Second, once you know the basics on your topic, search for more published scholarship. Monographic materials (Books, DVDs, etc.) can have more in-depth knowledge on any given subject.
Our Collection has both titles in the original Arabic and those translated into English, as well as bilingual titles with the English and Arabic writting side-by-side. The call number range for Arabic Literarture is PJ501-PJ8518 and the circulating collection is located on the 5th Floor of the Benjamin Rosenthal Library.
Using the CUNY Catalog you can begin your research in Arabic. A good way to start your search for books is with a keyword in subject or Subject begins with search. Some examples of subjects are:
As a member of the Queens College Community you also have access to many collections of E-books. To read more about these collections and use please see our E-Book guide.
Seeking Palestine by
How do Palestinians live, imagine and reflect on home and exile in this period of a stateless and transitory Palestine and a sharp escalation in Israeli state violence and accompanying Palestinian oppression? How can exile and home be written? In this volume of new writing, fifteen innovative and outstanding Palestinian writers-essayists, poets, novelists, critics, artists and memoirists-respond with their reflections, experiences, memories and polemics. Their contributions-poignant, humorous, intimate, reflective, intensely political-make for an offering that is remarkable for the candor and grace with which it explores the many individual and collective experiences of waiting, living for, and seeking Palestine. Contributors include: Lila Abu-Lughod, Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Rana Barakat, Mourid Barghouti, Beshara Doumani, Sharif S. Elmusa, Rema Hammami, Mischa Hiller, Emily Jacir, Penny Johnson, Fady Joudah, Jean Said Makdisi, Karma Nabulsi, Raeda Sa'adeh, Raja Shehadeh, Adania Shibli.
Girls of Riyadh by 
Zaat by 
Midaq Alley by 
The Committee by 
The Woman from Tantoura by 
The Last Chapter by 
Season of Migration to the North by 
Bride of Amman by
added 10/16/15
Modern Arabic Short Stories by 
Victims of a Map by 
The Palestinian Wedding by 
Time to Pray by 
Classical Arabic Literature by
added 10/16/15
Early Arabic Poetry by
added 1/13/16
Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-Arabiyya by 
Alif Baa with DVDs by 
Mastering Arabic Through Literature by
Vol 1: The Short Story
Vol 2: Drama
The Connectors in Modern Standard Arabic by
added 12/15/15
Building Arabic Vocabulary Through Reading by
added 6/30/16
The Anthologist's Art by
Why did premodern authors in the Arabic-Islamic culture compile literary anthologies, and why were these works remarkably popular? How can an anthology that consists of reproduced material be original and creative, and serve various literary and political ends? How did anthologists select their material, then record and arrange it? This book examines the life and works of Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī (350-429/961-1039), an eminent anthologist from Nīshāpūr, paying special attention to his magnum opus, Yatīmat al-dahr (The Unique Pearl), and its sequel, Tatimmat al-Yatīma (The Completion of the Yatīma). This book is a direct window on to an anthologist's workshop in the second half of the fourth/tenth century. It examines the methodological consciousness expressed in Thaʿālibī's selection and arrangement, and his sophisticated system of internal references and cross-references to other works; how he selected from his contemporaries' oeuvres; how he sought, recorded, memorized, misplaced, and sometimes lost or forgot his selections; how he scrutinized the authenticity of material, accepting, questioning, or rejecting its attribution; and the errors and inconsistencies that resulted from this process.
added 5/21/19
Arab Painting by
Arab painting is treated here as a significant artistic corpus in its own right. Rejecting the traditional emphasis on individual paintings, the distinguished contributors to this volume stress the integration of text and image as a more productive theoretical framework.
3/11/19
How Do You Say "Epigram" in Arabic? by
The qaṣīdah and the qiṭʿah are well known to scholars of classical Arabic literature, but the maqṭūʿ, a form of poetry that emerged in the thirteenth century and soon became ubiquitous, is as obscure today as it was once popular. These poems circulated across the Arabo-Islamic world for some six centuries in speech, letters, inscriptions, and, above all, anthologies. Drawing on more than a hundred unpublished and published works, How Do You Say "Epigram" in Arabic? is the first study of this highly popular and adaptable genre of Arabic poetry. By addressing this lacuna, the book models an alternative comparative literature, one in which the history of Arabic poetry has as much to tell us about epigrams as does Greek. added 5/21/19
Modern Arab American Fiction by
Exploring the works of such best-selling authors as Rabih Alameddine, Mohja Kahf, Laila Halaby, Diana Abu-Jaber, Alicia Erian, and Randa Jarrar, Salaita highlights the development of each author's writing and how each has influenced Arab American fiction. He examines common themes including the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90, the representation and practice of Islam in the United States, social issues such as gender and national identity in Arab cultures, and the various identities that come with being Arab American. Combining the accessibility of a primer with in-depth critical analysis, Modern Arab American Fiction is suitable for a broad audience, those unfamiliar with the subject area, as well as scholars of the literature.
