V. Agathangel Krymsky and the study of the history of literature of Syria and Lebanon in modern times (to the problem of Eurocentrism)

Abstract

Agathangel Krymsky’s fundamental work “History of Modern Arabic Literature (XIX-XX centuries)” is a complete investigation of the history of Arabic literature performed with the utmost professionalism and erudition. Actually literature of the Arab countries of modern times appears in this work as the final link in a chain of human activity, as a result of social and political activism, the struggle of ideological and aesthetic trends in the social life of the Arab countries. However in the Krymsky assessment of historical and literary process in the Arab East is based on the traditional opposition of Europe (which is understood as the West) and the East of Arabs and Turks (understood as similar, if not identical world). Eurocentric approach is the basis for the study of the material. Syria in Krymsky’s book is to be a vast territory without a well-defined borders, encompassing modern Palestine, Jordan and part of southern Turkey. Author proposes a new approach to the assessment of the Krymsky’s contribution to the study of the history of Arabic literature and explores new ideas and views in this area.