City In Arabic Literature

The theme and motif of the city has had an enduring presence in the Arabic-Islamic tradition, from the classical and post-classical literary corpus to modern and post-colonial Arabic poetry and prose. Cities such as Mecca, Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, Qayrawan, Marrakesh and Cordoba have served as virtual (battle)grounds for some of the Arab world's most complex intellectual, sociocultural, and political issues. The Arab city has been transformed from a mere physical structure and textual space into an (auto)biographical, novelistic, and poetic arena-often troubled and contested-for debating the encounter, competition and conflict between the rural and the urban, the traditional and the modern, the meditative and the satiric, the individual and the communal, and the Self and Other(s).

Traces Victorian self-harm through an engagement with literary fiction.

Filling a gap in the literature currently available on the topic, this edited collection is the first examination of the interplay between urbanization, language variation and language change in fifteen major Arab cities. The Arab world presents very different types and degrees of urbanization, from well established old capital-cities such as Cairo to new emerging capital-cities such as Amman or Nouakchott, these in turn embedded in different types of national construction. It is these urban settings which raise questions concerning the dynamics of homogenization/differentiation and the processes of standardization due to the coexistence of competing linguistic models. Topics investigated include: History of settlement The linguistic impact of migration The emergence of new urban vernaculars Dialect convergence and divergence Code-switching, youth language and new urban culture Arabic in the Diaspora Arabic among non-Arab groups. Containing a broad selection of case studies from across the Arab world and featuring contributions from leading urban sociolinguistics and dialectologists, this book presents a fresh approach to our understanding of the interaction between language, society and space. As such, the book will appeal to the linguist as well as to the social scientist in general.

In a desperate attempt to save his mother and two sisters from famine and disease, a young man leaves his native village in Sudan and sets out alone to seek work in the city. This is the beginning of Hamza's long journey. Hunger and destitution lead him ever farther from his home: first from Sudan to Egypt, where the lack of work forces him to join a band of smugglers, and finally from Egypt to Europe--Italy, France, Holland--where he experiences first-hand the harsh world of migrant laborers and the bitter realities of life as an illegal immigrant. Tarek Eltayeb's first novel offers an uncompromising depiction of poverty in both the developed and the developing world. With its simple yet elegant style, Cities without Palms tells of a tragic human life punctuated by moments of true joy. "Once started it is difficult to put down. It is sensational, original, and altogether a magnificent literary debut." --James Kirkup, Banipal

Spell-binding evocation of Bedouin life in the 1930s when oil is discovered by Americans in an unnamed Persian Gulf kingdom.

14. The politics of perception in post-revolutionaryEgyptian cinema -- Reel revolutions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- PART III: Text -- 15. Teaching the maqâmât in translation -- Maqâmât and translation -- Teaching the maqâmât -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 16. Ibn Hazm: Friendship, love and the quest for justice -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 17. The Story of Zahra and its critics: Feminism and agency at war -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 18. The Arabic frametale and two European offspring -- Introduction -- The 1001 Nights -- The Book of Kalīla wa-Dimna -- The Maqāmāt -- The Book of Good Love -- The Canterbury Tales -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 19. Teaching the Arabian Nights -- The fourteenth-century manuscript -- The translator as producer -- A translation venture in a classroom -- Galland's translation in context -- Entry into the French milieu -- The twentieth century: how different? -- In world literature: a comparative sketch before and after -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Afterword: Teaching Arabic literature, Columbia University, May 2010 -- Index

Presents a geographical/spatial approach to Beirut seeking to understand how the city is imagined in fiction. This book focuses on the urban/rural divide, the city through panoramic views and pedestrian acts, the city as sexualised and gendered, and the city as a palimpsest. It provides a thorough overview of Beirut in the modern Arabic novel.