Adonis is a favourite for the Nobel prize in literature, to be announced October 13th. In these conversations with the psychoanalyst Houria Abdelouahed, the celebrated poet brings into sharp relief the latest wave of violence and war to engulf Arabic countries, tracing the cause back to the beginnings of Islam itself.

Adonis argues that recent events in the Middle East; from the failures of the Arab Spring to the rise of ISIS and the bloody war in his native Syria; attest to the destructive effects of an Islamic worldview that prohibits any notion of plurality and breeds violence.

If there is to be any hope of peace or progress in the Arab world, Adonis urges a new spirit of enquiry, embodied in the freedoms to interrogate the past and question cultural norms.