LEARNING OUTCOMES

- It intends to provide an overview of the main narrative trends in the twentieth century in relation to the political and socio-cultural evolution, analyse the most representative and relevant themes, authors and works of that period, as well as identify their specificity in the modern and contemporary Arabic literary context.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

- to offer students methodological knowledge and critical thinking that enable the understanding of other phenomena, authors and works from the same period;

- to develop analytical and interpretation skills;

- to stimulate students to reflect on some socio-literary, political and linguistic issues;

- To broaden the knowledge of lexis, phraseology and syntactic structures of Standard Arabic through the reading and the analysis of some passages.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures and seminars. Students will be asked to participate in class discussions, to read and comment on several selected passages, both in Italian and in Arabic.

Unless otherwise indicated, the lessons in the first semester will be held in person, starting from the first week of October, according to the university teaching timetable.  

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This is a one-year course (54 hours - 9 CFU) and is divided into two teaching parts.

Students who choose Arabic literature II worth 6 CFU are required to take only the second part which will be held in the second semester.

- Part I (First semester):

- Introduces the historical, cultural and literary context of the nahḍa period. Particular attention will be paid to the literary elements of continuity and rupture with the classical and pre-modern periods.

- Includes reading in the Arabic language and the analysis of some passages taken from The Extraction of Gold or an Overview of Paris by Rifā‘a al-Ṭahṭāwī (d. 1873), Leg over Leg by Fāris al-Šidyāq (d. 1887), What ʿĪsā ibn Hishām told us by Muḥammad al Muwayliḥī (d. 1930).

- Covers the historical-literary context of the Arab world at the beginning of the twentieth century, the rise and the evolution of the novel and the short story, particularly in Egypt. We will focus on the most relevant themes such as: the relationship between the Arab world and the European colonial powers; the national, cultural and religious identity; the relationship between tradition and modernity; the social and female emancipation:

• Zaynab by Muḥammad Ḥusayn Haykal (d. 1956);
• Fī l-qiṭār (By train) di Muḥammad Taymūr (d. 1921);
• al-Šayḫ Ğum‘a by Maḥmūd Taymūr (d. 1973);
• Ḥadīṯ al-qarya (Village small talk) by Maḥmūd Ṭāhir Lāšīn (d. 1954).

- Part II (Second semester):

- This module deals with the evolution of the novel in Egypt and in other Arab countries in relation to the crucial events that have shaped the contemporary history of the Arab world and in particular the process of decolonisation, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the crisis of the post-colonial regimes and the political and socio-cultural changes in the Arab world in the second half of the 20th century.

- The following works will be covered:

• Bidāya wa-nihāya (The Beginning and the End 1949) by Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ (Egypt).
• Riǧāl fī l-šams (Men in the Sun 1963) by Ġassān Kanafānī (Palestine);
• Mawsim al-hiğrah ilà al-šamāl  (Season of Migration to the North 1967) by al-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ (Sudan);
• Al-Ḫubz al-ḥāfī (For Bread Alone 1972) by Muḥammad Šukrī (Morocco);
• Bayrūt ’75 (Bayrut 75 - 1975) by Ġāda Sammān (Ghada Samman) (Syria);
• al-Karnak (Karnak Café 1971-74) by Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ (Egypt);
• Sāq al-Bambū (The Bamboo Stalk 2012) by Sa‘ūd al-San‘ūsī (Kuwait).

N.B .: Students must read at least two works of their choice (novels or anthologies of short stories or poems), translated from Arabic into Italian or English, and must be able to expose and analyse them in depth in the exam.

- The syllabus is the same for non-attending students. Bibliographical material and texts covered during the course will be available on Aulaweb.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Isabella Camera d’Afflitto, Letteratura araba contemporanea. Dalla nahdah a oggi, Carocci, Roma, 2007;
• Isabella Camera d’Aflitto, Scrittori arabi del Novecento, Bompiani, Milano, 2002;
• Toelle H., Zakaria K., Alla scoperta della letteratura araba. Dal vi secolo ai nostri giorni. Argo, Lecce, 2010;
• Avino M, Camera d’Afflitto I, Salem A. (ed.), Antologia della letteratura araba contemporanea, Carocci, Roma, 2015;
• Starkey, Paul, Modern Arabic Literature, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2006.