al-Naqd al-Adabi wa Madarisuhu al-Haditha
- Author died
- 1390 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Thaqafa
al-Naqd al-Adabi wa Madarisuhu al-Haditha (Literary Criticism and Its Modern Schools) is the Arabic translation of the critical treatise by the American critic Stanley Edgar Hyman (1919–1970 / d. 1390 AH), translated by Ihsan Abbas and Muhammad Yusuf Najm . The book examines the methodologies, intellectual foundations, and development of twentieth-century literary criticism, linking modern trends with the historical trajectory of critical theory dating back to classical antiquity .
Subject and Core Concepts
The work defines modern literary criticism as the systematic and organized application of non-literary techniques and diverse fields of non-literary knowledge to obtain deep insight into literary texts . Hyman argues that while ancient critics like Aristotle and Romantic theorists like Samuel Taylor Coleridge possessed sharp intuitive perceptions, modern criticism is distinct because of its methodical integration of modern disciplines .
These integrated fields include the social sciences, psychological analysis (such as free association), semantic theories, anthropological frameworks (including primitive rituals and archetypes), and social-economic analysis . The book also highlights the emergence of the "New Criticism," associated with John Crowe Ransom, and advocates for an integrative critical methodology that combines various specialized approaches into a comprehensive analytical apparatus .
Translation and Publication
The Arabic edition was translated jointly by Ihsan Abbas and Muhammad Yusuf Najm to address a perceived shortage of comprehensive contemporary critical studies in Arabic scholarship . While the original English treatise was published in a single volume, the translators divided their Arabic rendition into two volumes to facilitate reader access . The translators added explanatory footnotes to clarify dense concepts, documented the titles of foreign works consulted in both Arabic and their original languages, and prepared indices of names . The work was published in Beirut by Dar al-Thaqafa in 1958 and reissued in subsequent editions .
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