On an Introduction to Arabic Literature

Roger Allen’s introduction is a serviceable tool for learning exactly what the title promises, but the chapters are inconsistent. The first half of the chapter on belletristic prose, and the whole chapter on poetry, move so fast that you’re guaranteed to get lost — so many names and unfamiliar genres, most of them not contemporaneous with one another, that it’s hard to tease out a thread. Which is fine; there may not be one. The chapters on drama and the Qur’an, by contrast, were far more digestible.