Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature
- The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I When? The Time of Modern Arabic Literature
- Part II What? The Languages of Modern Arabic Literature
- Part III Where? The Geography of Modern Arabic Literature
- Part IV How? The Media of Modern Arabic Literature
- Further Resources
- Index
- Cambridge Companions to …
- References
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2026
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature
- The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I When? The Time of Modern Arabic Literature
- Part II What? The Languages of Modern Arabic Literature
- Part III Where? The Geography of Modern Arabic Literature
- Part IV How? The Media of Modern Arabic Literature
- Further Resources
- Index
- Cambridge Companions to …
- References
Summary
Opening with Salih’s Season of Migration, the chapter uses an imaginary library devoid of Arabic books to question Arabic’s place in world literature. It rejects two temptations – adding Arabic as a simple supplement or isolating it as exceptional – and proposes modern Arabic literature as a field that reshapes questions of time, language, geography, and media. Surveying scholarship and canon formation, the editors trace and critique Nahda-origin periodizations, fuṣḥā/ʿāmmiyya binaries, nationalist gatekeeping, and regional frames such as Mashriq, Maghrib, Gulf, and exile. The volume’s four sections examine shifting temporalities, contested linguistic registers and translation, transnational geographies, and media histories from print to poetry and the novel. A final provocation reads Ahmed Naji’s prison library to ask why Arabic literature matters now, foregrounding contemporary reading, translation, and experimentation against state-sanctioned canons. Across case studies, the Companion offers methods and close readings that unsettle inherited categories while opening future paths for studying modern Arabic literature.
Keywords
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature , pp. 1 - 18Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Works Cited
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