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Abstract:

The article examines the distinctive features of the emergence of the novel as a genre in modern Arabic literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the course of the transition of Eastern literatures from medieval to modern forms, prose genres frequently came to the fore, displacing the long-dominant poetic tradition. The Arab East provides a particularly illuminating case in this regard. The study analyzes the complex interplay between elements of the European novelistic tradition and the transformed legacy of classical Arabic prose within the developing modern Arabic literary system. Special attention is given to the seminal works of early Arab novelists — Rifāʿa al-Ṭahṭāwī, al-Shidyāq, and al-Muwayliḥī — whose texts reveal a dynamic interweaving of traditional Arabic prose forms (such as the maqāma) with new European models. The article highlights the lasting contributions of I. Krachkovsky and A. Krymsky, whose studies of 19th- and early 20th-century Arabic novels established the foundations for the scholarly exploration of this genre. Their insights, subsequently enriched by newly available materials and more refined methods of literary analysis, continue to provide fertile ground for rethinking both the historical trajectory and the theoretical dimensions of the Arabic novel. The originality of the study lies in reassessing the role of classical forms in processes of genre modernization and in emphasizing the multilayered nature of cultural exchange between East and West.