[Discussion] "Edebiyat" and "Middle Eastern Literatures"

[sule tarakcioglu]

From: Joshua Bear <bear@metu.edu.tr>

Important Announcement

For several years now two journals devoted to the field of Middle
Eastern literature studies have been published in England. One of
them, Edebiyat, subtitled The Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures, was
originally founded at the University of Pennsylvania as a direct
consequence of discussions that took place in 1972 at a conference
convened at Stanford University to discuss the future of various
subfields of Middle Eastern studies (the results of which were
published as The Study of the Middle East: Research and Scholarship in 
the Humanities and Social Sciences ed. Leonard Binder, New York: John
Wiley, 1976). The first issue of Edebiyat appeared in 1976, and the 
journal was published in Philadelphia for many years before being 
transferred across the Atlantic in 1993. The second of the journals, 
Middle Eastern Literatures, appears to have a more recent history, in 
that its first issue was published in 1998. However, the inclusion of 
the word "Arabic" in the original title (Arabic and Middle Eastern 
Literatures) - now omitted - points to the fact that many members of its 
editorial board originally served in the same capacity on yet another 
journal, the Journal of Arabic Literature, the first issue of which 
appeared in 1970.

With the retirement of one of the editors of Edebiyat and the
amalgamation of the two separate publication outlets in England under
the single aegis of Taylor & Francis, the decision has now been taken
to combine these two journals into one, to be called Middle Eastern
Literatures, the title of one and subtitle of the other. The purview
and aims of the new journal will remain essentially unaltered, and it is
hoped that, to the extent possible, the membership of the editorial
boards - which can already claim several names in common - will remain
equally unchanged. Professor Michael Beard, formerly editor of
Edebiyat, will join Professors Roger Allen and Geert Jan van Gelder as
Executive-Editor of the new journal.

For further information on Middle Eastern Literatures, please visit:
www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1475262x.html
<http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1475262x.html>