Commitment, in modern Arabic literature - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
General Material Designation
[Article]
First Statement of Responsibility
Klemm, Verena
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Leiden
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Brill
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
(1,185 words)
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Literary commitment (iltizām) became a central concept in literary discussions during the decades of nation-building in the postcolonial Arab world. The demand that writers and poets take responsibility for their people had already been expressed in the 1920s by socialist authors and critics, such as Salāma Mūsā (1887-1959) and Luwīs ʿAwaḍ (1915-90) in Egypt and ʿUmar Fākhūrī (1895-1946) and Raʾīf Khūrī (1912-67) in Syro-Lebanon. The origins of this concept can be traced to the complex sociocultural changes that occurred during the nahḍa (lit., renaissance),