Fi al-Adab al-Hadith
- Author died
- 1412 AH
- Editions
- Dar Al-Fikr Al-Arabi
Fi al-Adab al-Hadith (On Modern Literature) is a two-volume historical and critical study of modern Arabic literature by the Egyptian scholar Omar al-Desouqi (d. 1412 AH / 1991 CE) . Originating from university lectures delivered to students at the Faculty of Dar al-Ulum at Cairo University, the work charts the development, genres, and major figures of the modern Arab literary renaissance (al-Nahda) .
Composition and Scope
The book originated as a course of academic lectures at Dar al-Ulum, which al-Desouqi agreed to publish after sustained urging from his students . Its first volume was originally published in 1948 . Al-Desouqi compiled his material from dispersed sources, including periodicals, daily newspapers, obscure prints, and manuscripts, expanding the text across successive printings with additional biographical treatments of poets and prose writers .
The work traces modern Arabic literature from its initial awakenings in the early nineteenth century during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, through the cultural and institutional developments under Khedive Ismail and the literary impact of missionary expeditions in the Levant, to the emergence of national and anticolonial literature during the British occupation of Egypt . It examines the competing influences of classical Arabic heritage and Western literatures—principally French and English—alongside the role of translation, modern universities, publishing houses, and Orientalist scholarship .
Structure and Content
The work is organized into thematic and historical chapters exploring the sociopolitical, cultural, and artistic currents of modern Arab letters:
- Historical Background and Influences: The cultural awakening under Muhammad Ali, translation movements, European educational missions, educational reforms, and the political ferment stimulated by figures such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh .
- Poetry and Literary Schools: The revivalist movement initiated by Mahmoud Sami al-Baroudi, followed by the neoclassical school represented by Ahmad Shawqi, Hafiz Ibrahim, Ismail Sabri, and Ahmad Muharram; developments in verse themes, patriotic and social poetry, verse drama, and blank verse; and the influence of Mahjar and romantic trends .
- Literary Criticism: The evolution of critical theory from Husayn al-Marsafi and Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq to modern schools, contrasting English- and French-influenced approaches and detailing the critical debates of Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad, Ibrahim Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini, Abd al-Rahman Shukri, Khalil Mutran, Taha Hussein, and Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi'i .
- Modern Prose Genres: The emergence and maturation of the journalistic essay, narrative fiction (the novel and short story), theatrical writing, and literary epistles, showing how prose shed late Ottoman stylistic ornamentation in favor of direct civic and intellectual engagement .
Reception and Editions
Contemporary reviewers praised the work for its comprehensive scope and its reliance on over eighty-five Arabic and foreign references . Writing in Majallat al-Risala, the critic Kamal Basyuni deemed it among the finest works written on the modern era, though he took issue with al-Desouqi's defense of traditional Arabic narrative against the claim—shared by Western Orientalists and Ahmad Amin—that classical Arabic literature lacked an authentic fictional imagination .
The book saw wide circulation and multiple editions, including a two-volume print in Cairo in 1950, a reissue by Dar al-Fikr in 1973, and expanded authorial editions that reached a sixth edition for the second volume and a seventh edition for the first .
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