Trials of Arab Modernity
Literary Affects and the New Political
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Challenging prevalent conceptualizations of modernity—which treat it either as a Western ideology imposed by colonialism or as a universal narrative of progress and innovation—this study instead offers close readings of the simultaneous performances and contestations of modernity staged in works by authors such as Rifa’a al-Tahtawi, Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, Tayeb Salih, Hanan al-Shaykh, Hamdi Abu Golayyel, and Ahmad Alaidy.
In dialogue with affect theory, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis, the book reveals these trials to be a violent and ongoing confrontation with and within modernity. In pointed and witty prose, El-Ariss bridges the gap between Nahda (the so-called Arab project of Enlightenment) and postcolonial and postmodern fiction.
“. . . a sharp and witty reading of great warmth and appeal that brings the reader close to its subject without surrendering to hasty generalizations.”---—Muhsin al-Musawi, Columbia University, author of Islam on the Street and The Postcolonial Arabic Novel
“Trials of Arab Modernity offers a refreshing approach to the field of modern Arabic literature both in the scope of its argument and the richness of its interventions. The book not only
---—Michael Allan, University of Oregon
discusses the role of the ‘nahda,’ but it does so against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, new media, affect theory, and Arabic literary history."
Indeed, this celebration of 'unpredictable directions,'experimentation and further exploration concludes the work, challenging its reader to encounter ephemeral meaning and moments that slip away almost as soon as they appear. Instead of emphasizing new information of definitions, El-Ariss's study offers a glimpse into the experience of reading in-between, across, and alongside.---Katie Logan, —E3W Review of Books
'Trials of Arab Modernity' is a groundbreaking analysis of modern Arabic literature traces from the 19th - century and early- 20th- century 'Nahda' ('the so-called Arab project of Enlightenment, or Renaissance') to contemporary cyber fiction. . .Highly recommended.---—Choice
In further deftly executed lexical manipulation, El-Ariss discovers for himself—and reveals for his readers—in Shidyaq's kashf nothing short of an exposé of "modernity as a disgusting work of art...---—International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies