Literature in dialect: the great absentee

Prose production in dialect is probably the big absentee in Arabic literature textbooks. While poetry in dialect has managed to carve its own small, space in the manuals of history of Arabic literature, the same does not go for novels or short stories written in ‘āmmiyyah. Most critics, especially Arabs, do not acknowledge their literary dignity. In this paper, I will, firstly outline the limited space that is dedicated to literature in dialect by European and Arab scholars. Secondly, focusing on Egyptian literary production, I will demonstrate how we, as scholars of contemporary Arabic literature, can no longer avoid seriously analysing Egyptian literature in ‘āmmiyyah. In fact, in the course ofthe last two decades, the number of novels and short stories in Egyptian dialect has significantly increased. Furthermore, writing in dialect is increasingly widespread thanks to personal blogs and websites. In light of this emerging panorama in Arabic literature, the question is whether the time to make room for ‘āmmiyyah prose in future textbooks of history of Arabic literature has finally arrived.