Article
Democratizing the Dramatic Text: Wannous’s Late Aesthetics and Individual Freedom
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies
(2021)
Abstract
Sadallah Wannous (1941-1997), the Arab World’s most celebrated dramatist, gave up on the didactic art of the ‘theater of politicization’, in the middle of his career, in favor of a freer introspection of human psyche and passions. He spent his most prolific late years searching for new aesthetics and promoting a culture of free thinking. Abandoning his prior commitment to achieving the modern state, Arabic unity, the liberation of Palestine and the triumph of communism, he started creating individuals who are caught up in conflicting passions, loyalties and choices. However, his new themes will still betray a will to reform the many ailments in Arabic culture and politics, such as politico-religious coalitions and colonialism. This article will study the artistic and ideological transformation in Wannous’s later drama. It will also explore the later pro-democracy trends through analyzing the emerging individualism in characterization and the plurality of discourses in the plays of the later period 1989-1997, namely The Rape (1989), Historical Miniatures (1993), Miserable Dreams (1994), Rituals of Signs and Transformations (1994), and Drunken Days (1997).
Keywords
- democratization of the dramatic text,
- intellectual freedom in Syrian drama,
- late plays of Sadallah Wannous,
- plurality of voices in theater,
- Sadallah Wannous,
- Syrian theater,
- Syrian drama
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter February 15, 2021
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol5no1.1
Citation Information
Samar Zahrawi. "Democratizing the Dramatic Text: Wannous’s Late Aesthetics and Individual Freedom" AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Vol. 5 Iss. 1 (2021) p. 3 - 19 ISSN: 2550-1542 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/awejfortranslation-literarystudies/255/