This chapter examines the internal social dynamics among exiled Syrian intellectuals, showing how their positioning was shaped by structural, symbolic, and psychological factors. They competed for symbolic status, often based on perceived sacrifices for the revolution – a dynamic conceptualised as persecution capital. Their positioning was also influenced by material factors (work and funding opportunities) and personal traumas (incarceration, torture, and threats). These intersecting forces led to mutually antagonistic collectives, structured around ethicopolitical, generational, and geographical divides. The fragmentation of the intellectual field mirrored the broader fracturing of the revolutionary movement, weakening the opposition’s credibility domestically and internationally. But, while these divisions were often seen as a failure, the chapter argues that agonistic contestation within the exiled intellectual sphere played a constitutive role in shaping the movement’s cognitive praxis. Drawing on Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic pluralism, it suggests that these debates mark a revival of Syrian political discourse – a dynamic process that contributes to future political renewal.

Chapter Three provides a thorough exploration of the multifaceted experience of being Qizilbash within the Ottoman realm and the consequential implications of such an identity within the intricate Ottoman–Safavid geopolitical landscape. By scrutinizing a diverse array of Qizilbash texts, artifacts, and ceremonial practices, the chapter elucidates the complex processes entailed in shaping and perpetuating a collective sense of belonging. Additionally, this chapter seeks to integrate a discussion of the Ottoman state’s surveillance strategies into the analysis of Qizilbash subjecthood formation within the empire.

Neruda’s temperament was not theoretical, yet several “canonical” poems of his are infused with Marxist thinking. Although there is no evidence that Neruda read Marxist theory, in his thirties he assimilated its totalizing thought from party activism, from his second wife Delia, and from his friend, Spanish poet Rafael Alberti, each a lifelong communist. As an instance, Neruda’s poem “La United Fruit Co.” brings together four types of corporations, economic control of the state, the transportation of product, and subordination of labor. “The Strike” depicts the role of class conflict in the production process. “Cristóbal Miranda (shoveler-Tocopilla)” is one of fifteen portraits of industrial workers focusing on ordinary folk-history-from-below. “Los dictadores,” with its monster engendered by the wealthy autocrat in his palace, demonstrates the functioning of the dialectic in history. Neruda’s Marxism, though more intuitive than discursive, shapes these and other related poems of his.

Part III of the book looks at the beginnings and purposes of local history-writing. Chapter 7 makes a case for what made local history-writing a popular alternative to other forms of history-writing, particularly universal history but also some other forms as well. It briefly presents the rare occasions on which local histories from the early Islamic centuries say something specific about why they were inspired to compile their work. It then considers some arguments made by other modern historians, for example seeing local history-writing against the context of political fragmentation and ideas about local pride. The chapter then argues that the beginnings of local history-writing have to be understood against the context of emerging ideas about scholarly authority in the Islamic world, particularly the ideas pushed by scholars from Medina, most prominently Mālik b. Anas and his students, offering a historiographical justification for the distinctive authority of the scholars from that town.

The Conclusion reflects on the shifting role of Syrian intellectuals in the revolution, arguing that while they initially gained influence, their authority quickly declined due to state repression, public scrutiny, and strategic misalignments with their audiences. Intellectuals struggled to sustain political impact, as their discourses became disconnected from on-the-ground realities, particularly in navigating religiosity, extreme violence, and the absence of charismatic leadership. As the revolution stalled, many turned from mobilisation and critique to trauma work, constructing a Syrian Cause aimed at international audiences rather than shaping domestic political change. This shift was complicated by postcolonial anxieties about foreign intervention. The chapter also examines how exile fostered a paradigm shift – from a politics of being perceived to a politics of perceiving, where intellectuals repositioned themselves as global critics rather than local leaders. Ultimately, the chapter concludes that hopeless perseverance has become the defining ethos of Syrian intellectuals – persisting in narrating trauma and critiquing injustice, even as their political agency remains constrained.

