Translations of twelve popular Arabic plays written and produced during the past thirty years introduce English readers to the vibrant theater scene of the Arab world. The plays-from Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia-reflect a variety of dramatic trends and styles and provide insights into contemporary social, cultural, and political currents. This well-prepared anthology represents a unique contribution to the study of world drama and modern Middle Eastern culture. Playwrights include Yusuf al-Ani, Abd al-Aziz al-Surayii, the Balalin Company of Jerusalem, Izz al-Din...

The Arabic Literary Heritage describes a cultural tradition of literary texts in Arabic from the fifth century A.D. to the present day. After two preliminary chapters on principles and contexts, there are chapters devoted to the Qu'ran as literature, poetry, belles-lettrist prose, drama, and criticism. The volume as a whole, which contains extensive quotations in English translation, a chronology and a guide to further reading, makes a major non-Western literary tradition newly accessible to students and scholars in the West.

Roger Allen provides a comprehensive introductory survey of literary texts in Arabic, from their unknown beginnings in the fifth century AD to the present day, and from Islam's sacred text, the Qur'an, to popular literature including The Arabian Nights and a wealth of poetry, narrative prose, drama and criticism. With extensive quotations in English translation, a chronology and a guide to further reading, this revised and abridged version of Allen's acclaimed study, The Arabic Literary Heritage (CUP 1998), provides an invaluable student introduction to a major non-Western literary...

This edition includes new material on the Arabic novel up to 1993. It is a survey of the Arabic novel and its development from its beginnings in the 19th century until today. It traces the origin, early cultivation and the mature period after World War II of the Arabic novel.

A splendidly translated exploration of major themes in classical Arabic literature by the most inventive and provocative critic of Arabic literature in the Middle East today. In this exceptional volume, Abedlfattah Kilito argues that genre - not authorship - is at the heart of classic Arabic literature. Using simple yet lyrical language, he examines love poetry and panegyric, the Prophet's Hadith and the literary anecdote, as well as such recurring themes as memorization, plagiarism and forgery, and dream visions of the dead. Ultimately, he evokes these as an allegory for post-colonial Arab...