Studying Modern Arabic Literature

Roger Allen retired in 2011 from his position as the Sascha Jane Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. He was Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations. In 2009-10 he served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA). Among his published works are: A Period of Time (1st [microfiche] edition, 1974; 2nd edition 1992); The Arabic Novel: an historical and critical introduction (1st edition 1982, Arabic edition, 1986; 2nd edition 1995, 2nd Arabic edition 1998); and The Arabic Literary Heritage, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 (abbreviated paperback edition [2000] Introduction to Arabic Literature; in Arabic, Muqaddima li-al-adab al-`Arabi, Cairo: Al-Majlis al-A`la, 2003)..In addition to a large number of studies in book, encyclopedia and article form on modern and pre-modern Arabic literature, he has translated fictional works by a number of Arab writers, including Naguib Mahfouz, Yusuf Idris, `Abd al-rahman Munif, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Hanan al-Shaykh, Salim Himmich and Ahmad al-Tawfiq.Until 2009 Robin Ostle was Official Fellow in Modern Arabic at St. John’s College, University of Oxford. He is now Emeritius Research Fellow in Modern Arabic at St. John’s College, and is currently President of the Academic Council of the Maison Mediterraneenne des Sciences de L’Homme in the University of Aix-Marseille. His most recent major publication was the edited volume Sensibilities of the Islamic Mediterranean (I.B.Tauris 2008).

This volume showcases the personal, human side of Badawi as a mentor and teacher and shows how, through practical applications of his critical principles, Badawi's methods and conclusions have informed the study of Arabic literature. The result is a collection that traces not only the contributions of Badawi to his field but also the new appreciation of modern Arabic literature in the west that he helped to foster.

• Introduction; Part 1: Alexandria to Oxford; 1.The Cosmopolitan Alexandrian, Robin Ostle; 2. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi in Conversation, Abdul Nabi Isstaif; 3. Badawi: An Academic with a Vision. A Personal Testimony, Sabry Hafez; 4. From the Shadow Plays of Ibn Daniyal to the Poetry of Philip Larkin: Mustafa Badawi as Editor and Translator, Derek Hopwood; Part II: The Academic Legacy; 5. Beginning and End: Exploring the Qur’anic ‘Grand Story’, Mohamed Mahmoud; 6. Modern Arabic Literature as seen in the late 19th Century. Jurji Murqus’s contribution to Korsh and Kipichnikov’s Vseobshchaya Istoria Literatury, Hilary Kilpatrick; 7. The ‘Second Journey’ (al-Rihla al-Thaniya) of Muhammad al-Muwaylihi’s Hadith ‘Isa Ibn Hisham Re-visited, Roger Allen; 8. Ataturk becomes Antar: Nationalist-vernacular Politics and Epic Heroism in 1920s Egypt,Marilyn Booth;9. Jewish Arabs in the Israeli Asylum. A Literary reflection, Miriam Cooke; 10. Strange Incidents from History: Youssef Rakha and his 'Sultan’s Seal', Paul Starkey; 11. Towards a Comparative Approach to Arabic Literature, Abdul Nabi Isstaif; 12. Does Literature Matter? The Relationship between Literature and Politics in Revolutionary Egypt,Elisabeth Kendall; Notes; Bibliography; List of Contributors; Index.