The Arab Renaissance: A Bilingual Anthology of the Nahda
- Editor: Tarek El-Ariss
- Pages: 448
- Published: 2018
- ISBN: 9781603293037 (Paperback)
“[T]his anthology would make an excellent adoption for an introductory course about the Arab Nahda . . . [and] is a valuable contribution for students of Arabic language and culture, the humanities and the social sciences.”
The Nahda (“awakening”) designates the project of Arab cultural and political modernity from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Arab models of nationalism and secularism, as well as Islamic revival, spring from Nahda thought and its attendant developments, such as linguistic reform; translation; the emergence of new literary genres, such as the novel; the creation of periodicals, journalism, and a new publishing industry; professional associations and salons; a new education system; and an overall Enlightenment ideal of knowledge. The Nahda ushered in innovative modes of reading and writing along with new social practices of knowledge transmission, transnational connections, and new political ideas.
Collected in this anthology are texts by intellectuals, writers, members of the clergy, and political figures. The authors discuss authority, social norms, conventions and practices both secular and religious, gender roles, class, travel, and technology. Presented in the original Arabic and in English translation, the texts will be of interest to students of the Arabic language and culture, history, cultural studies, gender studies, and other disciplines.
A list of errata for printings made up to and including the third printing is available.
Muhsin al-Musawi
John Baskerville
Marilyn Booth
Kristen Brustad
miriam cooke
Yoav Di-Capua
Anthony Edwards
Tarek El-Ariss
Ziad Fahmy
Angela Giordani
William Granara
Zeina G. Halabi
Ghenwa Hayek
Elizabeth M. Holt
Boutheina Khaldi
Benjamin Koerber
Lital Levy
Margaret Litvin
Yaseen Noorani
Kamran Rastegar
Spencer Scoville
Stephen Sheehi
Lior Sternfeld
Shaden M. Tageldin
Anna Ziajka Stanton
Acknowledgments (xi)
Introduction (xv)
Note on Translation and Transliteration (xxix)
Part 1: What Is the Renaissance?
Butrus al-Bustani (1819–83) (3)
Introduced and translated by Stephen Sheehi
“The Culture of the Arabs Today”
في آداب العرب في هذه الأيام
Fahmi al-Mudarris (1873–1944) (20)
Introduced by Muhsin al-Musawi and translated by Anna Ziajka Stanton
from A Brief Statement about Al al-Bayt University
بيان موجز عن جامعة آل البيت
Salama Musa (1887–1958) (31)
Introduced and translated by John Baskerville
from What Is the Renaissance?
ما هي النهضة؟
Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) (50)
Introduced and translated by Angela Giordani
“The Future of the Arabic Language”
مستقبل اللغة العربية
Part 2: Language and Civilization
Jirmanus Farhat (1670–1732) (71)
Introduced by Kristen Brustad and translated by Anthony Edwards
from Issues Desired by Students Required
بحث المطالب وحث الطالب
Yaʿqub Sannuʿ (1839–1912) (83)
Introduced and translated by Ziad Fahmy
from The Egyptian Molière and What He Endures
موليير مصر وما يقاسيه
’Abdallah al-Nadim (1845–96) (104)
Introduced and translated by Benjamin Koerber
from Raillery and Reproach
التنكيت والتبكيت
Hasan al-ʿAttar (c. 1766–1835) (117)
Introduced and translated by Shaden M. Tageldin
from “Maqama of the French”
مقامة الفرنسيس
ʿAli Mubarak (c. 1823–93) (128)
Introduced and translated by Shaden M. Tageldin
from ʿAlam al-Din
علم الدين
Part 3: Transnational Connections
Esther Moyal (1873–1948) (141)
Introduced and translated by Lital Levy
“Is It Befitting of Women to Demand the Rights of Men?”
