Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Mahmoud Darwish’s Tibaq demonstrates how the self, in becoming an object of its own examination, can decode itself and reach a new understanding of its identity. The poem is an imaginary conversation between Mahmoud Darwish and Edward Said that is purported to have taken place in Said’s last years. Both writers share a passion towards writing, the Palestinian diaspora and the exilic spirit of a perplexed identity that is in search of its origin. The poem, unlike Darwish’s earlier texts, discusses the issue of language and its relation to identity formation. Said is lost in translation in Darwish’s poem. Said’s dilemma stems from being bilingual yet being unable to use both languages fluently. The contrapuntal reading of the poem not only focuses on the linguistic dilemma that Darwish highlights but also reveals the dual alienation of Darwish and Said. In this poem, Darwish alienates Said, making him a prototype of the Palestinian-Americans who are lost in translation. The formation of the self in this poem seems to be a process that comes before language and binds the two together in a common heritage, even if the political framework is lacking. The issue of self-formation underlies linguistic identity and argues for the connection between the two. The analysis of this poem shows how Darwish and Said attempt to reach another level of community through contrapuntalism, not on the linguistic level alone but on geographical and historical levels as well.