LITERATURE AND NATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

the production of locality in the oral palestinian poetry duelof Hebrew and of any mention of the Israeli non-Palestinian presence thatsurrounds Galilee residents is due to any generic restrictions.In performance, then, Palestinian poets create an imaginary Palestine, onedefined through both the language of performance (the Palestinian dialect) andthe abundance of Palestinian family and village names as distinctly and purelyPalestinian. But the poetry performance does more than delineate a Palestinianspace; it also connects that space and wedding participants who are locatedwithin it to a larger cultural construct.In most performances there is a distinct thread of military imagery and epithetsthat runs through the evening entertainment. We find that the space which thesaff creates by and for the performance is called al-maydan or al-sahah, termswhich alone mean plaza or square, but which can also refer to the arena of war.The performance space may also be referred to as al-maÆrakah (the battle). Thesahrah itself is called yawm al-maÆrakah (the day of battle) or hima al-haflah (thedefence of the party), while the reciting of poetry is compared with thebrandishing of swords and the piercing of spears. The town in which thewedding celebration occurs may be described as an Arab fortress and great city,the glory of the nation and a protector of virgins. Not surprisingly, a good part ofthe poetry treats the audience’s heroic qualities; they are described as gloriousArabs who have travelled a great distance to attend the celebration. They arereferred to alternatively as carriers of swords or pact-making men, as victorious,loyal knights and horsemen who defeat the aggressor. Known for their generosity,fidelity and trustworthiness, they are protectors in the service of their nation,resolute riflemen, people of honour and fierceness. They are described as bothlions and hunters of lions, men of zeal and firmness, noble freemen and princes,the bearers of banners and flags. Their actions are described as militarymanoeuvre. In a word, they are men of chivalry. Poets describe themselves inmuch the same terms, although they may be even less reserved in their praise.They are the knights of speech with voices like cannons. They comparefavourably to heroic poet warriors and military leaders of the past. They are theleaders of the cavalry, an inspiration to various military heroes, rulers, able toram mountains of rock with their heads. The performance space, then, is abattleground, the saff its heroic Arab warriors who are led by the poets. Thepoetry is their weapon. From the performance, an Arab heroic construct emerges.To understand the importance of this imagery, I turn to Eugene Vance’s workon the Chanson de Roland. Vance describes an identity between the hero of theepic and the jongleur who gives the epic life: 10We know nothing definite about what we commonly call the historical origins of thepoem, but we may be fairly certain that the Roland as we possess it is a coagulation ofdisparate narrative materials that once perpetuated themselves in oral performancesduring which the poet and his heroes would be simultaneously reborn together,— 23 —www.taq.ir