This chapter focuses on the influence of women in Neruda’s life and poetry. Starting from the poet’s assertion that his life is made up of all lives, and the unfortunate passage in his memoirs that the Chilean feminist movement interpreted as the sublimation of a rape, it analyzes Neruda’s poetic work and the accounts of Teresa Vásquez, Albertina Azócar, Laura Arrué, Josie Bliss, Marijke Antonieta Hagenaar Vogelzang, Delia del Carril, Matilde Urrutia, and Alicia Urrutia, who accompanied him at different times in his life, to demonstrate that women always had agency in Neruda’s work and life. They were more than muses. It also shows how Neruda dialogued with the poetic work of women poets who preceded him, as in the case of Alfonsina Storni.

Pablo Neruda is a fundamental author in twentieth-century Latin American literature. He is a poet who has been characterized by his commitment to the scope of love, and, at the same time, his political work makes him an intellectual of universal stature. Due to his love poetry, in the Arab world he has been associated with authors such as Nizâr Qabbânî and Mahmûd Darwîsh. This text tries to trace the dialogue that Pablo Neruda has established with the Arab world and how his topics have allowed us to respond symbolically to the issues of our time and the need of certain social and political situations.

Pablo Neruda’s Nobel lecture “To the Splendid City” was a summary of his poetic practice as well as a consummate presentation of his literary persona to the world stage. Although highly conscious of the political context of his utterance, and hugely laudatory of the recently elected socialist Allende administration, Neruda devoted most of his lecture to evoking the breadth and beauty of the Chilean landscape and the creativity and the imagination of the Chilean people. Evoking the panoramic and eulogistic register of Canto general, Neruda proffered a buoyant and empathetic vision of his homeland, even though some aspects of his approach might seem insufficiently critical to a twenty-first-century literary sensibility. Neruda used the platform of his lecture to give a convincing statement of his identity as a Latin American writer.

This chapter addresses the topic of legacy and its relevance in the work of Pablo Neruda. Thus, starting from the rescue of 2,000 refugees from the Spanish Civil War on the steamship Winnipeg, it explores the relationship of the Spanish language with death in poems from Residencia en la tierra, and its re-emergence in Canto general, exemplified in “Alturas de Macchu Picchu.” The essay argues that the writing of this poem implies the reconciliation of the Spanish language, which is marked by the violence of its imposition in the Americas, with its speakers. It also looks at the relationship between Nerudian poetry and César Vallejo, who, in España, aparte de mí este cáliz, saw in each letter of the imposed language the origin of punishment, thus making reconciliation impossible. Returning to the Winnipeg, the essay concludes that the legacy of Pablo Neruda’s work is immeasurable because it is a debt, that which our time has with his poetry.

This study aligns with Hsiao’s (1991, 1995b) prosodic parameters. In common speech, the tone group (TG) is a phonological phrase marked at the right edge of a non-adjunct XP. Following the Prosodic Hierarchy, an intonational phrase is a sense unit ending with a boundary tone and a pause, typically realized as a complete sentence but subject to restructuring with parentheticals, tag questions, or lists.

To explain tone sandhi, Chinese phonology employs a “prosodic foot” distinct from standard hierarchies. This study proposes two Metrical Hierarchies: Tonal and Rhythmic. The “prosodic foot” is redefined as the metrical tone phrase within the Tonal Metrical Hierarchy. While it governs tone sandhi in metrical reading, it does not dictate verse rhythm. Instead, the phrase is constructed from metrical beats, as a syllable-based approach fails to explain rhythmic tone patterns. A revised Beat Addition assigns initial beats to lexical syllables, while function words, suffixes, and internal syntactic ICs receive or share beats.

Syntactic c-command is dispensable, as it may yield illicit tone patterns and overlook tonal variation. Adjuncthood, rather than c-command, often determines the absence of tone sandhi.