Chapters in Literature and Criticism

Author's name: Taha Hussein

In addition to the unique literary talent of the great writer "Taha Hussein", he was also a respected literary critic, and the founder of a distinct and important school of literary criticism. This school viewed texts from an objective, scientific perspective, moving away from the impressionist school of criticism or the psychoanalytic approach to the writer's personality. He believed that a literary work is a social phenomenon that occurs as a result of the individual being influenced by his group, its culture, and his awareness of its problems. Therefore, criticizing a literary work requires a comprehensive reading of the society from which the writer emerged, which is what the dean of Arabic literature did in this book, as he presented several critical readings of some important literary works by Al-Aqqad and Al-Hakim, in addition to other chapters in which he presented his opinions on some literary and cultural issues that turned into highly sophisticated intellectual battles between him and prominent thinkers, all aimed at arriving at the truth.