Abstracts

In Arabic literature, fever has been the subject of several literary works including that of the Abbasid poet al-Mutanabb to which he dedicated an entire poem. This essay argues that, far from being a mere poetic description, al-Mutanabbs fever structures the poetic narrative. The pathological and metaphorical structure of fever, which contains a narrative of illness and recovery, mimics a traditional bildungsroman or rite de passage narrative. However, al-Mutanabbs poem challenges the linearity of fevers narrative and the duality of poison and cure. Drawing on a close reading of the poem, an etymology of umm, and Derridas analysis of the pharmakon, a theoretical framework emerges through which fever is conceptualized as a mode of literary narration that is non-linear, erratic, and repetitious. This theoretical framework opens up new ways to read narrative in contemporary Lebanese Civil War fiction. In both Hud Barakts My Master and My Lover and Rashd al-afs The Tyrant fever is not only revealed as a liminal space, mediating between death and recovery, but also shown to permit momentary intervention where movement can be imagined and narrative can be generated. In this essay pre-modern and modern literature are read side-by-side, with a focus on the linguistic and philological threads that tie these bodies of literature together, while respecting their independent historical contexts.Advisors/Committee Members: El-Ariss, Tarek (advisor), Richmond-Garza, Elizabeth M. (Elizabeth Merle), 1964- (advisor).