Mechanisms of Saeed Al-Sarihi's Critical Discourse: A Study in Criticism of Criticism

Abstract

This study seeks to uncover Saeed Al-Suraihi's conceptions of poetic language and trace its manifestations in his critical project, which spans poetry, narrative, and cultural criticism. It begins with the premise that, for him, poetic language is not merely a tool for expression or description, but rather an entity that influences human consciousness and perception of the world. The study employs an analytical critical approach, examining and analyzing Al-Suraihi's conceptions in his critical approaches to poetic language. The study concludes that this conception of language is a central pillar guiding his entire critical project, whether in his approaches to the language of creative expression or even in his approaches to cultural criticism. This perspective has remained constant and consistent over four decades, despite the diversity of topics, issues, and critical fields, thus transcending the boundaries of traditional rhetorical and critical analysis to question the relationship between language, consciousness, and discourse. He draws upon certain concepts from Western philosophy of language, particularly those of Martin Heidegger, and reformulates them within an Arab critical context. Starting with his representations of the language of ancient and modern Arabic poetry, and ending with his approaches to cultural criticism, he thus forms a philosophical axis through which his critical project can be understood.