MACMILLAN Politics and Digital Literature in the Middle East: Perspectives on Online Text and Context

During the 2000's, online literature in Arabic language was popular among a larger readership. Writings on subjects dealing with politics, globalization, and social matters gained are well-received. While mapping the genre, this monograph shows literary developments in print and digital during these peak years to provide a historical context for the material. Online literary culture is linked to social, economic, and political developments within the last two decades. This book presents the differences between online and print literature as it relates to writer-readership interaction, literary quality, language and style, critical reception, and circulation. The geographic location of the analysis focuses on Gulf countries featuring a comparative study of Egypt and Lebanon. Review “This groundbreaking book cross-cuts the boundaries between the traditional and the modern, the classical and the colloquial, the social and the political, the indigenous and the global, as well as the online and the offline, in analyzing diverse modes of literary creation, across different Arab countries. A must-read for scholars and students of Arabic language, literature, culture, and communication.” (Sahar Khamis, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, USA) “Nele Lenze is one of the few scholars well enough versed in Arabic Literature and Arab Cyber Environments to be able to see the connections among digital culture, power politics and micro economies. She explains social, political and cultural change in new ways that prepare readers for emerging literary forms simmering beneath the surface of a transnational, disruptive subculture―from blogs to novellas.” (Deborah L Wheeler, Associate Professor, United States Naval Academy, USA) From the Back Cover During the 2000's, online literature in Arabic language was popular among a larger readership. Writings on subjects dealing with politics, globalization, and social matters gained are well-received. While mapping the genre, this monograph shows literary developments in print and digital during these peak years to provide a historical context for the material. Online literary culture is linked to social, economic, and political developments within the last two decades. This book presents the differences between online and print literature as it relates to writer-readership interaction, literary quality, language and style, critical reception, and circulation. The geographic location of the analysis focuses on Gulf countries featuring a comparative study of Egypt and Lebanon. About the Author Nele Lenze is Visiting Assistant Professor at the Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait. Her main research interests include media and freedom of speech in the Gulf. Recently, she co-edited Converging Regions: Global Perspectives on Asia and the Middle East (2014) with Charlotte Schriwer, The Arab Uprisings: Catalysts, Dynamics, and Trajectories with Fahed Al-Sumait and Michael Hudson (2014), and Media in the Middle East: Activism, Politics, and Culture (2017) with Charlotte Schriwer and Zubaidah Abdul Jalil.