Recepcja myśli egzystencjalnej w poezji arabskiej na przykładzie utworów Bulanda al-Hajdariego, Nazik al-Mala’iki i ʻAbd al-Wahhaba al-Bajatiego

The main character in the novel "Papa Sartre" (2001), written by an Iraqi writer ʻAli Bader, is ʻAbd al-Rahman, described as a philosopher famous in the intellectual circle of Baghdad in the 1950s and 1960s. ʻAbd al-Rahman gained popularity by familiarising the Baghdadian intellectuals with the existential thought of Jean-Paul Sartre. However, practicing of existentialism in his daily life seems to have more in common with moral nihilism. As for the Iraqi intellectuals shown in the novel, they appear as adopting fashionable philosophical and literary trends in a non-critical way. With reference to this literary fiction, the paper seeks an answer to the question whether ʻAbd al-Rahman’s understanding of existentialism was the only one among Arab intellectuals. The first part of the paper tracks circumstances of introducing the existential thought into the milieu of the Arabic poets after the World War II. However, in those days identification with national or social trends in Arabic literature was much stronger than with existentialism, which was perceived as socially harmful by many intellectuals. A brief outline of the psychological condition of the generation of Arab intellectuals after the World War II, with reference to the article ‘The Lost Generation’ published in the "Magazine Al-Adib" in 1950, as well as to the words of an Iraqi poet Buland al-Haydari, is also provided. The socio-political situation in Iraq which contributed to Buland al-Haydari’s social and existential alienation and alienation of other Iraqi intellectuals of the time (i.e. ʻAbd al-Wahhab al-Bayati and Nazik al-Malaʼika) is mentioned too. Finally, the article discuses the problem of reception of existential thought in the works of Buland al-Haydari ("Pulsation of Clay" 1947 and "Songs of the Dead City" 1951), Nazik al-Mala’ika ("Sparks and Ashes" 1949) and ʻAbd al-Wahhab al-Bayati ("Broken Pitchers" 1954), concentrating on their reflection on life and death with reference to some of the main existential ideas (eg. the absurd, the revolt) and symbols (eg. Sisyphe). The aim of this article is to demonstrate that through relating their feelings and reflections with the existential thought these poets had a powerful tool to express and describe their psychological condition in that difficult time for the Arab community.