Nazik al-Mala'ika's poetry and its critical reception in the West - Modern Iraqi Literature in English Translation

Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Fall, 1997 by Salih J. Altoma

Nazik al-Mala'ika occupies a prominent position in modern Arabic literature not only because of her innovative, experimental poetry, but also because of her well-known systematic critical efforts and her views toward important artistic, linguistic, and intellectual issues in modern Arabic literature. Since the publication of her first collection, The Lover of night (Ashiqat al-Layl, 1947), al-Mala'ika has contributed toward transforming Arabic poetry in terms of its orientation and structure. This is reflected equally in her own poetry and in her critical theorization of the new poetic form known as free verse. Therefore, it is not surprising that al-Mala'ika's poetry and her critical theories should receive attention in both the Arab World and in the West, despite the fact that the West did not pay any significant attention to modern Arabic literature until after World War II (see Altoma, 7:243-257).

A survey of studies written about Nazik al-Mala'ika between 1950 and the 1980s reveals that early references to her were general in nature, aimed at recognizing her position in modern Arabic literature. In 1950, S.A. Khulusi dealt with al-Mala'ika in two articles published in Islamic Review (42:40-45) and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (43:149-107). Titled "Contemporary Poetesses of Iraq," the first article includes a brief introduction of Rabab al-Kazimi, Umm Nizar al-Mala'ika [Nazik's mother] and Nazik al-Mala'ika, Fatina al-Na'ib and Lami'a Abbas Amarah. A large section of the article is devoted to Nazik al-Mala'ika in which Khulusi touched, though without adequate evidence, on a number of influences such as those of the Mahjarite (Arab-American) literature, John Keats, D.H. Lawrence, and Mahmud Hasan Isma'il on her work. He also alluded to al-Mala'ika's use of Greek figures or symbols but he inadvertently included among them Hiawatha, a hero of Native American legends. It was in her Splinters and Ashes (Shazaya wa Ramad), 1949 that al-Mala'ika explained her use of Hiawatha, the native American figure, as a poetic symbol. In the same article, Khulusi translated excerpts from al-Mala'ika's poems "Between the Jaws of Death," "Statutes," "Whips and Echoes," and "Yearnings and Sorrows" (The Lover of Night [Ashiqat al-Layl], 1947). Khulusi, to the best of my knowledge, was the first critic to refer [in a Western publication] to al-Mala'ika's departure from the traditional two-hemistich system and her adoption of the foot as a rhythmic base. He also underlined her pioneering role in laying out the theoretical foundations of free verse, endorsing al-Mala'ika's views as expressed in the "Introduction" to her collection Splinters and Ashes (42:43). Unfortunately, his critical evaluation of al-Mala'ika, despite its historical value, was not acknowledged even in the academic studies published twenty years after his study. In his second article about Atika al-Khazraji, Khulusi was somewhat rash in his critical judgment. He indicated, for instance, that al-Khazraji was more talented than other Iraqi women poets. He even went to the extent of labeling al-Khazraji as "The Uncrowned Queen of Modern Poetry," even though he elsewhere admitted that al-Khazraji's poetry was less imaginative, less original and less musical than al-Mala'ika's (43:154).

These early efforts were followed by two essays by the Sudanese author and former Foreign Minister, Jamal M. Ahmed. In one essay he referred to Nazik al-Mala'ika as one of the prominent poets (18:164). His second essay cited, in a laudatory tone, al-Mala'ika's poem, "The Hidden Land" which was published in her third collection, The Bottom of the Wave (Qararat al-Mawja, 1957). Here Ahmed translated a few lines from it, pointing out that it was "not only a powerful poem but also one of the most competent" (19:20).

In 1959, the French writer Pierre Rossi published an article titled, "Impressions sur la Poesie d'Irak. Jawahiri, Mardan, Nazik al-Mala'ika, Bayati," in which we find a French translation of al-Mala'ika's poem, "To Wash Away Dishonor," among the translated poems by the other three poets. But the chronology of al-Mala'ika was not accurate. He stated that her first book, Lover of the Night, was published in 1951, and her Splinters and Ashes was published in 1954 (74:199-212).

The year 1961 witnessed several attempts to introduce Nazik al-Mala'ika in the West. In his bilingual anthology of modern Arabic literature, Anthologie Bilingue de la litterature arabe cotemporaine, Vincent Monteil includes both the French and the Arabic texts of al-Mala'ika's poem "Five Songs to Pain," which was first published in 1957 in al-Adab (Beirut) (67:99-109). In addition, the well-known British critic and translator Desmond Stewart, who was also al-Mala'ika's professor, refers to her poetry in his essay "Contacts with Arab Writers" (1961). He also cites a few lines from al-Mala'ika's poem "Legends" as she translated it, with some emendations, as Steward indicates (76:19-20). George Sfeir's essay "Writers in Arabic" states that Nazik al-Mala'ika expresses the awakened woman's hidden feelings by using sorrowful tunes and symbolic modes (The New York Times Book Review, 75:48-49). Lastly, Salih Jawad Altoma, in a lecture at the Women's Club of the Pen Association in Washington, D.C., considered Nazik al-Mala'ika the most prominent poetess in the Arab World, referring to the rebellion, perplexity, and melancholy that saturated her poetry. He also translated some lines from her poem "The Gatherer of Shadows" (21:14-15).