The Arab Novel, Literary Criticism, and the Creative Imagination of Youmna Eid

Volume 4|Issue 14| Autumn 2015 |Book Reviews

Abstract

This study tracks the latest developments in the criticism practice of Youmna Eid. It takes as its starting point her analytical readings of Arabic novels, particularly those written by women, and examines the extent to which she has remained true to her critical path. This path, and its mature methodological features, were best laid out in her most prominent work On Knowledge of the Text, where Eid emphasized the need to engage with Western concepts of criticism and to transplant these into the Arab cultural realm given the sophistication of Arabic fictional texts. In Eid's view, such an effort could inform the generation of a constructive cultural criticism that would enable an engagement with The other' free of the ballast of epistemological absolutes, one that could successfully bring into relief the key questions of Arabic literary criticism and its methodological and intellectual milestones.

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Independent scholar in Morocco who specializes in Arabic narrative and modern literary theory. He has published several books including [in Arabic], Representations of Modern Literary Theory in the Contemporary Criticism of the Novel; and Questions in Modern Arabic Narrative between the Sociology of Literature and Post-Colonial Literature.

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