قضايا الالتزام في الشعر الجزائري الحديث (1925-1962

Abstract

In this research enterprise, we attempt to pinpoint the commitment issues of contemporary Algerian poetry in the period extending from 1925 to 1962. The research corpora are the sterling texts put together by poets of this critical time span where they disclosed great historical, social, political and revolutionary awareness, all operating within the distinct Arab-Islamic realm. These eminent poetic figures, by virtue of their artistic products, defend their future and that of their land which is menaced by the colonizer. After we have read what we could of their poetic works, we decided to divide this research study into an introduction and six chapters. The first chapter addresses the various meaning nuances of commitment together with the definition of its various implications through the lenses of old western theories, more peculiarly as handled by two Greek thinkers, viz. Plato and Aristotle. The discussion moves on to address the contemporary western theories’ conceptions of these terms as well as how the pioneers of socialist realism have dealt with it. We, along the same lines, dwell on how this concept is portrayed in our ancient poetry through the poetic texts backed up by corresponding critics’ accounts. Discussions around the emergence of this term in the province of modern Arab poetry in general and more narrowly in the Algerian literary works are also another tenet of this chapter and they mark the end thereof. In the second chapter, we have spelt out how Algerian poets interact with their national identity constituents and their nation which was threatened by the colonizer, notably the Islamic religion, the Arabic language and their past. We have, by the same token, embarked on the extent to which they deployed their poetic works as a veritable weapon in the civilization struggle deploying every religious and national occasion and ceremony to defend these elements empowered by the invincible might of words. They thereby set the most proverbially monumental examples of commitment.As regards the layout of the third chapter, we have displayed some defining facets of the social commitment via usage of poetic texts. They were depicted in the call for knowledge spread and education, misery and poverty, improving the multifaceted wellbeing of women and the fighting of corruption and degeneracy. We have introduced in the fourth chapter various images of the political commitment in the contemporary Algerian poetry. Such a commitment manifested itself in patriotism and Arab-Islamic affiliation, as well as the call to Arab union. Other attested constituents are the keeping-up with the political events both at the national level and throughout the Arab territory, and the interaction with the Arab-Islamic issues. The fifth chapter comprises the poetic texts which foresaw and hinted at the outbreak of the war of independence and gave good omens thereof before it actually broke out. The other big heading of this chapter takes up the poems of struggle during the period of the national movement along with the poems of the national independence and its contents. The sixth chapter is wholly devoted to studying the pertinent artistic phenomena both in terms of form and content in traditional and free poetry. The research work is ultimately concluded by a rubric encompassing discussions and interpretations of the manifold results and findings we have amassed.