The Collected Poems of Ibrahim Nasrallah Volume One

Description

The collected poems of the poet and novelist Ibrahim Nasrallah have been published in Beirut in three volumes. These volumes comprise his collections published between 1980, beginning with his collection “Horses on the Outskirts of the City,” and 2017, the year of his collection “Love is Evil.”

During this extended period, Nasrallah’s work has undergone numerous transformations in its diverse aesthetic and intellectual choices. These range from the standard-length poem to the very short poem, to which he dedicated four collections, and from the biographical and epic poems to the operatic work. It is noteworthy that his work draws upon narrative techniques from fiction, cinema, photography, painting, philosophy, and other artistic, intellectual, and existential concerns. Several prominent Arab critics address these aspects in their studies of Nasrallah’s work, which form the introductions to the three volumes. These studies were written by critics from Palestine, Egypt, and Iraq.

The Collected Poems of Ibrahim Nasrallah, Volume One In his introduction to the first volume, Dr. Ihsan Abbas writes: “I would be exceeding the bounds of natural ambition if I claimed to be able to write a precise critical study of Ibrahim Nasrallah’s collected poems—one that would satisfy both the reader and myself. Ibrahim traversed numerous stages, charting a course for the development of his poetry that included both extensions and turns. A work like this demands meticulous naming of these stages and defining the characteristics of each.

There is something missing that I am searching for but cannot find (at present): sufficient time to fully grasp this vast collection.

With Ibrahim Nasrallah, the short poem took on a new dimension when it was dedicated to a complete volume, without this being due to any weariness with the long poem, which he mastered in works such as ‘Nu’man Regains His Color,’ ‘The River Boy… and the General,’ and others. Furthermore, his transition between poetry and the novel demonstrates that the length of the form does not hinder his creativity.” The poem “The Banner of the Heart” is a powerful expression of defiance against death. Following Ibrahim’s poetic journey, we observe his constant evolution and his commitment to presenting something different in each collection. He reaches a point where he no longer wishes to express himself—for example, in “The River Boy… and the General”—and suddenly breaks the pen he used to write “The River Boy…” and begins “Storms of the Heart” or “Wilderness of Fever,” in a narrative endeavor that is among the most sophisticated in the world.