The Library of Arabic Literature was established through a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute, and, in collaboration with NYU Press, is publishing 75 significant works of Arabic literature, primarily from the 7th–19th centuries, from the widest possible range of genres. These appear on facing Arabic and English pages—the editions of the Arabic are authoritative, though not necessarily critical, relying in most cases on manuscript originals; the translations are into modern, lucid English, not “industry standard.” The article describes the Library’s conception, its methods, and how, in trying to achieve its ultimate goal of introducing the rich, largely untapped Arabic literary heritage to scholarly and general audiences, it rejects the notion of canon in favor of the notion of a corpus, not one it establishes, but one to which it contributes.
