The Arabic Novel in Iraq

The Oxford Handbook of Arab Novelistic Traditions traces the emergence of the Arabic novel in the second half of the nineteenth century and its development to the present, both in Arabic-speaking countries and in Arab immigrant destinations around the world. Several chapters consider the ways in which the Arabic novel arose from a syncretic merger between Arabic and European forms and techniques, rather than being a simple importation of the latter and rejection of the former, as earlier scholars claimed. Topics range from theories of the Arabic novel to the link between the novel and history, the influence of the maqāma and other classical and popular Arabic narrative genres on the modern novel, translations and adaptations from the European novel, and women's contributions to the rise of the Arabic novel. Other chapters examine the development of the Arabic novel as it has taken root in every Arab country, and the emergence of the multilingual Arab novel as written both in the Arab world and by Arab immigrants and their descendants across the world. What emerges from this comprehensive survey, in its broad historical and geographical dimensions, is a highly complex image of Arab novelistic traditions as a global literary phenomenon.