لخّصلي

Through the popularity of early translations into Arabic of works of European fiction (Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas, pere being especially popular) and imitations of them by Arab writers, the novel rapidly established a place for itself within the currents of intellectual change during the 19th century.

Through the popularity of early translations into Arabic of works of European fiction (Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas, père being especially popular) and imitations of them by Arab writers, the novel rapidly established a place for itself within the currents of intellectual change during the 19th century. Among the earliest examples of the novel in Arabic were Ghābat al-ḥaqq (1865; “Forest of Truth”), an idealistic allegory about freedom that was published in Syria by Fransīs Marrāsh, and Al-Huyām fī jinān al-shām (1870; “Passion in Syrian Gardens”), a work set during the 7th-century Islamic conquest of Syria, by Salīm al-Bustānī. The latter work appeared in serial form in the Bustānī family’s journal, Al-Jinān, and this publication mode established a pattern that was to be followed by writers of Arabic fiction for many subsequent decades. Premodern history also came to be frequently invoked in the Arabic novel. This trend found a notable exponent in Jurjī Zaydān, who used the pages of his own journal, Al-Hilāl, to publish a series of novels that educated and entertained generations of readers by setting key events in Islamic history against local backgrounds.