Studies in East Asian Literatures and Cultures – serie

This book contains a selection of texts in Arabic Languages from the Gulf countries.The preceding study describes the beginnings of the literary movement in the Gulf region and presents the range of problems that appear in the regional literature. In this young and unknown literature reference is made to history as well as to social, political and cultural changes taking place in these countries. Without profound knowledge, a full understanding of the significance would be impossible.The selected works have intentionally not been translated to allow the reader an independent analysis. The author offers an outline of modern short story writing from the Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Emirates and Kuwait) for all those interested in modern Arabic literature.

The contributions in this book address a vast variety of questions concerning the sources and mutual inspirations in Oriental and European literatures. The authors discuss selected texts from both historical and synchronic perspectives. They reveal and scrutinise the sedimented layers in their search for the original as well as for the repetitive and universal. The book revolves around the creative reception of one’s own cultural heritage and of works which originated in other cultures.

The book comprehensively examines the Sh‘ir magazine published in Beirut (1957-1964; 1967-1969). The magazine’s editors sought to generate a profound change in the role and form of Arabic poetry as a tool to support a significant leap forward in the Arab thinking and writing. The book traces the mechanism of development of the magazine’s content and the thinking of its main editors, through in-depth textual analysis of the three main branches of the magazine’s content: translated poetry, original Arabic poetry, and articles of literary criticism. Each of these branches is accompanied by a complete appendix of relevant items. The analysis revals the significant role that Sh‘ir played in enabling a new kind of secular and personal poetics, including that of prose-poetry and vision poems.

The volume is the attempt to describe China's reform and opening-up under Deng Xiaoping aegis (1978–2018). Using the mixed approaches of political science, international relations, economy, sociology and culture studies (sinology), it attempts to show how the country – starting from political anarchy, economic autarky, backwardness, and a closed society – transformed into a global power centre. The study is supported by an extensive, multi-language literature: both Chinese and Western, with some Central European flavour. The author also utilises his rich personal experience in China (since 1976) and tries to explain and – above all – help readers to understand how the internal Chinese discourse has evolved.