Between Textual Establishment and Interpretation: Limits of the Philological Method in Reading the Arabic Narrative Heritage through Kalila wa Dimna and One Thousand and One Nights

Abstract

This article explores the limits of the philological method in engaging with the
Arabic narrative heritage, focusing on two key works :Kalila wa Dimna and One
Thousand and One Nights .It examines the relationship between the establishment of
the textual corpus and the possibilities of literary interpretation, showing how textual
criticism can serve as a starting point for broader semantic readings rather than a
restriction on them. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach that outlines the
textual history of both works, then analyzes selected variants and their interpretive
implications in the light of modern critical approaches. It concludes by proposing the
contours of an " interpretive philology "that combines the rigor of textual establishment
with contemporary critical tools, and discusses its potential applications in Arabic
literary studies, particularly in Algerian universitie