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Mahmoud Darwish
Event Information
Professor Sabry Hafez explores the work of Mahoud Darwish to gain a deeper understanding of the Palestinian National Theatre's staging of his poem Jidariyya.
Reviews
This session was not supposed to be about a dead poet. However, in one of the specially created, darkened performance spaces upstairs in the Hub where it took place, Professor Hafez had to begin by announcing the death only a few days ago of the subject of his talk, Mahmoud Darwish. He described widespread coverage in the Arabic media of the loss of one of the foremost Arabic poets of the 20th/21st centuries.
The first part of Professor Hafez's presentation consisted of a rapid-fire listing of dates and events from Darwish's life, most of which had been devoted to championing the Palestinian cause. For me the second part was more interesting and revealing, when Hafez shared with us some of his personal memories of Darwish as a friend and colleague. We heard for example how his reserve was often taken for arrogance but was in fact a sign of shyness. And that his favourite author was fellow-communist Pablo Neruda.
The question and answer session afterwards included an interesting discussion about a commonly held misperception that Arab identity is to be defined by reference to Islam. It would have been good to hear more from Professor Hafez about Jidariyya, the adaptation of a Darwish poem which is being staged at the Royal Lyceum Theatre until Sunday 17 August. The EIF brochure tells us that the main character in the play, a poet, has just come through heart surgery and is musing on his life, his art and his mortality. It was heart disease that killed Darwish less than a week before the show was due to open. How ironic and tragic.
Photo: Fima Barablat
