Introduction: A New Conception of Arabic Literature

Abstract

Abstract Modern Arabic literature is the literature, written in Arabic, of the modern Arab world and this is generally assumed to begin with the French campaign in Egypt in 1798. The date is significant, for it marks the dramatic opening of the Arab world, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, to the West, ultimately with momentous consequences in its political, economic, social, and cultural development. Out of the fruitful meeting of the indigenous Arabic literary tradition and the cultural forces of the West modern Arabic literature was born. It was a slow and gradual process, hedged round with doubts and uncertainties, and characterized by as much conservative opposition and reluctance as pioneering enthusiasm and radical fervour. For various reasons it began to make itself felt in Egypt and Syria (which then included Lebanon) from which it spread slowly to the rest of the Arab world.