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The Lebanese-Phoenician Nationalist Movement

Literature, Language and Identity

Basilius Bawardi author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:8th Aug '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Lebanese-Phoenician Nationalist Movement cover

Should Lebanon be part of the Arab world?

The question of belonging has formed the basis of the political, religious and cultural tensions in Lebanon, to the point that sectarian conflict on the country's future contributed significantly to the outbreak of civil war in 1975. This book focuses on the development of the Phoenician-Lebanese movement that struggled against the hegemonic status of Arabic language and culture. The Phoenician-Lebanese were a predominantly Maronite Christian group who attempted to remove themselves from the Muslim and Arab world throughout the twentieth century. Their demands for self-definition as a nation and their desire to establish their own culture were rooted in the concept of their ancient Phoenician past. Basilius Bawardi examines four prominent authors who formed the basis on which all engaged so-called Phoenician literature was built: Sharl Qurm, Sa'id 'Aql, Mayy Murr and Muris 'Awwad. The literary corpus of these writers was a critical component of the political activity that strove to distinguish the native Lebanese inhabitants from their Arab-Muslim neighbours.Studying these authors' works in both a literary and historical way, Bawardi shows how language was used to promote a specific political agenda and identifies the strong connections between language, literature and nation building. As well as revealing the nationalist struggle as it emerges in prose and poetry, the book discusses the history and formation of modern day Lebanon and why language and literature are so crucial for members of a national minority.

'Bawardi presents an innovative combination of thorough textual research and theoretical arguments. The volume highlights the complex links between ideologies and language that have contributed to forming the Phoenician-Lebanese identity.' - Fruma Zachs, Professor and Head of Middle Eastern History, The Department of Middle Eastern History, University of Haifa, 'In his book, Basilius Bawardi presents three Lebanese poets: Sa'id 'Aql (1912-2014), May(y) Murr (1929-2008), and Maurice 'Awwad (born in 1934). Their literary work reflects two contemporary anti-Arab, and anti-Sunni, partly overlapping movements in Lebanon: Phoenicianism, proclaiming the Phoenician origins of the Lebanese people, and linguistic nationalism, which aims to introduce Lebanese Arabic as the official national language in the country, and to replace Arabic script by the new Latin alphabet created by Sa'id 'Aql. Although these ideological trends have been studied in recent years by several scholars, Bawardi takes an original methodological perspective, based firstly on literary criticism and studies on the history of ideas. As he has previously translated into Hebrew sections of M. 'Awwad's work, he is also sensitive to its linguistic form.' - Arkadiusz Plonka, Assistant Professor, Institute of Oriental Studies, Jagiellonian University

ISBN: 9781784532376

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 391g

208 pages