Description of courses in the Department of Rhetoric, Literary Criticism, and Comparative Literature

First Year

First Semester:

Arabic Rhetoric (four hours per week):

First Theme: Rhetoric: Concepts and Terminology (Rhetoric – Eloquence) (Context – Appropriateness to Context)

Second Theme: Stages of Development of Rhetoric and its Sources:

Emergence: Eloquence and Clarification

Maturity and Flourishing: Figures of Speech – Signs of Inimitability

Stability and Complexity: Key to the Sciences

Third Theme: Introduction to the Three Branches of Rhetoric (Eloquence – Meaning – Figures of Speech)

Fourth Theme: Issues of Eloquence

Introduction: The Development of the Term “Rhetorical Eloquence”

Simile – Metaphor – Metonymy – Allusion and Insinuation

Second Semester:

Classical Literary Criticism (four hours per week)

First Theme: Literary Criticism among the Greeks – The Emergence and Development of Literary Criticism among the Arabs – The Relationship between Arabic and Greek Criticism

 The second axis: Sources of literary criticism among the Arabs: Ibn Sallam’s *Tabaqat Fuhul al-Shu’ara’* (Classes of Master Poets), Ibn Qutaybah’s *Al-Shi’r wa al-Shu’ara’* (Poetry and Poets), Ibn Tabataba’s *’Ayyar al-Shi’r* (The Criterion of Poetry), al-Qudama ibn Ja’far’s *Naqd al-Shi’r* (Poetry Criticism), al-Amidi’s *Al-Muwazna* (The Balance), al-Qadi al-Jurjani’s *Al-Wasata* (Mediation), and al-Hazim al-Qartajani’s *Minhaj al-Bulagha’* (The Path of Eloquence).

The third axis: Issues in literary criticism among the Arabs: The issue of wording and meaning, plagiarism, the pillars of poetry, literary comparisons, truth and falsehood, natural talent and affectation, and the structure of the poem.

First Semester:

First Theme: Theoretical Issues

The Term “Nazm” in Rhetorical Heritage

Abdul Qahir al-Jurjani’s Theory of Nazm

The Concept of Stylistics and its Relationship to the Theory of Nazm

Second Theme: Applied Models (Phenomena of Artistic Nazm through Texts from Classical and Modern Arabic Poetry)

A – Syntactic Structure: Declarative and Interrogative Verbs

Precedence and Postponement – Restriction

Mention and Omission

Separation and Connection

Attribution – Repetition

B – In Phonetic Structure: Paronomasia – Rhyme – Repetition of the End at the beginning

C – In Semantic Structure: Antithesis and Contrast – Consideration of Similarity – Ambiguity

Second Semester:

(Rhetoric of the Qur’an) (Four hours per week)

First Theme: The Issue of Qur’anic Inimitability in Rhetorical Heritage

Second Theme: Rhetorical Phenomena in the Holy Qur’an:

The Rhetoric of Narrative

The Rhetoric of Imagery

Stylistic Variation

Coherence

Order

First Semester:

Comparative Literature and Literary Theory (6 hours per week)

First: Comparative Literature

First Theme: Theoretical Issues

The Emergence and Development of Comparative Literature

The French Approach to Comparative Literature

The American Approach to Comparative Literature

Second Theme: A Comparative Applied Study of Arabic Literature and Other Foreign Literatures in Various Literary Genres

Second: Literary Theory

The Nature of Literature (Concept and Function)

The Cultural and Civilizational Context (Literature and the Humanities)

Western Literary Schools and Their Impact on the Arab World

Second Semester:

Modern Literary Criticism (Four hours per week)

First Theme: Theoretical Issues

Contemporary Critical Trends in Classical Criticism

Second Theme: Applied Studies in Literary Genres