Introduction to Biography of Émile Zola
هل للنساء أن يطلبن كل حقوق الرجال
تاريخ حياة إميل زولا
Thamarat al-Funun (1898) (153)
Introduced and translated by Tarek El-Ariss
“On the Dreyfus Affair” and Other News Items
مسألة دريفوس وأخبار أخرى
Muhammad ʿAbduh (1849–1905) (163)
Introduced and translated by Tarek El-Ariss
“Travels in Europe”
Letter to Tolstoy
Tolstoy’s Response to ʿAbduh
السفر في أوروبا
رسالة إلى تولستوي
رد تولستوي
Mikhail Naimy (1889–1988) (179)
Introduced and translated by Margaret Litvin
from Seventy: A Life Story
سبعون: حكاية عمر
Part 4: Theories of Literature
Farah Antun (1874–1922) (195)
Introduced and translated by Ghenwa Hayek
Preface to The New Jerusalem
أوروشليم الجديدة
Khalil Baydas (1875–1949) (206)
Introduced and translated by Spencer Scoville
Stages for the Mind: Introduction to the First Edition
مسارح الأذهان
Zin al-ʿAbdin al-Sanusi (1899–1965) (217)
Introduced and translated by William Granara
Fashioning and Modernizing Arabic Literature
تكون الأدب العربي ووجوب تطوره
Part 5: Novels and Novellas
al-Jinan and al-Zahra (1870) (235)
Introduced and translated by Elizabeth M. Holt
Announcements and Anecdotes
إعلانات وطرائف
Adelaide al-Bustani (1849–1933) (247)
Introduced and translated by Elizabeth M. Holt
“Henry and Amelia”
هنري وأميليا
Zaynab Fawwaz (c. 1850–1914) (261)
Introduced and translated by Marilyn Booth
“Sharafiyya, Daughter of Saʿid Qabudan”
شرفية ابنة سعيد قبودان
Labiba Hashim (1882–1952) (274)
Introduced and translated by Ghenwa Hayek
“The Virtues of Love”
حسنات الحب
Mahmud Ahmad al-Sayyid (1904–37) (287)
Introduced by Muhsin al-Musawi and translated by Anna Ziajka Stanton
from For the Sake of Marriage
في سبيل الزواج
Part 6: Poetic Expressions
Hafez Ibrahim (1872–1932) (303)
Introduced and translated by Kamran Rastegar
From Questions . . . and Answers
سؤال . . . وجواب
Mahmud Sami al-Barudi (1839–1904) (316)
Introduced and translated by Yaseen Noorani
from Diwan
ديوان
ʿAisha Taymur (1840–1902) (331)
Introduced and translated by Marilyn Booth
“With Pure Virtue’s Hand”
بيد العفاف أصون عز حجابي
Part 7: Political Modernity
ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Qabbani (1848–1935) (339)
Introduced and translated by Tarek El-Ariss
“Freedom”
الحرية
Salim Sarkis (1867–1926) (345)
Introduced by Yoav Di-Capua and translated by Lior Sternfeld
The Censor’s Oddities
غرائب المكتوبجي
ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (1855–1902) (353)
Introduced and translated by Yaseen Noorani
from The Characteristics of Despotism and the Fatalities of Enslavement
طبائع الاستبداد ومصارع الاستعباد
Nazira Zeineddine (1908–76) (372)
Introduced by miriam cooke and translated by Zeina G. Halabi
from Unveiling and Veiling
السفور والحجاب
Mayy Ziyadah (1886–1941) (393)
Introduced and translated by Boutheina Khaldi
Letter to Yaʿqub Sarruf
Letter to Malak Hifni Nasif
رسالة إلى يعقوب صرّوف
رسالة إلى ملك حفني ناصف
Notes on Contributors (409)
“This book pays homage to the deeply self-reflexive intellectual origins of the long secular Arabic tradition.”
—Critical Inquiry
“This book’s publication is a transformative event, making available for the first time, in Arabic as well as in English, both classic and unusual material from the explosion of writing that shook up the Arab world in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."
—Saree Makdisi, University of California, Los Angeles