{"product_id":"the-new-babel-toward-a-poetics-of-the-mid-east-crises-9781682260036","title":"The New Babel: Toward a Poetics of the Mid-East","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Babel: Toward a Poetics of the Mid-East Crises \u003c\/i\u003eevokes and investigates—from a Jewish American perspective and in the forms of poetry, essays, and interviews—the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, America’s involvement as both perpetrator and victim of events in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and the multiple ways that poetics can respond to political imperatives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe poems range from the immediately lyrical to the experimental forms of the “Apple Anyone Sonnets” series, which relies heavily on the Arabic but has Shakespeare as its scaffolding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the essays, Schwartz calls on the power of poetry—and of some of the great poets in the Arabic, Jewish, and American traditions—to help rethink the battle lines of the contemporary Mid-East, with the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber looming large.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe interviews provide Schwartz’s discussions with Israeli poet and activist Aharon Shabtai, political philosopher Michael Hardt, and the late, great American poet Amiri Baraka.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn these creative, analytical, and conversational moments, Leonard Schwartz rethinks the battle lines of the contemporary Middle East and calls on the power of language as the essence of our humanity, endlessly fluid, but also the source of an intentional confusion there is a necessity to counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A highly original voice engaged in a creatively subversive way with the issues of our day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Mohja Kahf, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Girl in the Tangerine Scarf\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e|\u003cp\u003e“An exemplary inquiry into the relationship between the power of words and worldly power.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Edwin Frank, editor, New York Review Books\u003c\/p\u003e|\u003cp\u003e“This collection is like a map of roads all leading to this day today.  Accumulating alleyways and tunnels and bridges are lighted for us, with glimmers of clear sunlight falling on figures left behind (Buber, Scholem, Ibn ‘Arabi) and poems too, and recorded thoughts, as from those who could see only a certain distance.  ‘We all live in Baghdad now.’ This critical map of our situation\/condition is truly useful as a way to see what has happened and what could (have) to all of us. I know what it means and why it hurts.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Fanny Howe, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Winter Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Arkansas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51042093728087,"sku":"9781682260036","price":18.66,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781682260036.jpg?v=1750952989","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-new-babel-toward-a-poetics-of-the-mid-east-crises-9781682260036","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}