1st Edition

Arabic Literature for the Classroom Teaching Methods, Theories, Themes and Texts

Edited By Mushin al-Musawi Copyright 2017
    344 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    344 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Arabic Literature for the Classroom argues for a more visible presence of Arabic within the humanities and social sciences, stressing the need to make Arabic literature available as a world literature, without damaging its own distinctive characteristics.

    The nineteen chapters which make up this book broach theoretical and methodical cultural concerns in teaching literatures from non-American cultures, along with issues of cross-cultural communication, cultural competency and translation. While some chapters bring out the fascinating and ever tantalizing connections between Arabic and the literatures of medieval Europe, others employ specific approaches to teaching particular texts, potential methodologies, themes and a variety of topics that can place Arabic widely in a vast swathe of academic application and learning. Topics that are explored include gender, race, class, trauma, exile, dislocation, love, rape, humor, and cinema, as well as issues that relate to writers and poets, women’s writing and the so called nahdah (revival) movement in the 19th Century.

    The comparative framework and multi-disciplinary approach means that this book injects new life into the field of Arabic Literature. It will therefore be an essential resource for students, scholars and teachers of Arabic Literature, as well as for anyone with an interest in learning more about Arabic culture.

    Introduction: Arabic Literature for the Classroom Part I:Theory and Method 1. Proxidistant Reading: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of the Nahḍah in U.S. Comparative Literary Studies - Shaden M. Tageldin 2. Teaching Arab Women’s Letters - Boutheina Khaldi 3. Arab Women Writers 1980-2010 - Miriam Cooke 4. Teaching Francophone Algerian Women’s Literature in a Bilingual French-English Context: Creative Voices, Dissident Texts - Brinda Mehta 5. Teaching Classical Arabic Literature in English Translation - Jocelyn Sharlet 6. Classical and Post-Classical Arabic Literary Delights - Nizar Hermes 7. Language through Literature - Taoufik Ben Amor Part II: Theme 8. Lessons from the Maghreb - Hoda el Shakry 9. Teaching Humor in Arabic Literature and Film - Tarek El-Ariss 10. The Art of Teaching Arab Traumas Triumphantly -  Hanadi Al-Samman 11. The Urban Gateway: Teaching the City in Modern Arabic Literature - Ghenwa Hayek 12. Teaching Mahmud Darwish - Jeff Sacks 13. Teaching the Modernist Arabic Poem in Translation - Muhsin al-Musawi 14. Lessons from a Revolution -  Nathaniel Greenberg Part III: Text 15. Teaching the Maqamat in Translation - Roger Allen 16. Ibn Hazm: Freindship, Love and the Quest for Justice - A. Terri L De Young 17. The Story of Zahra and its Critics - Elizabeth M. Holt 18. The Arabic Frametale and Two European Offspring - James Monroe 19. Teaching the Arabian Nights - Muhsin al-Musawi

     

    Biography

    Muhsin J. al-Musawi is professor of Arabic and comparative studies at Columbia University and the author of many books in English and Arabic, including 'Arabic poetry'

    This rich volume with its useful and original focus on teaching makes me wish I were teaching Arabic literature again. Including chapters by experts on all the major and many minor genres, the highly stimulating collection will be fruitfully read by teachers and students of Arabic and world literature. Geert Jan van Gelder, Laudian Professor of Arabic emeritus, University of Oxford.

    This critically acute and pedagogically canny collection offers a host of ways to bring Arabic literature more fully into comparative and world literature classrooms, as well as in more specifically Middle Eastern courses. These essays offer new pathways into a wide range of classic and modern texts, in illuminating discussions that will be full of interest for teachers, scholars, and general readers alike. David Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor and Chair, Department of Comparative Literature, Harvard University

    In this fine addition to a growing corpus of such materials, Muhsin al-Musawi and his colleagues have brought to bear on the teaching of Arabic literature a wide-ranging, high quality and apposite set of texts, insights, and best practices, designed to guide both novices and seasoned experts alike. Shawkat M. Toorawa, Professor of Arabic Literature, Yale University