Adonis, the Syrian Crisis, and the Question of Pluralism in the Levant

This essay highlights Syrian thinker Adonis' intellectual and ideological journey from his youthful support of Syrian nationalism to his embrace of an encompassing Arab national identity, while outlining his personal history. Recently, Adonis has expressed his commitment to fostering pluralism across the Middle East. This endorsement of a more pluralist setting invokes the concept of the Levant, a political and cultural idea probed in this article. Levantinism and its practical applications in Lebanon, Egypt, and Israel reveal what may be the true spirit of the Middle East: a multilayered crucible of identities, supplanting the notion of an exclusivist Arab identity.