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Roger M.A. Allen
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BIOGRAPHY

Emeritus Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Author of The Arabic Literary Heritage, The Arabic Novel, and others.

Primary Contributions (2)
world distribution of Islam
Arabic literature, the body of written works produced in the Arabic language. The tradition of Arabic literature stretches back some 16 centuries to unrecorded beginnings in the Arabian Peninsula. At certain points in the development of European civilization, the literary culture of Islam and its…
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Publications (3)
An Introduction to Arabic Literature
An Introduction to Arabic Literature (July 2000)
By Roger Allen
Roger Allen provides a comprehensive introductory survey of literary texts in Arabic, from their unknown beginnings in the fifth century AD to the present day, and from Islam's sacred text, the Qur'an, to popular literature including The Arabian Nights and a wealth of poetry, narrative prose, drama and criticism. With extensive quotations in English translation, a chronology and a guide to further reading, this revised and abridged version of Allen's acclaimed study, The Arabic Literary Heritage...
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The Arabic Literary Heritage: The Development of its Genres and Criticism
The Arabic Literary Heritage: The Development of its Genres and Criticism (August 1998)
By Roger Allen
The Arabic Literary Heritage describes a cultural tradition of literary texts in Arabic from the fifth century A.D. to the present day. After two preliminary chapters on principles and contexts, there are chapters devoted to the Qu'ran as literature, poetry, belles-lettrist prose, drama, and criticism. The volume as a whole, which contains extensive quotations in English translation, a chronology and a guide to further reading, makes a major non-Western literary tradition newly accessible to students...
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The Arabic Novel: An Historical and Critical Introduction, Second Edition (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)
The Arabic Novel: An Historical and Critical Introduction, Second Edition (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East) (January 1995)
By Roger Allen

This edition includes new material on the Arabic novel up to 1993. It is a survey of the Arabic novel and its development from its beginnings in the 19th century until today. It traces the origin, early cultivation and the mature period after World War II of the Arabic novel.