The Study of the Political Periodization of Arabic Literature's History

The History of literature is not a limited, closed circle to and from which one cannot add or remove anything. Every now and then, with the growth of human society and the appearance of new insights and horizons and novel information, the history undergoes changes and the old beliefs are revised. Therefore, all approaches to the study of history of literature meet changes, reforms and, sometime eliminations. But for each approach which is, in a certain period of time, used to study the history of literature, it is important to resolve all the problems of its time. The investigation of the history of literature comes necessarily with a kind of periodization which limits one’s views. It can be argued that it is better than having no view at all. Categorizing and naming the past makes the explanation of the history clearer and its analysis more transparent. Pointing at the patterns of periodizing of history of literature, the article in hand also analyzes the theory of academic or the political periodization of history of Arab literature. First, the characteristics of this theory and the initial uses of it in Arab literature, and also the names of all written works in history of literature which have used this theory in periodization, are mentioned. Then, its bases are criticized comprehensively. Throughout this analysis, the researcher refers to some other appropriate theories to replace or to reform the academic theory.