1. The Pre-Islamic Arab Romance of Antara and the Maley Islamic Hikayat of Mohammad Hanafiah
Dafari, Saleh Salim Sahlan al-, and Mohammad Hanafiah. “The pre-Islamic Arab romance of Antara and the Malay Islamic Hikayat of Mohammad Hanafiah: a comparative study.” Gombak Review 1.i (1996): 59-66. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.
2. The Hostage, or who was who?
Gelder, Geert Jan van, and Geert Jan Van Gelder. “The hostage, or who was who? A story from pre-Islamic Arabia.” Middle Eastern Literatures 11.ii (2008): 127-137. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.
The development of Arabic literature would coincide with the history of the Middle East. With increased contact with the West, Arab writers would begin to try new literature styles. Prior to that time, most writers focused on writing poems or told stories orally. Arabs would take the western form of the short story and make it their own. It took a while for the short story to take root in the Arab culture but once it did it would soon flourish faster than even the west. Common themes of stories in the early period were focused on religion and common occurrences of everyday life, and there was little room or comfort for writers to really break the box of creative writing. A period arouse in Arabic literature that would allow writers to begin to look more closely into their own lives – The Romantic period.
Writers from Egypt to Iraq were writing about their own country. This sense of “home” coincided with nationalistic sentiments that were occurring in society. In addition, these writers were very connected to their country and therefore were very emotional in their descriptions, and were also very detailed as well when describing daily events, the land, social issues, etc. However, this very romantic idea of life did not last long as things took a different turn in the Arab world. Writers would begin to portray a more realistic depiction of social events.
As sentiments of nationalism began to dwindle, more divides in society were beginning to appear. Several divisions in society included the country vs. city, tribal vs. modernity, rich vs. poor – these divisions in society would begin to be written about by Arab writers. Social issues were beginning to be addressed more directly. Writers in general felt more comfortable writing outside the comfort zone of not just religion, but being creative and analyzing such social issues like the corruption of the upper class. The realistic period would highlight prominent issues in the Middle East, like the Arab Israeli conflict, the conflicting morality of humans, to name a few.
The short story in the Middle East has had a major influence on society. It provided an outlet for writers to talk about social issues, weather they did so indirectly or directly through the stories they told. These short stories act as great historical documents of how different parts of the Middle East lived and responded to events.
1. Women in Pre-Islamic Poetry by D. Amaldi
Amaldi, D. “Women in pre-Islamic poetry.” Verse and the fair sex: studies in Arabic poetry and in the representation of women in Arabic literature. A collection of papers presented at the 15th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (Utrecht/Driebergen … 1990). Ed. F.de Jong. 77-84. Utrecht: Houtsma Stichting, 1993. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.
2. Classical Poems by Arab Women by Adbullah Udhari (ISBN:0863560474)
3. Love Poetry by Arab Women by Gert Borg
Please search on the American University of Cairo website to get access to these dissertation’
1. A Study of Linguistic Patterning in Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry by Mary Catherine Kassarjian
2. The Concept of Allah as the highest God in Pre-Islamic Arabia: A study of Pre-Islamic Arabic religious poetry by Sayuti Najmah – Dissertation at the American University of Cairo
3. The concept of the hero in pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetic texts by Amin Hosny Bonnah
4. The Symbol of wine in pre-Islamic poetry by Mohamed Ahmad Birairy and the American University of Cairo
5. The Mu’allaqa of Imru’Al-Qays: Its Sturcture and Meaning by Adnan Faud Haydar
6. Old Age and Lost Youth in Early Arabic Poetry by Al-Ruhayli and Sauud Dakhil
1. The Pre-Islamic Languages
2. Arabic Patterns(link from Cornell University) - In Arabic
3. Arabic Metre (link from Cornell University)
4. Semetic Languages by Edward Lipinksi
5. Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Language and Literature by JR Smart (ISBN:0700704116)
6. Futures of Literature (DOI: 10.1353/dia.0.0036) by Jeffrey Sacks
7. The Adverbs of Place in Arabic Grammar and Poetry by Ahmed Taher Hassanein
http://www.jstor.org/stable/521672
8. Reflections on the Lingusitic map of Pre-Islamic Arabia
Macdonald, M.C.A. “Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia.” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 11.i (2000): 28-79. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.
9. Languages of Pre-Islamic Arabia
Beeston, A. F. L. “Languages of pre-Islamic Arabia.” Arabica 28.(1981): 178-186. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.
1. General Background Information
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topi…
2. Link from Cornell University to Amr Ibn Kulthum’s Mullaqat
http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/m…
1. The Seven golden odes of pagan Arabia by Lady Anne Blunt
http://books.google.com/books?id=ETtbAAA…
2. The Mu’allaqat
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topi…
3. A prose translation of the Mo’allaqah of Labid by William Wright by U. Shedler
http://jss.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/1/97.extract
4. The Social Context of Pre-Islamic Poetry: Poetic Imagery and Social Reality in the Mu’llaqat
Brown, Jonathan A.C. “The social context of pre-Islamic poetry: poetic imagery and social reality in the muʿllaqat.” Arab Studies Quarterly 25.iii (2003): 29-50. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.
5. The Moallakat in English Literature by Issam Al-Khatib
Khatib, Issam Al-. ”The Moallakat in English literature.” Adab al Rafidayn 3.(1971): 1-25. Index Islamicus.EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.
6. Mystic Mythopoiesis of pre-Islamic Arabic odes
Urbonaitė, Dalia. “Mystic mythopoiesis of pre-Islamic Arabic odes.” Acta Orientalia Vilnensia 6.ii (2005): 102-113. Index Islamicus. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.
