Abstract

This article provides a general survey of Emirati literature—poetry, drama, the short story and novel—tracing the history of the development of these genres in the periods before and after the formation of the UAE federation in 1971. While the UAE has now become famous as the commercial and tourist hub of the contemporary Middle East, very little is known in the English speaking world about the country’s literary and cultural productions within the context of the wider modern Arabic literary tradition. The article constitutes a preliminary report of an on-going project on the topic in which I am arguing that, contrary to the general perception in academia (East and West), contemporary Emirati literature is not inferior to its counterparts in the Gulf and wider Arab region; and that Emirati women are as active as their male compatriots in literary production.Key words: Arabic, literature, Emirati, contemporary, history, criticism

Highlights

  • Located on the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven states, presently called ‘Emirates’

  • This article provides a general survey of Emirati literature—poetry, drama, the short story and novel— tracing the history of the development of these genres in the periods before and after the formation of the UAE federation in 1971

  • The article constitutes a preliminary report of an on-going project on the topic in which I am arguing that, contrary to the general perception in academia (East and West), contemporary Emirati literature is not inferior to its counterparts in the Gulf and wider Arab region; and that Emirati women are as active as their male compatriots in literary production

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Summary

Introduction

Located on the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven states, presently called ‘Emirates’. Modern Arabic literary writing in the UAE is relatively new and very little has been written in English about it, this article argues that contrary to the general belief in both Eastern and Western academia, contemporary Emirati literature is not inferior to its counterparts in the Gulf region and the wider Arab world. The emergence of Emirati fiction, as we shall soon see, coincided more or less with the time of the unification and the commencement of oil exploration in the area.[6] One of the most detailed studies on the history of Emirati literature is NizārAbāẓah’s alIttijāhāt al-ʾasāsiyyah li’l-shir al-ḥadīth fī Dawlat al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabiyyah al-Muttaḥidah: 1920-1990 [The Main Trends in Modern Arabic Poetry in the UAE: 1920-1990];7 this book discusses the factors that had facilitated the rise of literary and cultural awakening among the Emiratis. Dhabi International Book Fair website very handy: (retrieved on 13 March 2014)

See AHMAD 1985
28 SeeA AH 1997
38 SeeABD AL-Q DIR 2004b
Findings
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