International Journal of Asian History, Cultures and Traditions

EA Journals

Draft

Final Versions and Meaning Transformation: The Example of Maḥmud Darwīsh (Published)

It is usual for a poetic text to undergoe changes between the draft and the print versions. But Maḥmūd Darwīsh continued changing his poems even after they were in print, out of a desire to further refine his poetic output. I shall therefore treat a former edition of a poem as a draft of the later edition. In fact, Darwīsh not only made changes of this kind using a variety of techniques; he also made changes in the text that was recited orally before an audience. I have thus treated the recited versions as an “illegitimate final text”, since there are reasons why he made such changes. In a number of printed texts he also used the technique of exclusion, both in collections and in single poems. The question that I address in this context is the following: What are the relationships and dialectics between the various different types of modifications that Darwīsh made in his texts and the formulation of meaning as a message that the poet wishes to convey to the receiver?

Keywords: Draft, Final versions, Maḥmud Darwīsh, Meaning Transformation, Modern Arabic Poetry.

Scroll to Top

Don't miss any Call For Paper update from EA Journals

Fill up the form below and get notified everytime we call for new submissions for our journals.