Stature of Taste In Arabic Criticism Corpora

Abstract

The current research paper approaches the stature of taste in the Arabic

criticism corpora as a criticism criterion and explores it in the old Arabic

criticism from the perspective of the critic’s reliance on taste. It highlights

the emergence of taste as a determinant of creativity and decisive factor

in selectivity on the level of individual’s taste, and by corollary the critics’

elaboration of taste on the social class level among both the public and the

elite, in addition to the formation of the general and prevalent taste and its

impact on the movement of creativity and criticism as well as the critics’

views on the transformations through which taste has undergone over

successive periods and various environments. The present paper devotes a

special section to Ibn Rasheeq Al- Qairawani’s vision of artistic taste and the

cultural shifts over several ages and the shapes taste has assumed by virtue

of environments.

The paper endeavours to manifest the stature of taste and delineates the

Arab critics’ awareness of the role taste has played in creativity together with

the subsequent changes.