Since the mid-1970s, Lebanon has been at the center of the
worldwide rise in sectarian extremism. Its cultural output has both
mediated and resisted this rise. Standing by the Ruins reviews the
role of culture in supporting sectarianism, yet argues for the
emergence of a distinctive aesthetic of resistance to it. Focusing
on contemporary Lebanese fiction, film, and popular culture, this
book shows how artists reappropriated the twin legacies of
commitment literature and the ancient topos of "standing by the
ruins" to form a new "elegiac humanism" during the tumultuous
period of 1975 to 2005. It redirects attention to the critical role
of culture in conditioning attitudes throughout society and is
therefore relevant to other societies facing sectarian extremism.
Standing by the Ruins is also a strong intervention in the
burgeoning field of World Literature. Elaborating on the great
Arabist Hilary Kilpatrick's crucial insight that ancient Arabic
forms and topoi filter into modern literature, the author details
how the "standing by the ruins" topos-and the structure of feeling
it conditions-has migrated over time. Modern Arabic novels, feature
films, and popular culture, far from being simply cultural imports,
are hybrid forms deployed to respond to the challenges of
contemporary Arab society. As such, they can take their place
within a World Literature paradigm: they are cultural products that
travel and intervene in the world.
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