During the symposium, which was hosted in the space of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences in Rabat, academic researcher Dr. Mohamed Al-Dahhi, in his speech on this occasion, described the celebrated generational professor, university researcher, literary critic, and zealous patriot who devoted his life to establishing the foundations of Moroccan culture and literature, cultivating new critical and intellectual values, and establishing literature. From its ivory tower to become a cultural issue generally concerned with the human condition.
Dr. Al-Dahi recalled the man’s struggles on multiple fronts, whether at the university level, the Arab Maghreb Writers Union, cultural magazines, or political life, noting that the struggles of the Al-Yaburi critic were in defense of human dignity, freedom of expression, and social democracy, considering him one of the elite critics and professors who They laid the foundations of novel criticism in Morocco and gave new prose (novels and short stories) the status that befits its literary and usefulness in the university and the Moroccan cultural scene.
The same speaker highlighted the role played by Dr. Al-Yibouri in renewing the contents of the university lesson through openness to Western curricula and restoring consideration to literary texts that were excluded and excluded for many considerations, as well as introducing the concept of new literature, its forms, genres and arts, pointing to his combination in his scientific career of richness between pedagogical responsibilities, scientific tasks, academic and cultural criticism, teaching and framing, then Political and civil endeavours.
Al-Dahi said during his testimony against the author of “The Dynamics of the Novel Text” that the diverse experience of Ahmed Al-Yibouri helped him crystallize his position on existence and sculpt his legendary personality with a constant call to coexistence, tolerance, and dialogue, and to spreading familiarity, healing rifts, and other good and honest deeds.
He recalled that the celebrated person formed generations of Moroccan researchers who have continued to repeat the shortcomings of Al-Sadr in novel research and criticism, and who are keen on the continuity of the Moroccan presence and its radiance at the Arab level, where they were able, thanks to their loyalty to the legacy of the first generation, their continuous efforts, and their openness to Western critical experiences, to be the Moroccan school. Which is distinguished by its way of thinking, analysis, and approach to narrative in general, and they are keen to pass the torch to the following generations with the desired seriousness and enthusiasm.
Muhammad Al-Dahi explained that Ahmed Al-Yibouri completed the first academic study on the short story in Morocco to introduce its achievement and monitor its development through two stages, the stage of formation and the stage of naturalization. He pointed out that had it not been for the initiative to research the short story in Morocco and the printing of part of this thesis, this effort would have remained forgotten and locked on the shelves. The Moroccan Treasury, despite its scientific and cultural importance in introducing a component of the national intangible heritage (the short story) and in developing a critical awareness of it, called in this context on the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Rabat, to pay attention, within the framework of its initiative to digitize university theses, to Dr. Al-Ybouri’s thesis so that he can benefit from it. Arab students widely.
It was also recorded that the two critical books by the critical researcher Ahmed Al-Yibouri, The Dynamics of the Novel Text (1993), and the Arabic Novel: Formation and Function (2000), contributed to bringing about a break with ideological criticism and formative structuralism and openness to a new approach that is more concerned with the game of variegations or the adventure of language in re-representing reality. He continued, “However, he remained faithful, in the context of Moroccan critics benefiting from the gains of post-structuralism, to formulate a descriptive language that helps explore the terrain of the text and reveal its artistic and aesthetic levels. In the same vein, the critical researcher expanded the field of research in the Arabic novel from new perspectives and angles, and the subject of this The literary genre within the framework of the so-called institution of the novel, which has become a special status by virtue of its structural characteristics and its role in inspiring new lifestyles, opposing the single and commanding language, and monitoring the formation of the Arabic novel, especially in Egypt and the Levant, in view of two factors, the first is related to the linguistic component and the novelist imagination, and the second is external, represented by In acculturation with Western Europe.
Dr. explained. Brilliant, how was the critic Al-Yaburi, through his two books in the field of creativity, Memory Recovered Through Voices and Perspectives 2015 (an autobiography) and Creative Vision 2024 (a collection of poetry), narrating his autobiography with multiple voices and supports, returning to contemplating his personal path, digging up the secrets and mysteries of the past, filling the memory gaps, and providing explanations? Recent events reflect the frankness of a humble scientist and the boldness of an organic intellectual who is keen to tell the truth without subtlety or artificiality. While the collection, according to the speaker, always comes “to reveal Dr. Al-Yaburi’s involvement in composing poetry since his youth, but he refused to publish three poems of his own between the fifties and sixties of the second millennium in the Al-Ilm and Al-Muharrir newspapers.”
The speaker concluded his testimony by explaining how Dr. Ahmed Al-Yibouri’s specialization in novel criticism did not prevent him from approaching poetic texts, “because of his breadth of knowledge, critical experience, and familiarity with literary methods and genres,” indicating that this is what we see in his book “On the Poetry of the Diwan (Road Al-Zaytoun) by the Al-Hamra Poet,” 2021″, by adopting the rhetorical approach, both ancient and modern, by highlighting the manifestations of one of the aspects of textual interaction (what was called opposition or what is now known as intertextuality), in the poetry of Muhammad bin Ibrahim, and demonstrating the emotional and national character of his poetry and its positive interaction with national issues and global events, Especially World War II.