Abstract :
Attempts to arrive at a generic definition of Arabic literary works from the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century are doomed to fail, if one merely seeks similarities either with medieval Arabic works written centuries ago or with western contemporary generic forms. This paper intends to re-examine the relationships that link a certain category of texts written during this period of transition.
The analysis first considers the texts written by Muammad al-Muwayliī, in which the narrator is ‘Īsā Ibn Hishām. It questions the notion of adīth and takes the role of the press as an essential factor which cannot be dissociated from the constitution of the text.
The paper intends to shed light on the transtextual links between these texts and al-Ba‘th, written by Muafā Lufī al-Manfalūī, first published in 1910 in the journal al-Mu’ayyad, and then incorporated in his al-Naarāt. More generally, this study aims at proving the existence of a category of texts related by a link of transformation, and asks for a general re-examination of the generic question applied to this period of emerging Modern Arabic literature, relying on this transtextual link of transformation rather than on the criteria of reduplication, as has been common until now.
