The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature

The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arabic Literature redefines how we engage with Arabic literary traditions in a global context. Gathering together preeminent scholars in the field, this groundbreaking volume challenges the frameworks of world literature and cultural exceptionalism, offering instead a paradigmatic lens through which modern Arabic literature becomes a site of critical inquiry.

Combining case studies and close readings, the contributors explore the field’s rich heterogeneity—from vernacular poetics and regional voices to translation politics and genre innovation. The Companion highlights Arabic literature’s dynamic intersections with language, temporality, geography, and media, revealing its power to reshape literary studies across linguistic and national boundaries. Far from being peripheral, Arabic literature emerges as central to rethinking the global literary canon.