Sufism and Surrealism

At first glance Sufism and Surrealism appear to be as far removed from one another as is possible. Adonis, however, draws convincing parallels between the two, contesting that God, in the traditional sense does not exist in Surrealism or in Sufism, and that both are engaged in parallel quests for the nature of the Absolute, through ‘holy madness’ and the deregulation of the senses.

This is a remarkable investigation into the common threads of thought that run through seemingly polarised philosophies from East and West, written by a man Edward Said referred to as ‘the most eloquent spokesman and explorer of Arab modernity’.

Adonis is widely considered one of the Arab world’s greatest living poets. Born in Syria in 1930, he settled in Lebanon in the 1950s, where he became a central figure in the new Arabic poetry movement. In 1956 he helped establish the literary magazine Shi’r , and in 1968 founded its successor, the equally prestigious Mawakif. Both were to play a seminal role in the revival of the Arabic literary tradition. Adonis is the author of several classic works that have led to a rigorous reassessment of the Arab cultural heritage.