in the domain of literary criticism and besides other books such as Shai by written by Jabari Jabar which is again a postmodern novel Then because the very idea of displacement or estrangement happens to be uh seated firmly seated in the postmodern paradigm, postmodern perspectives and paradigm written by Because the postmodern paradigm in the as a philosophy as a literary theory and literary enterprise it has uh many things which uh which were hardly to be accepted uh or welcomed by the traditional uh uh society. So there were reservations, there were rejections, there were the critics.

[00:25:23]So these are the things that that we have uh regarding the postmodern perspective in Arabic.

[00:25:38]Coming to the post postmodern perspective because in terms of time when we look at uh these philosophical and literary traditions the concepts the ideologies the projections in the context of time. So here we have the concept of post postmodern perspective.

[00:26:05]So we are now living in the postmodern times not post postmodern times not simply the post modern times it will be having Brooklyn's immersionism Tom Turner's post postmodernism Epstein's trans postmodernism in his book uh written in 1999 on Russian postmodernism the Russian American and slavist ab suggested that postmodernism is part of a much larger historical formation which he calls post modernity then we'll be having the terms like uh trans utopianism transor originality transitism trans sentimentality etc in in his 2006 paper the death of postmodernism and beyond. The British scholar Alan Kurbe formulated a socioultural assessment of post postmodernism that he calls shed modernism related to postmodernism. We have these books that is the post postmodernism by Jeffrey Nan and against postmodernism a Marxist critic by Alex uh Kalinikos and uh Jean Bodlar from Marxism to modernism and beyond by Douglas Kelner in the domain of so these were the related to uh The theory of the post-postmodernism the postmodern paradigm in the literary domain is represented uh by chiefly by trotter nama.

[00:28:01]This is the famous novel written by an indoor European uh writer and that is Alan Silli Trotter Nama.

[00:28:11]It's a mix of uh it actually goes against uh all the uh like established uh literary uh paradigms that has come to us that have come to us uh from the past uh eras up to the contemporary period.

[00:28:41]like the classicist theory, the new classist theory, the modernist theory, the post-modernist theory, then it is the postmodernist theory. Even this name that is trotter nama, trotter and nama, it combines between uh a Persian word that is nama that is the litter like asho nama, kab nama, admi nama, ahmed nama We'll be having a large number of uh books written in the middle ages as well as in the modern times having this nama as part of its name or the title.

[00:29:23]So this book that is tot combines between the two. In Arabic we have written by Rahulman translated by Aman.

[00:29:44]So uh this is to this all these lead us to conclude safely that uh the history of Arabic literature represents all the uh stages of literary experimentations literary paradigms, literary thought and literary culture right from the classical times up to not only the modern times rather extended to postmodern and post postmodern times that is in the moment we are living in.

[00:30:25]So that's why Arabic now is sitted in the imperion in the imperion of the literary scenario traditions acclaimed worldwide.

[00:30:41]Uh and as we recollect that in 18 in uh 1988 Najim Mahuz who actually represents modernism not postmodernism although some perspectives of postmodernism could be identified in his uh nar literary narratives.

[00:31:03]He was uh recognized internationally by the world uh literary millio while being conferred the Nobel prize for literature in recognition of his uh uh primary book that is harit or children of alongside other books.

[00:31:29]So with this we conclude uh this lecture. Thank you.

[00:31:33]>> [music]