The Poet and Existence

This book presents a critical study of five poetry collections by the Iraqi poet Hatif Janabi (Hātif Janābī): Farādīs, ayā’il wa ‘asākir (Paradises, Deer, and Soldiers, four poetry collections in one, Damascus 1998), Raġba bayna ġaymatayn (A Desire Between Two Clouds, Beirut 2009), Maw‘id ma‘a šafrat as-sikkīn (An Appointment with a Knife’s Blade, Beirut 2012), Iḏā daẖalta baytanā fa-satuqabbil qadamayka al-‘ataba (If You Enter Our Home, the Threshold Will Kiss Your Feet, Baghdad 2014), and Walīmat al-asmāk (Fish Banquet, Baghdad 2017). This study seeks to address essential aspects of Janabi’s poetry, related to its ideational and philosophical contents, focusing on the multiple joints upon which the texts are based, and which are major milestones of the poet’s imaginative world.