Committed literature

Committed literature (French: littérature engagée) can be defined as an approach of an author, poet, novelist, playwright or composer who commits their work to defend or assert an ethical, political, social, ideological or religious view, most often through their works but also can loosely be defined as being through their direct intervention as an "intellectual", in public affairs (Crowly, 2018).

[3] Additionally, it has been argued that committed literature rose to popularity within socialist circles within the fifties which aligns with the strong political movements characteristic of the time period.

[4] The concept was then led not long after by some existentialist writers like Jean- Paul Sartre exploring the definition in his work What Is Literature?

[1] In the aftermath of World War Two, Jean-Paul Sartre worked to define the role, purpose and overall concept of Committed Literature when he analysed what the role of the contemporary writer should be, stating that it was their goal to compose “literature of praxis” (Gasiorek & James, 2012, p. 614)[2] which is openly engaged with contemporary society and history in order to be Committed and inspire social change (Boria, 2013).

[8] Overall, he saw Committed literature as an art that was meant to reach the masses, forgoing the literary pathway of appeal to fellow intellectuals and “scholarly detachment” (Barone, 2000).

[10] Jacques Ranciere also provided additional understanding to what constituted as committed literature, defining it as a different relationship and sense of being between words, world's communities and people.

He has been known as criticising Sartre's philosophy of Committed Literature to be that of self-righteousness and blind activism without regard for reality, instead, he focuses on abstract history (Just, 2013).

[10] Camus continued this stance in his Nobel Peace Prize speech where he emphasised the importance of the writer's understanding rather than imposing judgement (Just, 2013).

As a leading example of this Sasser Nasser points to Arab women writers and their creative personal engagement with democratic political change through Committed literature.

[11] Examples of this include El Saadawi's The Fall of the Imam Nawal and Ahdaf Soueif's Cairo: My City, Our Revolution which have been identified as core Arab feminist texts that both embody a politically revolutionary commitment to women's autonomy and rights coupled with the Arab Spring general uprising.

By virtue of Article 13 of Press Law ratified on 19/03/1986 by Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) this license for publication of the magazine titled Adabiyatemoteahed (Committed Literature) focused on Poetry and Fiction in Persian to be published on monthly basis and circulated in the country is issued.