This book is a chronological study of the history of Arabic literature. Beginning with a brief discourse on geographical and cultural influences on Arabic writers, and touching on the earliest forms of pre-Islamic poetry, the author continues with a deeper study of the 'golden age' of Arabic literature, when writers and artists flourished under the Omeyyad and Abbasid dynasties. Later chapters are devoted to the medieval period, and a final section looks to the future. First published in 1903, this work remains a standard, concise history of Arabic literature. Its author, Clement Huart, Professor of Oriental Languages in Paris, was one of the most accomplished orientalists of his day, and was a leading authority on Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Romaic literature.