@arabicelit

Explores the nature and aesthetics of Arabic electronic literature (e-lit) by looking back at its classical precursors while moving forward to address its present development and challenges.

In this open access book, Reham Hosny delves into the idiosyncrasies of Arabic electronic literature (e-lit), examining its rich historical roots and contemporary evolution.

@arabicelit offers a comprehensive exploration of Arabic electronic literature, tracing its lineage from 12th-century Arabic poetry to modern digital forms. Through an interdisciplinary lens that incorporates literary studies, digital humanities and critical theory, this book investigates how Arabic e-lit is shaped by its historical, cross-cultural and sociopolitical contexts.

The first chapter uncovers the classical precursors of e-lit, while subsequent chapters tackle the challenges and potential of this emerging field, including language barriers and the digital divide. A unique annotated bibliography serves as a resource for analysing Arabic e-lit, and a new classification framework is proposed to better understand its diverse forms. The book also adopts a cultural materialist perspective to explore the dynamics of Arabic social media texts and examines cross-cultural digital literary approaches by comparing Arabic and American e-lit works. Finally, the conclusion anticipates the future of Arabic e-lit in the age of artificial intelligence. This book is essential reading for scholars, students and enthusiasts of digital literature and Middle Eastern studies, offering fresh insights into a rapidly evolving literary landscape.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com.