Mahmud Sami al-Barudi: Reconfiguring Society and the Self by Terri DeYoung (review)

Terri DeYoung's latest book provides in-depth analysis and unprecedented English translations of the poetry of the Egyptian literary luminary and seminal political figure Mahmud Sami al-Barudi (1839–1904) within a historically grounded biographical approach. Al-Barudi is recognized as a founder in the development of modern Arabic literature in general and the neoclassical, modernist, and reformist trends in Arabic poetry more specifically. DeYoung's book adds to this understanding by illuminating the ways in which al-Barudi's intellectual, political, cultural, and social frames of reference inform his poetry. By doing so, the work provides a critical reassessment of al-Barudi's work that situates his literary contributions not merely as a forerunner of the more recent trend of Romanticism or as confined to the classical style. Rather, DeYoung argues that al-Barudi's poems are evocative of the transformation of Arab and Egyptian identity in the watershed of Egypt's transition from an independently ruled Ottoman province to a British protectorate in the late nineteenth century.

Reconfiguring Society and the Self attempts to bridge a divide between scholarship that explores al-Barudi's political stature and studies that take a critical literary approach to his corpus. DeYoung's method is informed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's theorizing of the cultural field and specifically his notion that "literature [is] . . . the aspect of culture where relations between individuals (and the social networks they inhabit) are most flexible, yet at the same time are governed by a strict set of rules that (often invisibly) guide the actions of the participants" (2). Her use of Bourdieu in this context breaks new ground by placing al-Barudi and his poetry in the historical moment within which both were produced. Al-Barudi was Egypt's first independent prime minister in the 1880s, having played a critical role in the 1882 'Urabi revolution and subsequently having been exiled to Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) for his actions. In post–World War II reimaginings of Arab national identity, al-Barudi claims a hallowed place as a rebellious hero who fought for the freedom of his country. DeYoung recognizes that in literary histories, this context is often underexplored in relation to al-Barudi's poetic contributions. This work provides a much-needed addition to the scholarship on the development of modern Arabic literature, particularly in its attention to how literary pursuits are inextricably linked to formations of modern Arab identity. As DeYoung puts it, "al-Barudi represents a convenient but essential starting point for inquiry into not only how modern Arabic poetry became modern but also how modern Arab politics became, first, a locus for examining questions of identity and how the individual should relate to the collective, and second, a place of frustration for aspirations of selfhood" (25).

DeYoung's biographical study consists of an introduction and seven chapters, which unfold in a linear and chronological fashion. This choice enhances the organizational clarity of a work that ambitiously pulls together al-Barudi's personal, professional, and literary personas, although it detracts from following through on her argumentative stance regarding the relationship of cultural production to identity formation, especially in its lack of a concluding chapter.

In the introduction, DeYoung delineates the shifting focus on al-Barudi vis-à-vis his literary reception and historical importance in previous scholarship. She acknowledges the strides in historical studies on Egypt in this period that, together with the publication of al-Barudi's poetry since the 1960s, make her research possible. The following chapters map al-Barudi's life to his poetry, beginning with his upbringing, his education, and his first posting in Istanbul. Of particular interest to this historian of Egyptian education was DeYoung's accounting of the contingent factors that led al-Barudi to be educated not at the religious institution of Al-Azhar like some of his older relatives but in the scaled-back government military academies following...