Al-Hadatha Al-Momkena, (The Possible Modernity), by: Radwa Ashour, Cairo: Shorouk Publishing House, 2012. 146pp.

Shorouk Publishing house has just republished The Possible Modernity: The First Modern Arabic Novel, by the renowned Egyptian writer and novelist, Radwa Ashour.

The author analyses in her book the novel Assaq Ala Assaq Ma How Al-Feryaq, (The Leg on the Leg, What’s the Difference?), by Ahmed Fares Ashidyaq, which is believed to be the first Arabic contemporary literature novel, and was released in 1855.

The book looks into why Fares Ashyidyaq's book was a literary success, and why it dropped out of the memory of Arabic literature, while Ashour sees the Ashidyaq's book as the richest and most powerful in Arabic literature of the 19th century.

Radwa Ashour (66) Egyptian writer, novelist and translator, is a professor of  English literature at Ain Shams University, best known for her trilogy Ghirnata (Granada). She’s also married from the famous Palestinian poet, Mourid Barghouthi.