Literary study

The first edition of this book was published in 1939 under the title "Criticism and Literary Studies." In this edition, the author, Raif Al-Khoury, limited himself to the title "Literary Studies" to express his subject matter. He divided his book into two sections: the first concerns literary criticism and its foundations and principles, such as structure, methods of performance, meanings, literary genres, themes, and styles. Its goal is to explain the linguistic and artistic principles by which literary taste is formed, enabling one to judge literary works as successful and of good quality, or as deficient and mediocre. The second section, meanwhile, addresses the history of literature, as a product of individuals and eras, and aims to depict the interaction between time and place, and the impact that interaction has had on the feelings and perceptions of writers, and on their literary output. At the end of the book, he offers some advice that the researcher must keep in mind while conducting his critical study. He also presents practical applications of poetic texts, from the poetry of Abu Firas, Abu Tammam, Al-Mutani, Al-Buhturi, and others, in addition to prose texts, such as the comparison between Ibn Al-Muqaffa and Al-Jahiz in their books Kalila wa Dimna and Al-Hayawan.