Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad as an Innovative Critic in Arabic Literature

Abstract

  Dr.M. Nurul Amin Sheikh -                                                                           Abstract: This paper contains the Egyptian innovative critic Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad who came to prominence in the first half of the twentieth century. Through the influence of al-Aqqad’s criticism of the generation that later were led to venture into Arabic literary criticism. Al-Aqqad for the first half of the 20th century is one of the chiefs of the greater clans of criticism. He achieved his greatest fame as a critic, even though some contemporary critics called him also a great, and even a naturally gifted critic. His significance for modern Egyptian literary criticism lies in the fact that he restored to literary criticism the prestige it had lacked for centuries. With Al-Aqqad’s contributions to new criticism in the sense of innovation, he expanded the views that the poem is a legitimate objective of study in itself, a monumental thing in itself and a unique but highly-ordered organism. Description for its own sake was not practised by the new critics except al-Aqqad in Arabic literary criticism. Click here to print/download pdf of this research paper Introduction Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad was a famous poet, translator, historian, journalist, philosopher and an innovative critic of the twentieth century in Arabic literature. As an Egyptian critic, he was known for his patriotism toward the country of his birth. He used his writing to spread his pro-democratic beliefs an...