ABSTRACT
From its tentative beginnings in the second half of the nineteenth century, modern Arabic literature has developed in an atmosphere of political upheavals and social tensions. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed the emergence of new states, the decay of an old order and the reshaping of social structures in the Arab world. The far-reaching transformations were accompanied by ideological debates concerning the adoption of Western models, political reforms, the definition of cultural identities and the interpretation of tradition. The crumbling of traditional values, the emergence of new classes, the disruption of family ties and the emancipation of women were developments which affected people's outlooks on life and on problems of change and continuity. These new outlooks found expression in new literary forms, of which the novel became the most prominent example. Thus, the tradition of the Arabic novel was a product of a period of change and from the beginning reflected the discussions which were related to broader issues of political and cultural reform.
