The Trajectories of Trauma and Pain in the Post 1967 War Poetry

Abstract

This paper investigates the post Six-Day War (1967) poetry in order to reveal the tragic ramifications of the war and explore themes of trauma and defeat integral to Arabic literature at that time. Selected poetic texts, written by major figures such as Nizar Qabbani, Mohamed al-Fayturi, Mudhafar al-Nawwab, Abdul-Wahhab al-Bayati and Badr Shaker al-Sayyab will be critically examined in order to underline the response of a generation of poets, who challenged the hegemonic discourses advocated by tyrannical Arab regimes, to the experience of war and defeat. In an attempt to confront a structure of political myths and cultural superstitions deployed by the defeated regimes and their official state media about the superiority of Arab armies and the inevitabilityofobliterating Israel, these poets introduced counter-discourses interrogation narratives perpetuated by the regimes and the establishments which sustained the war.