Literary Modernity Between Middle East and Europe: Textual Transactions in 19th Century Arabic, English and Persian Literatures (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures)

193 Pages·2007·1.46 MB·English

by  Kamran Rastegar

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Illustration of nineteenth-century printing-press economy, from Khamse 1264/1847
(Tabriz, Iran).
Source: Illustration is kindly provided by Dr Ulrich Marzolph from his Archive of Illustrations in
Persian Lithographed Books.
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LITERARY MODERNITY BETWEEN
THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE
Only recently has the field of comparative literature begun to more seriously
regard the study of modern Middle Eastern literatures. Yet, despite increasing
interest in the field of such work, currently few academic studies concerning the
comparative study of modern Persian, Arabic, and other regional literatures are
available. This book aims to fill a gap not only in the often-Eurocentric field
of comparative literature but also to impact upon the prevalent mono-linguistic
framework in the study of modern Middle Eastern literatures.
The book examines the effect of circulations between Arabic, Persian, and
English literatures in the nineteenth century and their interrelations with specific
reference to modernity and social value. In opposition to the still predominant
national-literature framework for literary study, it is the thesis of this book that
the defining transformation to literary practice during this period may be best
considered to have emerged from “transactional” texts—texts engendered
through and emergent from travel or other intercultural contacts or through
translation and circulation, and, that the modernity of these texts is a result of
transformation in the social value of literature in these societies.
This highly researched book provides an essential read for students and
scholars of comparative literature, cultural studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.
Kamran Rastegar is Lecturer in Arabic and Persian at the University of
Edinburgh. He researches cultural history, postcolonial studies, and the cinemas
of Iran and the Arab world.
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ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN MIDDLE EASTERN
LITERATURES
Editors
James E. Montgomery
University of Cambridge
Roger Allen
University of Pennsylvania
Philip F. Kennedy
New York University
Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Literaturesis a monograph series devoted to
aspects of the literatures of the Near and Middle East and North Africa both
modern and pre-modern. It is hoped that the provision of such a forum will lead
to a greater emphasis on the comparative study of the literatures of this area,
although studies devoted to one literary or linguistic region are warmly encouraged.
It is the editors’ objective to foster the comparative and multi-disciplinary
investigation of the written and oral literary products of this area.
1. SHEHERAZADE THROUGH 6. THE NOVEL AND THE
THE LOOKING GLASS RURAL IMAGINARY IN
Eva Sallis EGYPT, 1880–1985
Samah Selim
2.THE PALESTINIAN NOVEL
Ibrahim Taha 7. IBN ABI TAHIR TAYFUR
AND ARABIC WRITERLY
3. OF DISHES AND DISCOURSE CULTURE
Geert Jan van Gelder A ninth-century bookman in
Baghdad
4. MEDIEVAL ARABIC PRAISE Shawkat M. Toorawa
POETRY
Beatrice Gruendler 8. RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES
IN MODERN MUSLIM AND
5. MAKING THE GREAT BOOK JEWISH LITERATURES
OF SONGS Edited by Glenda Abramson and
Hilary Kilpatrick Hilary Kilpatrick
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9. ARABIC POETRY 14. LITERATURE,
Trajectories of modernity and tradition JOURNALISM AND THE
Muhsin J. al-Musawi AVANT-GARDE
Intersection in Egypt
10. MEDIEVAL ANDALUSIAN Elisabeth Kendall
COURTLY CULTURE IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN
15. THE THOUSAND AND
Three ladies and a lover
ONE NIGHTS
Cynthia Robinson
Space, travel and
transformation
11. WRITING AND
Richard van Leeuwen
REPRESENTATION IN
MEDIEVAL ISLAM
16. ARAB CULTURE AND
Muslim Horizons
THE NOVEL
Julia Bray
Genre, identity, and agency in
Egyptian fiction
12. NATIONALISM, ISLAM AND
Muhammad Siddiq
WORLD LITERATURE
Sites of confluence in the writings
of Mahmud al-Masadi 17. LITERARY MODERNITY
Mohamed-Salah Omri BETWEEN THE MIDDLE EAST
AND EUROPE
13. THE ORAL AND THE Textual transactions in
WRITTEN IN EARLY ISLAM nineteenth-century Arabic,
Gregor Schoeler English, and Persian
Translated by Uwe Vagelpohl literatures
Edited by James Montgomery Kamran Rastegar
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LITERARY MODERNITY
BETWEEN THE MIDDLE
EAST AND EUROPE
Textual transactions in nineteenth-century
Arabic, English, and Persian literatures
Kamran Rastegar
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First published 2007
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2007 Kamran Rastegar
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-93978-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–42565–4 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–93978–6 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–42565–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–93978–9 (ebk)
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FOR ANNEMARIE
We said: What is thy opinion of the modern and the ancient poets?
He answered: “The language of the ancients is nobler and their
themes more delightful, whereas the conceits of the moderns are
more refined and their style more elegant.”
(The Maqamat of Badi’al-Zaman al-Hamadani)