Mehmet Hakkı Suçin
Abstract
This chapter examines the literary, aesthetic and intellectual influence of Nâzım Hikmet on modern Arabic poetry. It shows that Hikmet’s works were translated into Arabic from an early date, both directly from Turkish and through intermediary languages, but that his impact in the Arab world was not confined to translation: his life story, his political struggle and his conception of poetry also left a mark on many Arab poets.
The chapter focuses in particular on the Palestinian poets Tawfiq Zayyad, Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim and Mu’in Bseiso, the Egyptian poet Salah Abd al-Sabur and the Iraqi poet Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati. Hikmet’s influence is assessed along three main axes: a plain and fluent poetic language; the re-functioning of elements of traditional poetry and folk culture within modern verse; and the articulation of the experiences of ordinary people, the poor and the oppressed through a liberationist conception of poetry.
The influence proves especially strong in Palestinian poetry, where the work of Tawfiq Zayyad, Mahmoud Darwish and Samih al-Qasim shows marked intersections with Hikmet in its treatment of resistance, exile and freedom, and in the figure of the poet as the conscience of the people. In the cases of Salah Abd al-Sabur and Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati, social realism, a cinematic mode of narration, the experience of exile and the transformation of traditional motifs into a contemporary poetic idiom come to the fore.
The final section evaluates the Arabic translations of Hikmet’s work in terms of both quantity and quality, comparing in particular two Arabic translations of the poem “Ya Ayni, Ya Habibi” by Muhammad al-Bukhari and Fadil Luqman. The chapter argues that, through translation, Hikmet’s poetry crossed national borders and became part of a lasting aesthetic and intellectual dialogue within Arabic literature.
Keywords: Nâzım Hikmet · Arabic poetry · Mahmoud Darwish · Tawfiq Zayyad · Samih al-Qasim · Mu’in Bseiso · Salah Abd al-Sabur · Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati · Palestinian poetry · resistance poetry · literary interaction · poetry translation
Cite this work
Chicago
Suçin, Mehmet Hakkı. “The Influence of Nâzım Hikmet on Arab Poetry.” Translated by Burcu Alkan. In Turkish Literature as World Literature, edited by Burcu Alkan and Çimen Günay-Erkol, 148–168. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.
APA
Suçin, M. H. (2021). The influence of Nâzım Hikmet on Arab poetry (B. Alkan, Trans.). In B. Alkan & Ç. Günay-Erkol (Eds.), Turkish literature as world literature (pp. 148–168). Bloomsbury Academic.
Publication details
Turkish Literature as World Literature
Editors: Burcu Alkan, Çimen Günay-Erkol
English translation: Burcu Alkan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Place: New York
Year: 2021
Pages: 148–168
ISBN: 978-1-5013-5801-2
Series: Literatures as World Literature
Type: Book chapter
Language of the text: English