| This dissertation deals with the importance of the periodical al-Funun (The Arts: 1913--1918) to the development of Arab-American literature during the first quarter of the 20th century, and by inference, its importance to the development of Arabic literature as a whole.;Al-Funun played a seminal role in the literary life of the writers who formed the writing society "al-Rabit&dotbelow;ah al-Qalamiyah" (The Pen Bond: 1916, 1920--1931). As the dissertation shows, this literary society first formed into an official organization in 1916, four years prior to the commonly accepted belief of April 1920. Al-Funun was the journal that presented the earliest works of this society's writers.;This dissertation is the first in-depth study of the conception, implementation and cessation of this premier Arab-American periodical. No other work has attempted to study it in a similarly detailed manner. Discussion of al-Funun, consequently, will focus upon its readership, format and structure, contents, translations, message and administration, in addition to its role towards al-Rabit&dotbelow;ah al-Qalamiyah, the various influences that Nasib 'Arid&dotbelow;ah, its creator, was under when he conceived al-Funun and the reasons for its cessation.;One of Nasib's goals for al-Funun was that it present both the best of world literature and that produced by a growing group of writers in the Arab-American community to its readers. He envisioned al-Funun appealing to a general readership, because within the Arab-American community as opposed to the Arab world an elite class capable of sustaining a refined journal such as al-Funun, did not exist. This aim influenced the approach al-Funun adopted towards the presentation of its material, since it meant that material had to be presented in a familiar manner to its available readership. A readership composed of peddlers, merchants and entrepreneurs.;Al-Funun represented Nasib's desire and that of Kahlil Gibran and Mikhail Naimy, to end the sense of stagnation that had enveloped Arabic literature and the social isolation that separated Arab peoples from one another. It attempted to nurture the seeds of a new sense of civic nationalism and identity among its readers.;This dissertation will publish also all of Nasib's works written between 1912 and 1920 not found in his diwan "al-Arwah&dotbelow; al-H&dotbelow;a'irah" (Troubled Spirits, 1946). |
