Book Review (Journal of Arabic Literature, Sonali Pahwa) (original) (raw)

Tarek El-Ariss' "Trials of Arab Modernity" challenges conventional narratives of the Arabic nahḍah by exploring the embodied experiences of modernity in literary texts. The book utilizes the concept of affects to reveal how figures like Rifāʿah al-Tạhtạ̄ wi and Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq convey complex relationships with European modernity, shifting the focus from intellectual exchanges to affective encounters. El-Ariss further argues that these literary struggles resonate with contemporary political uprisings in the Arab world, presenting new forms of resistance and language that disrupt both literary and political authority.