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 society. These are the opinions of a series of other ideas presented by the readings that dealt with a new book by the Moroccan writer and novelist Ahmed El-Medini, in a critical session held last weekend at the headquarters of the National Library in Rabat.
The critic Abd al-Hamid Akkar, the critic Abd al-Fattah al-Hajjari, as well as the journalist Muhammad Jleed, contributed to the readings of the book entitled: “Narration between writing and whims … From theory to text” largely; In terms of the principles and points of view on which it was based to approach the contents of the book; But everyone agreed on the importance of what was mentioned in the 62nd title of Al-Madani’s book series.
Speaking of the content of the book, Aqar started from those basic visions that have characterized urban thinking over the course of five decades of writing, which averaged more than one book a 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 cultural transformations taking place in the Arab world, indicating the declared urban inclination towards modernity, which necessarily requires a full knowledge of the old founding and original, and the rebellion against all those ready-made models in the colors, shapes and visions of the narrative, which is not correct. Except by learning the classic lesson and understanding it, and constantly knowing the pioneers’ achievements and listening to them.
Aqar stressed the importance of the conclusions that Al-Medini came out in his book, which confirmed the existence of a great Arabic literature in which texts extend and dialogue, as well as emphasizing that Arabic narrative writing – and that Moroccan – has already entered a phase of modernity possible with two indispensable tools: First, considering History is a real world and another world made up of language, images and visions. And secondly, the instrument of experimentation through a strong artistic will to break into the unknown and the imagined and create an alternative to the prevailing one.
In the midst of the interventions that dealt with the body of the famous book, the critic Abdel-Fattah Al-Hajjari chose to read the contents of this book in the light of other texts, hoping to find the thread that connects the issues raised by Al- Madani in his book, and related cultural contexts. In this section, he referred to a number of basic concepts that Al-Madani stopped at in his book, namely classicism, modernity, identity, realism and experimentation.
Al-Majmari also underlined the strong link that links today between the question of modernity and the question of society, citing Al-Madani’s saying: modern fiction is part of the transformation movement of society and builds the modern system of values. Al-Majmari also emphasized al-Medini’s view of experimentation as a biblical choice among other biblical choices, in the context of perpetual bets on modernity, which raises another question, according to al-Majmari: the modernity of the Arab novel today. is it governed by a theoretical representation that goes beyond its textual representation?
Returning to classicism, al-Majmari recalls what al-Medini said about the classical narrative, which he saw based on certainties that were coherent and consistent with the foundations of bourgeois society and its economic and social structures, as well as classicism in the perception of urban planners. the rules established by a fully mature art. Al-Majmari asked in this sense: what is the meaning of classicism in literature? Did the Arabs originally write the classic novel so that they are said to have written the modern novel? He explained that classical texts in general were modern texts in their day, 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 he concluded Al-Madani in his book, in terms of the need to defend the position of fiction and the discourse of fiction within the general cultural discourse of society, and the imperative to also defend the value of the critical view that complicates with reality.
The interaction of the participants with the content of the speeches was active and the discussion was stimulated by a speech by the Moroccan poet and novelist Muhammad Al-Ash’ari, who remarked with admiration what Al-Madini was referring to in his book , on the narrowing of the gap between writing in Morocco and writing in the East, in terms of quantity and quality, and the question of crossing and Written in the East and what is written in Morocco, is spoken today, for the first time, perhaps – says Al-Ash’ari – in many arts, such as poetry, history and the novel; The cinema, in fact, also expresses a cultural change that has already occurred in our Arab world, and indicates a common situation that exists that cannot be amputated or overcome. Al-Ash’ari was apparently not very keen on the voluminous perspective on the question of classicism, as he stressed the importance of understanding that classicism does not have the meaning of textual hierarchy and does not include a value judgment against the precedent from texts or experiences. On the contrary, it is exactly what the text and the writer aspire to. In terms of status and symbolic position, every writer’s ambition is to someday become a classic, says Al-Ash’ari.
Contrary to the rest of the readings, the contribution of journalist Muhammad Jalid was more related to the content of the book. Where he elaborated to clarify the basic ideas that emerged in al-Madani’s book, in particular what is related to the processing of the experiment in which the Medinan sees in search of a different narrative, or a new narrative condition based on different components , including, for example: interrupting the traditional narrative construction and creating a counter building It is based on the deconstruction and regeneration of images, thus presenting a new conception of the narrative node or idea, in addition to the marriage between the image and the meaning and the feeling and its manifestation.