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the article examines the short fiction of Tawfiq al-Hakim – one of the most prominent representatives of twentieth-century Arabic intellectual prose. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that, despite the particular attention researchers have paid to the writer’s oeuvre, his short fiction remains less studied compared to his novels and dramatic works; yet it is precisely in the short stories that the features of his artistic method, the evolution of his artistic vision, and the key ideas shaping his worldview are most clearly traced. The aim of the study is a comprehensive analysis of Tawfiq al-Hakim’s short stories, with attention to the features of narrative construction, imagery, and the means of artistic embodiment characteristic of his works. An analysis of the system of images and the symbolic level of narration brings to the fore methodological approaches to interpreting the text. Special attention is paid to the ways in which philosophical ideas are artistically embodied within short prose, which opens prospects for further study of the interrelation between literature and thought in the Arab cultural tradition. A comparison of the two short stories – “Do Not Chase After Truth” and “The Birth of Thought,” belonging to different periods in the writer’s life – makes it possible to identify the evolution of his artistic method. In Tawfiq al-Hakim’s short fiction, elements of allegory, parable, philosophical reflection, and social criticism are closely interwoven. The introduction and substantiation of certain techniques employed by Tawfiq al-Hakim can be useful for expanding the typology of narrative strategies in twentieth-century Arabic prose and for understanding the processes of literary synthesis between East and West in the works of Arab modernist writers.

twentieth-century Arabic literature, short fiction, narrative construction, allegory, philosophical reflection, social criticism