Can the exile ever return? And if so, how? This question has consumed literature from the times of Gilgamesh. Focusing on works by the Jāhilī poet al-Shanfarā (d. 70/525) and the contemporary Lebanese author Hudā Barakāt, this essay reads the metamorphosis of the exile and the outcast as a critique of tribal identification. I argue that while the moment of exilic departure is confounded and erased, the return (al-ʿawdah) operates as a form of revenge (raiding, haunting, possessing) that emerges from experiences of tawaḥḥush (becoming wild, beastly) and tagharrub (estrangement, alienation). This vengeful return harnesses beastliness and alienation as both destructive and productive forces that dismantle communal rituals of inclusion and exclusion, death and burial, while opening up the human/beast relation to multiple social and political configurations. Drawing on classical and contemporary theoretical frameworks, I examine the function of cruelty in the exile’s transformation and return, reading it as a survival mechanism and aesthetic device.

中文翻译：

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野兽归来：从前伊斯兰颂歌到当代小说

流放者能回来吗？如果是这样，如何？这个问题已经消耗了吉尔伽美什时代的文献。这篇文章关注 Jāhilī 诗人 al-Shanfarā（卒于 70/525）和当代黎巴嫩作家 Hudā Barakāt 的作品，将流放者和被放逐者的变态解读为对部落认同的批判。我认为，虽然流亡离开的那一刻被混淆和抹去了，但回归 (al-ʿawdah) 是一种报复（袭击、困扰、占有）的形式，它源于 tawaḥḥush（变得狂野、野蛮）和 tagharrub（疏远）的经历，异化）。这种复仇的回归利用兽性和异化作为破坏性和生产力的力量，破坏了包容和排斥、死亡和埋葬的公共仪式，同时打开人类/野兽与多种社会和政治配置的关系。借鉴古典和当代的理论框架，我考察了流放者转变和回归中残忍的作用，将其解读为一种生存机制和审美装置。