Michael Cooperson (UCLA), “Towards a New Arabic Literary History”

Towards a new Arabic literary history

What did pre-modern authors writing in Arabic have to say about their own literary history? Many things, as it turns out, most of them non-linear. In this respect, their accounts differ from the rise-and-fall story later promulgated by European scholars––a story which has now become the dominant one even in the Arab world.

What’s next? One way forward, I propose, is to draw on non-linear approaches, both pre-modern and modern––including, for example, the late-nineteenth century notion of Kulturgeschichte as applied to the cultural history of Arabic-speaking societies. A new literary history of Arabic––or at least, the one I am trying to write––should grant equal weight to all periods and regions; should foreground reception, especially translation, as a critical part of the story; and should embrace avowedly pedagogical elements such as commentary, digression, and above all, visual explanation.

The talk will include a sneak preview of this work in progress; comments and criticism are welcome! I am also very interested in hearing from participants about the state of literary history in their fields of expertise.