Tradition and the Individual Talent from Eliot and Adonis's Point of View

1. Eliot and Adonis believe that tradition and the individual talent are indicative of two fundamental concepts; i.e., mind and language. Mind as the subject perceives phenomena and represents them in the form of language. From their viewpoint, mind and language are so interwoven that language equals existence .From Heidegger's point of view, these two concepts are closely related to the concept of "time"in philosophy. This relationship was investigated under the name of "tradition" in the present study. On the other hand, there is the concept of "the individual talent" which can be investigated as "psychoanalytic criticism" from Freud's point of view. The present study was aimed at investigating the concepts of mind, language, and time from the viewpoint of Eliot and Adonis. Taking into account a poetic view of existence, it finally presents a general overview of the ideas of these two Arab and English poets.
2.The relationship between mind, language, and time from Adonis's viewpoint
Taking into account Adonis's theories of existence and phenomena, we find out that he was also influenced by noumenon and phenomenon. Adonis considers literature as a literary man's perception of nature. His viewpoints regarding the perception of literature are completely obvious in his books Zaman al-Shir, Siyasat al-Shir, and Arab Poetics .Literature is a ubiquitous feeling of our being that creates phenomena anew, exposing them to eternal questioning. This feeling emanates from the metaphysic or the mind that has heuristic view of things; one can say, therefore, that the new literature is the metaphysicality of human.
(Zaman al-Shiʻr, p.10). This definition includes some key concepts that need to be explained. The first concept is that of emotion, which is a part of brain function. The second one is that of existence. Since Adonis has used "our being "in his definition, it is evident that his view is subjective/objective. It means that human being defines the world and existence in connection with self in this perception and does not define self in connection with God. The third concept is that of noumenon which is deduced from "appearance" and means the constitution of objects in themselves .¬The fourth one is that of phenomenon meaning manifestation of objects which is included in the key word " heuristic " and the last concept is that of "metaphysics" which is the same as the concept of "mind" in Western philosophy which influenced Adonis as well. Therefore, Adonis considers literature as manifestation of nature constituted in human mind .Like the Western philosophers and literary men, Adonis as a literary man and an ontological critic pays attention to "existence" and how to define its relationship to human being which is the same as what we see in noumenal/phenomenal or objective/subjective viewpoints.
3. Writing and speech from Adonis's point of view (Interpretation based on Eliot's theory of new criticism)
From among the approaches of the science of interpretation, what is of significance in this study is hermeneutics with regard to new criticism. Paying too much attention to a text is the obvious characteristic of this viewpoint. From Eliot and Adonis's viewpoint, the theory of new criticism is a kind of secondary revision of a literary text which fills the gaps and diminishes the contradictions in order to attain coherence, deep structure or original meaning. The aim is to make the text more comprehensible to the readers so that it paves the way for the reader who doesn’t want to deal with unjustifiable irregularities (Eagleton,1996, p248). Therefore, like Husser land other phenomenologists, the followers of this school such as Adonis and Eliot are in quest of the original meaning in literary texts. Therefore, literary works are representative of human values and new criticism of a text is an objective, practical, and impartial one.
4. Language and Time in Adonis's Poetry: Adonis believes that not only human but also the universe is limited to the concept of language. This concept is in close connection with the concept of time. From Gadamer's point of view, the content of a literary work is by no means limited to the author's intentions. When there is a change in the historical and cultural context of a literary work, new meanings might be found in it which have by no means been already predicted either by the author or the contemporary audience. In his opinion, any interpretation of a literary work which belongs to the past includes a dialogue between the past and the present. This attitude toward literature is completely evident in Eliot and Adonis's works: As a result, Adonis like Heidegger believes in the existence of human nature and like Gadamer he believes that everyone's capacity of knowledge can be displaced.
5. Overall From the Western intellectual's point of view, metaphysics is in the mind and language and it is considered to be an absolutely mental and lingual issue in ontology of literature and is categorized under the heading of "the science of linguistics and semiology". Adonis who was excessively influenced by the western philosophers and linguists such as Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer considers literature as a merely mental and lingual issue which is mainly concerned with the concepts of existence and time. As a result, Adonis like western intellectuals believes that language is considered as the foundation of metaphysics and any occult phenomenon like spirit and the concept of presence is considered to belong to the areas of the mind and language. This group of poets attempt to reproduce nature and the universe in their poetic and mental world. In Adonis's opinion, subject and not object is of originality. Language is considered as the universe in this approach which has taken a very high position in Adonis's literature. In his book entitled Sufism and Surrealism, Adonis attempts to make a connection between Islamic sufism and surrealism. However, this book is also indicative of the fact that he couldnt free himself of subjectivism and mentalism and his viewpoint is the same as that of Noumenon and Phenomenon from the point of view of Kant and Husserl.