Time as a Critic: The Reception of Al-Mutanabbi s Poetic Across Three Temporal Moments

Abstract

This research seeks to examine the reception of al-Mutanabbi’s poetics across time. It looks at the relationship between time and the levels of critical reception. This study attempts to investigate the characteristics of texts that challenge time and transcend it by means of discussing creativity itself. The research, therefore, approaches Al Mutanabbi himself, his intellectual foundations’ formation, and his poetic, intellectual, and aesthetic. This requires the researcher to show patience and deep inquiry to reach a clear answer, as there is a strong distinction between the time of textual production and the time of textual reception. The changing horizons of readers grant this critical investigation its significance, as it traces three temporal moments, each contributing a distinct reading of al-Mutanabbi’s poetry.

This study is divided into two parts. The theoretical part addresses the issue of how time may function as a critic, and the practical part tests the validity and effectiveness of the theoretical framework. The field of application will be the poetics of al-Mutanabbi and the ways critics have received it across three historical moments: the period of classical Arab critics, followed by the classical-renaissance horizon of reception, represented by the criticism of Taha Hussein on al-Mutanabbi’s poetics, and finally the postmodern or post-reception-theory moment, represented by Abdullah Al Ghathami in his cultural criticism. The study concludes with a fourth moment, namely the perspective of the author of this study.