Establishing the first Saudi Association for Comparative Literature … Towards highlighting...

Noor, the first Saudi Association for Comparative Literature, has recently emerged, which writers and specialists have been very pleased with, as it will highlight the national cultural identity, believing in the kingdom’s civilizational and cultural position in interacting with the world’s civilizations, ideas, literature and arts.
Comparative literature is a wide world, defined by the French scientist Van Paul Tejem in 1931 as the comparison between the literature or literati of one linguistic group or different linguistic groups through the study of literary influences that transcend linguistic, sexual and political boundaries, and in more simple definitions, such as the definition of the writer Kamal Abu Deeb It is the study of literature outside the borders of one particular country, and the study of the relationships between literature on the one hand and other fields of knowledge and beliefs such as arts and philosophy, that is, comparing literature with other literature and other literature, and comparing literature with other areas of human expression.Link

The idea of ​​establishing the Saudi Society for Comparative Literature stemmed from the “Kingdom’s vision” and its cultural axes, so it came to contribute positively to the Kingdom’s intellectual and cultural outputs in criticism, analysis and translation, with priority given to preserving the national identity and its intellectual, literary and artistic achievements, highlighting them, and introducing them to the world, according to Dr. Ibrahim Dear President of the Association and Professor of English Literature.
Observers of the work of the Saudi Society for Comparative Literature believes that it has set a clear and ambitious vision for itself, which seeks through its various activities to lead in the field of literature, critical studies, and comparative and inter-theoretical studies, locally, regionally and internationally. As for the mission of the Society, it has a high ceiling, which is to contribute to enriching studies of comparative literature, intermediate studies, and the critical and literary movement, by preparing scientific research and seminars in the field of critical studies and comparative theory, and providing specialized consultations and holding discussion sessions for specialists and others.

Delayed step

On the delay in establishing a Saudi Association for Comparative Literature, at a time when the countries of the region preceded the establishment of associations of this kind, Dr. Ibrahim Azizi believes that comparative literature usually depends on specialists in more than one field, in more than one language, which caused the gap that preceded the launch The association, adding that “the administrative procedures that preceded the establishment took time, in addition to the continuous meetings with faculty members and specialists, during which they approved the establishment of the association, and the establishment of auxiliary programs for the association such as an academic program” master’s degree “in comparative literature, has not been approved yet, but it is in Its final stages, ”revealing in an interview with“ Al-Eqtisadiah ”that the approval of the King Saud University Council to establish the association was in late 2019, to be the first Saudi Society for Comparative Literature, and then work on the project was stopped due to the Corona pandemic.
On his question about the importance of the association’s affiliation to King Saud University, he replied that the system of scientific societies at the level of the Kingdom stipulates that the society should be subject to universities, and this gains strength through the provision of resources, management, headquarters, employees, the annual budget, and the scientific community interested in the association of professors and students . As for the activities of the association, he indicated that the activities and the entire agenda of the association will be the focus of the discussion of its board of directors meeting during the coming days, to decide on and approve the activities of the next year, and will be announced in a timely manner.

100 members in two weeks

The recently elected president of the association, Dr. Ibrahim Azizi, said, “The past two weeks have been crucial in launching the association, which has witnessed about a hundred members joining it so far, and it targets every researcher interested in literature, literary critical theory, comparative and intermediate studies, and individuals and institutions interested in issues of literature, arts and dialogue. Cultural in general. “
The Saudi Society for Comparative Literature divides its membership into three categories, active membership, with full benefits, including the right to elect members of the General Assembly, and affiliation membership, and includes those interested in the field, but they are not specialized, and have not studied literature academically, but they will be able to attend activities, with the inability to vote in Assembly elections, while the third category is reserved for associates only, and it is for students and non-specialists.
The Saudi Society for Comparative Literature aims to provide a link between local and international culture, to strengthen the status of comparative critical studies in the Kingdom, to spread awareness of the importance of literature and the arts, and to communicate scientifically with associations interested in comparative literature around the world, and to establish activities that begin with holding seminars and conferences to serve scientific research, passing By establishing partnerships with relevant international institutes and institutions, concluding agreements and partnerships with international language education programs to encourage reading of literature in their local languages, in addition to establishing refereed periodicals concerned with literature studies, critical theory and comparative studies, and translating emerging international critical and research work into Arabic, and vice versa. From Arabic to other languages, these activities do not end with the provision and support of scientific research for researchers, and the provision of studies and consultations.
He emphasized that the association intends to launch a number of projects, such as publications, such as books and scientific journals, books and reports, conferences and seminars, encourage research and authorship, establish international exchange programs for researchers, referee studies related to comparative literature and provide advice to researchers, as the Comparative Literature Association will work on building Databases of comparative literature, to help Saudi, Arab and international researchers to complete their research.
For non-professionals, and within the scope of social responsibility, the association encourages reading, analyzing the etiquette of international cultures, promoting a culture of reading for students in the Kingdom, and establishing reading clubs.

Cash schools

Comparative literature depends on the orientations of international “schools”, such as the prestigious French School, American, Russian and Italian schools, and each one of them is distinguished by different foundations and principles, which usually overwhelm the style and course of study.
But Dr. Azizi stressed in this context that the association will benefit from the well-known American and French schools of comparative literature, with the ambition to highlight the national literary identity in the association’s specializations, through various literary fields, such as studies of comparative literature, Saudi literature and criticism, modern literary theory, Literary criticism, literary translation, inter-studies, fine arts and their studies, film studies, digital humanities, creative writing and cultural studies.
The president of the Saudi Society for Comparative Literature does not hide his admiration for some of the works and projects of scientific societies specialized in the same field in the countries of the region, and the experiences of developed countries, when Al-Eqtisadiah asked him about global or regional experiences that they view in the society with admiration, stressing that there are pioneering societies such as The European Comparative Literature Association, the American Association, as well as the Egyptian one, with rich experience, are all ancient societies with many years of work that can benefit from their literary experience.