Promotional methods in ancient Arabic critical discourse: Promotion through critical news

Abstract

This research investigates literary news (al-khabar al-adabi  as a foundational promotional tool in ancient Arabic critical discourse, shifting the perspective from purely aesthetic analysis to one of literary marketing. The study argues that critical news functioned as a "referential window" and a "historical argument," transforming subjective poetic evaluations into documented cultural status. By analyzing the narrative structures used by early critics—such as Ibn Sallam and Al-Asma’i—the research demonstrates how anecdotes, courtly encounters, and records of poetic rewards were strategically utilized to legitimize poetic authority, influence public taste, and preserve a specific literary canon. Ultimately, the paper concludes that critical news acted as a sophisticated rhetorical and propaganda mechanism that ensured the circulation and survival of poetic works within the competitive intellectual markets of the Pre-Islamic and Abbasid eras.