Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Literature

Originally Gathered As a tribute to the poet, scholar, and teacher Mounah A. Khouri, Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Literature creates a comprehensive sampling of the major currents of thought on Arabic fiction, poetry, theater, and film in the late twentieth century. Here are illuminating essays on emigrant poet Kahlil Gibran, on the relation of modern Arabic poetry to traditional Arabic literature and its Greek cultural heritage, on novelists like Tawfiq Yusuf Awwad and Ibrahim al-Kawni, and on the achievements of modern Arabic film and theater. From fifteen contributors, Issa Boullata and Terri DeYoung have compiled thirteen essays and an unpublished poem by the late Jabra Ibrahim Jabra. The pieces examine the forms of expression that have passed out of fashion in Arabic literature and drama, structures from other cultures that have found viable expression in Arabic, and the indigenous patterns of artistic craftsmanship that have replaced Europeanized forms. Taken as a whole, the essays present a chorus on the rapid evolution of modern Arabic artistic achievement and how that art relates to the traditions and histories of both the Arab and Western worlds.