The Roots of Arabic Literary Modernism and Modernist Prose

Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq’s magnum opus Leg over Leg ( al-Sāq ʿalā al-sāq , 1855) is perhaps the most important work of Arabic literature from the nineteenth century. It laid the foundation for modernist Arabic prose at once rooted in Arabic literature's classical forms, language, and genres and pushed them to innovative and modern critical ends. Despite al-Shidyāq’s unprecedented redirection of the forms of classical Arabic literature to modern critical ends, Leg over Leg and the roots of Arabic literary modernity and modernist prose it sprouted were systematically marginalized to the point that by the mid twentieth century they had become largely irrelevant and forgotten. This chapter outlines how twentieth-century literary critics covered up Leg over Leg ’s pioneering modernist roots, elaborates the nature of al-Shidyāq’s modernism, and argues that it is still rich with potential.