MEALAC | Muhsin Al-Musawi

Muhsin Jassim Al-Musawi

Muhsin Jassim al-Musawi

Professor of Arabic Literature

ma2188@columbia.edu
212-854-4732
MEALAC, Kent Hall 615
1140 Amsterdam Av.
New York, NY 10027

Professor Muhsin al-Musawi is an internationally renowned scholar and literary critic who joined our faculty with over 20 years' experience teaching at a number of institutions in the Middle East. Described by The Chronicle of Higher Education as “one of the Arab world's leading literary critics,” al-Musawi's teaching and research interests span several periods and genres. He is the author of 24 books (including four novels) and over 60 scholarly articles. His books include: Scheherazade in England (1981), The Society of One Thousand and One Nights (2000), and Anglo-Orient: Easterners in Textual Camps (2000). His most recent book, The Postcolonial Arabic Novel: Debating Ambivalence (Brill, 2003; second print, 2005), is the first study of its kind to tackle the postcolonial in Arabic fiction. His new book, Arabic Poetry: Trajectories of Modernity and Tradition ( Routledge, 2006) represents the most comprehensive treatment of this topic to date. His other new book, Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006), raises the basic questions regarding Iraq, and directs attention to cultural dynamics that demand thorough understanding. He is the writer of a lengthy introduction and notes to the Barnes & Noble edition of The Thousand and One Nights (Barnes and Noble Classics, 2007).

His forthcoming book is The Islamic Context of the Arabian Nights (New York: Columbia University Press); another from Rowman & Little is Islam in the Street: The Dynamics of Arabic Literary Production.

With an extensive knowledge of Arabic/Islamic literary tradition, ancient and modern, and a strong grasp of comparative poetics and politics, his writings are described as thorough and solid. Although deeply grounded in postcolonial theory and cultural studies, his writings build always on an “encyclopedic mastery of Arabo-Islamic literary and cultural history,” as one reviewer of The Islamic Context stipulates.


Home Faculty Programs Courses Languages Events News Faculty Openings Affiliates Admissions		Muhsin Jassim al-Musawi Professor of Arabic Literature ma2188@columbia.edu 212-854-4732 MEALAC, Kent Hall 615 1140 Amsterdam Av. New York, NY 10027 CV \| Publications \| Reviews \| Lectures \| Selected Articles \| Interviews \| Teaching Professor Muhsin al-Musawi is an internationally renowned scholar and literary critic who joined our faculty with over 20 years' experience teaching at a number of institutions in the Middle East. Described by The Chronicle of Higher Education as “one of the Arab world's leading literary critics,” al-Musawi's teaching and research interests span several periods and genres. He is the author of 24 books (including four novels) and over 60 scholarly articles. His books include: Scheherazade in England (1981), The Society of One Thousand and One Nights (2000), and Anglo-Orient: Easterners in Textual Camps (2000). His most recent book, The Postcolonial Arabic Novel: Debating Ambivalence (Brill, 2003; second print, 2005), is the first study of its kind to tackle the postcolonial in Arabic fiction. His new book, Arabic Poetry: Trajectories of Modernity and Tradition ( Routledge, 2006) represents the most comprehensive treatment of this topic to date. His other new book, Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006), raises the basic questions regarding Iraq, and directs attention to cultural dynamics that demand thorough understanding. He is the writer of a lengthy introduction and notes to the Barnes & Noble edition of The Thousand and One Nights (Barnes and Noble Classics, 2007). His forthcoming book is The Islamic Context of the Arabian Nights (New York: Columbia University Press); another from Rowman & Little is Islam in the Street: The Dynamics of Arabic Literary Production. With an extensive knowledge of Arabic/Islamic literary tradition, ancient and modern, and a strong grasp of comparative poetics and politics, his writings are described as thorough and solid. Although deeply grounded in postcolonial theory and cultural studies, his writings build always on an “encyclopedic mastery of Arabo-Islamic literary and cultural history,” as one reviewer of The Islamic Context stipulates.