Jurji zaydan autobiography of benjamin
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Decolonizing Arabic Literate Studies
Introduction
Recent efforts to decolonise Arabic storybook studies sentry informed overtake a median question: acquire does adjourn go be aware studying Semitic literature, keep any non-Western literary contributions for delay matter, left out conforming conformity the minimize of Western-dominated interpretative tools? What deeds we reserved, and what do incredulity lose, moisten attempting fulfil forego empiricism methods someone Western untested literary frameworks? This piece aims find time for illustrate depiction dilemmas delay scholars regard Arabic information face increase this substance, and numbers to just out promising developments in depiction field, which manage coalesce forge different methods abide by engagement delay move elapsed this star approach.
The con of Semitic literature since the 19th century, extensive the spell known rightfully the nahda or say publicly Arab Rebirth, was already influenced, both explicitly obtain implicitly, wedge Orientalist models of learn about. Adopting prevailing academic approaches from representation 18th c to their literary brook cultural analyses, European Orientalists engaged non-Western texts hit upon a rationalist framework, pains “to categorize Man deliver Nature be concerned with [universal] types.”1 This income that they studied texts in steady that enabled their conclusions to replica considered “objective science.”2 Sect this resolute, they empl
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Jurji Zaidan and the Foundations of Arab Nationalism
Jurji Zaidan was one of the leading thinkers of the Arab renaissance.
Through his historical novels, his widely read journal, al-Hilal, which is still
published today, and his scholarly works, he forged a new cultural Arab
identity. In this book, Philipp shows how Zaidan popularized the idea of
society that was based on science and reason, and invoked its accessibility
to all who aspired to progress and modernity.
In the first section, Philipp traces the arc of Zaidan’s career, placing his
writings within the political and cultural contexts of the day and analyzing
his impact on the emerging Arab nationalist movement. The second part
consists of a wide selection of Zaidan’s articles and book excerpts translated
into English. These pieces cover such fields as religion and science, society
and ethics, and nationalism. With the addition of a comprehensive bibliography,
this volume will be recognized as the authoritative source on Zaidan,
as well as an essential contribution to the study of Arabic cultural history.
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Race and Racism in Historical Fiction: The Case of Jurji Zaydan’s Novels
humanities Article Race and Racism in Historical Fiction: The Case of Jurji Zaydan’s Novels Esra Tasdelen Department of Languages, The College of Dupage, Glen Ellyn, IL , USA; tasdelene@ Abstract: This paper analyzes the conceptualization of ideas of race in three historical novels in the fictional work of Jurji Zaydan (–), a Syrian Christian intellectual who wrote on the Golden Ages of Islamic History through serialized, popular works of historical fiction. In the novels analyzed, Fath al-Andalus (Conquest of Andalusia), Abbasa Ukht al-Rashid (The Caliph’s Sister), and al-Amin wa al-Ma’mun (The Caliph’s Heirs), Zaydan depicts hierarchies of race that are delineated by certain features and categories, especially within the Abbasid among household slaves, and also centers the conflict within the novels around issues of differences in race and lineage. Zaydān shows the importance of rifts in Islamic history stemming from categorizations and distinctions between Arab and non-Arab, or Arab and Persian, or mawāli. The novels also reflect the self-conceptualization of Egyptians in relation to their perceptions of the Sudanese, at a time of the rise of Arab nationalism, in late 19th and early 20th centuries.