Songs of Mihyar the Damascene

Written in the early 1960s by Adonis, 'the most eloquent spokesman and explorer of Arabic modernity' (Edward Said), Songs of Mihyar the Damascene is widely considered to be the apex of the modernist poetry movement in the Arab world, and a radical departure from the rigid formal structures that had dominated Arabic poetry until the 1950s. Drawing not only on Western influences, such as T.S. Eliot and Nietzsche, but on the deep tradition and history of Arabic poetry, Adonis accomplished a masterful and unprecedented transformation of the forms and themes of Arabic poetry, initiating a profound revaluation of cultural and poetic traditions. Songs of Mihyar is a masterpiece of world literature that rewrote - through Mediterranean myths and renegade Sufi mystics - what it meant to be an Arab in the modern world.

Scrisa la inceputul anilor 1960 de Adonis, ,,cel mai elocvent purtator de cuvant si explorator al modernitatii arabe" (Edward Said), Cantecele lui Mihyar Damaschinul este considerata apogeul miscarii poeziei moderniste din lumea araba si o plecare radicala. din structurile formale rigide care dominasera poezia araba pana in anii '50.