Modern Arabic literature
Advocates of the former movement began their work at the onset of the 19th century to resist the decline Arabic literature and its styles were facing.
Both Mubarak and al-Yaziji wrote the maqamat (lengthy literary works of rhymed prose) Alam Eddin and Majma' al-Bahrain (Where Two Seas Meet) respectively, while al-Alusi authored Balaghat al-Arab (The Eloquence of the Arabs).
Al-Tahtawi was also the first translator of a literary novel, Les Aventures de Télémaque by French writer François Fénelon, into Arabic.
Famous works including Alexandre Dumas's Le Comte de Monte Cristo, Jules Verne's Cinq Semaines en Ballon, and many others from different genres, were readily translated and Arabized and found a large readership through their circulation in journals.
[7] Schools that were established in Beirut and Tunisia for authorship and translation affected, and were in turn influenced by, the direct impact of missionaries in Lebanon.
These Lebanese missionaries were led by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq (born 1805 or 1806; died 1887), Butrus al-Bustani (1819–1883), Ibrahim al-Yaziji (1847–1906), and, from Tunisia, Mohamed Bayram V (1840–1889).
In Egypt, journalism, first aided by intellectuals from the Levant, and later becoming a genuine Egyptian endeavor, was considered the pivotal ingredient that polished new literary styles and helped in the dissemination of ideas and opinions.
[5] As for romantic valor (hamasah), such as the works of Mustafa Kamil (1874–1908) and Wali Eddin Yakun (died 1921), this genre first appeared in journals.
Other genres such as sardonic narratives mixed with colloquialisms, as in the works of Yaqub Sanu (1839–1912) and Abdullah al-Nadim (died 1896), gained their socio-literary power from appearing in journals.
A group of young writers formed The New School, and in 1925 began publishing the weekly literary journal Al-Fajr (The Dawn), which would have a great impact on Arabic literature.
The works produced by members of this league quickly spread through the Middle East, as new currents in modern Arabic prose took shape.
There existed many lengthy works of literature such as Kitab al-Aghani (The Book of Songs) by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Qisas al-anbiya'a (The Stories of Prophets) by al-Tha'alibi, as well as the eloquent maqama.
This is clearly present in the writings of Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (born 1854 or 1855; died 1902) in Taba'i al-Istibdad wa-Masari' al-Isti'bad (The Nature of Despotism) and Umm al-Qura, as well as Qasim Amin's Tahrir al-Mar'a (The Liberation of the Woman).
[5] Poetry, on the other hand, was not affected by foreign models until World War I, and remained in its ridged form that was prevalent since the age of decadence.
The articles changed in style and form and were tailored towards discussing various topics, including social and political issues, literature, religion, etc.
[5] Writers of articles included Taha Hussein and Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad, advocates of innovation of style; the conservative Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935) who wrote for the magazine Al-Manar; as well as Farid Wajdi and Mostafa Saadeq al-Rafe'ie (1880–1937).
Whether they were supporters of innovative or traditional styles, these authors played an important role in reforming old and new notions of both extreme ends; they found a balance between the two directions after an extensive filtration of ideas and opinions.
For example, this could be seen clearly in the novels of Tawfiq al-Hakim, Husayn Fawzi's The Modern Sindibad, as well as in the works of Naguib Mahfouz, Hassan Kamil, and many more.
Modern Arabic drama began to be written in the 19th century chiefly in Egypt and mainly influenced and in imitation of French works.
The most important Arab playwright was Tawfiq al-Hakim whose first play was a re-telling of the Qur'anic story of the Seven sleepers and the second an epilogue for the Thousand and One Nights.
Gradually, however, the stage, particularly in Egypt, reached its full potency as Egyptian dramatist began writing plays that reflected the current socio-political situation of the country and its people.
A major theme that was recurrent in most of the plays was the West-East struggle; an issue that seemed to have both coincided and aggravated the search for an Egyptian national identity.
However, judgments of this issue and its implications are yet to be explored, although some argue that the use of colloquialism in Arabic drama may have been a direct result from the interaction with the Western forms of literary production.
While the influence of Western literature accelerated the production of innovative literary prose in Arabic, poetry was slower in liberating itself from classical poetic forms and creating new rhythms and melodic moods.
[2][5] Insofar as Suleyman al-Boustani's (died 1925) attempt in introducing new forms by a rather mediocre translation of the Iliad into Arabic, the role it played was weaker than to be mentioned in the movement towards reformation.
[5] Nationalist poetry was an important element in the progression of modern verse, whose doyen is Tunisian poet Aboul-Qacem Echebbi (died 1934).
The guiding force behind that change is due to literary schools of thought such as al-Diwan Group, led mainly by poets Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad, Ibrahim al-Mazini, and Abdel Rahman Shokry (influenced by neo-romanticism); the New York Pen League, which included Elia Abu Madi; and the Andalusian League, which included Rashid Salim al-Khoury and Fawzi Ma'louf.
Al-Rawi created a new genre in Arabic poetry by liberating it from rhythm and metre, and replacing that with inner music, while maintaining the original imageries.
[5] Social themes along with reformations in the field of poetry were not greatly affected despite the attempts some poets such as Khalil Mutran (1872–1949) to inflict some changes on the genre.
