Modernity, classicism and cultural transformation in the Arab world

The victory of modernity does not mean ignorance of the old, and the question of modernity in the text is part of the question of the whole of society. These are opinions from a series of other ideas presented by the readings that dealt with a new book by Moroccan writer and novelist Ahmed El-Medini, in a critical session held last weekend at the headquarters of the National Library in Rabat.
The readings of the book entitled: “Narration between writing and whims … From theory to text” were provided by the critic Abd al-Hamid Akkar, the critic Abd al-Fattah al-Hajjari, in addition to the journalist Muhammad Jleed, critical readings that differed to a large extent; In terms of the principles and points of view on which he relied in approaching the content of the book; But all agreed on the importance of what was mentioned in the 62nd title of the Al-Madani series of books.
Speaking of the content of the book, Aqar started from those basic visions that have characterized urban thought over five decades of writing, which have produced on average more than one book per year, presenting in this context a set of contexts historical and cultural.
Aqar did not hide his great admiration for the city’s mastery of current narrative data and the cultural transformations underway in the Arab world, highlighting the declared urban bias towards modernity, which necessarily requires a full knowledge of the ancient founder and original, and the rebellion against all those ready-made patterns in the colors, shapes and visions of the narrative, which is not correct. Except by learning the classic lesson and understanding it, constantly knowing the achievements of the pioneers and listening to them.
Aqar underlined the importance of the conclusions drawn by Al-Medini in his book, which confirmed the existence of a great Arabic literature in which the texts expand and dialogue, in addition to stressing that the Arabic narrative writing – and Moroccan – has already entered a phase of possible modernity with two essential tools: First, consider History is a real world and another world made of language, images and visions. And on the other hand, the tool of experimentation through a strong artistic will to break into the unknown and the imagined and to create an alternative to the expected.
In the midst of the interventions that focused on the body of the famous book, the critic Abdel-Fattah Al-Hajjari chose to read the content of this book in the light of other texts, hoping to find the thread that connects the questions raised by Al-Madani in his book, and the associated cultural contexts. In this section, he evoked a set of basic concepts that Al-Madani arrested in his book, namely classicism, modernity, identity, realism and experimentation.
Al-Majmari also pointed out the strong connection between the question of modernity and the question of today’s society, citing Al-Madani’s speech: The modern narrative is part of the movement of transforming society and the construction of the modern value system. Al-Majmari also highlighted al-Medini’s view of experimentation as a biblical choice among other biblical choices, in the context of the perpetual wager on modernity, which raises another question, according to al-Majmari: is the modernity of the Arab novel today governed by a theoretical representation which goes beyond its textual representation?
Returning to classicism, al-Majmari recalls what al-Medini said of the classic narrative, which he saw based on a certainty consistent and consistent with the foundations of bourgeois society and its economic and social structures, just like classicism in perception. of the townspeople are the rules established by an art which has reached maturity. Al-Majmari asked himself in this sense: what is the meaning of classicism in literature? Did the Arabs originally write the classic novel to be said to have written the modern novel? Explaining that classical texts in general were modern texts in their time, so classicism in its context is a temporal concept, just like modernity, says Al-Majmari: On the other hand, he stressed the importance of what ‘Al-Madani concluded in his book, in terms of the need to defend the position of fiction and the discourse of fiction in the general cultural discourse of society, and the imperative to also defend the value of the critical vision that ‘it complicates with reality.
The interaction of the participants with the content of the interventions was active, and the discussion session was stimulated by an intervention by the Moroccan poet and novelist Muhammad Al-Ash’ari, who remarked with admiration what Al-Madini was talking about in his book, on reducing the gap between writing in Morocco and writing in the East, in terms of quantity and quality, and the question of the intersection and harmony between this Writing in the East and this which is written in Morocco, it is spoken today, for the first time, perhaps – says Al-Ash’ari – in many arts, such as poetry, history and the novel; Indeed, the cinema also expresses a cultural change which has already occurred in our Arab world, and indicates a common situation which exists which cannot be amputated or overcome. Al-Ash’ari was apparently not very excited about the voluminous perspective on the issue of classicism, as he stressed the importance of understanding that classicism does not carry the sense of textual hierarchy and does not include judgment. of value towards the precedent from texts or experiences. On the contrary, this is exactly what the text and the writer aspire to. In terms of status and symbolic position, the ambition of every writer is to someday become a classic, says Al-Ash’ari.
Unlike the rest of the readings, journalist Muhammad Jalid’s contribution was more related to the content of the book. Where he elaborated on the clarification of the basic ideas that came out in the book of al-Madani, in particular what is related to the execution of the experiment in which the Medinan sees in search of a different narrative , or a new narrative condition based on several components, including, for example: disrupting the traditional narrative construction and creating a counter-building It relies on the deconstruction, the regeneration of the images, then the presentation of a new perception of the node or narrative idea, in addition to the marriage between image and meaning and feeling and its manifestation.