Arabic Belles Lettres
Synopsis
Arabic Belles Lettres brings together ten studies that shed light on important questions in the study of Arabic language, literature, literary history, and writerly culture. The volume is divided into three sections. Early Narratives comprises: Joseph Lowry on the Qur'an’s allusive legal language; Abed el-Rahman Tayyara on matrilineal lineages in the context of Badr and Uhud; Ruqayya Khan on the ramifications of public courtship in 'Udhrī romances; and Philip Kennedy on firāsah (reading for signs and traces) in medieval narrative. Medieval Authors comprises: Shawkat Toorawa on ͑Ubaydallāh ibn Ahmad ibn Abī Tāhir’s History of Baghdād; Maurice Pomerantz and Bilal Orfali on Ibn Fāris and the origins of the maqāmah genre; Everett Rowson on al-Tawhīdī and his predecessors; and Ghayde Ghraowi on al-Khafājī and his Rayhānat al-alibbā'. Modern Egypt comprises: Roger Allen on a cultural controversy in the Cairo newspapers of 1902; and Devin Stewart on preposterous boasting and ingenuity in modern Egyptian Arabic. This illuminating collection is a must read for anyone interested in Arabic literature.
Chapters
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Editors' Preface
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Reading the Qurʾan as a Law Book: Legislation, Language, and Allusion in Islam’s Scripture
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Matrilineal Lineages as a Signi er of Social Links in the Context of Badr and Uḥud
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Rhapsody, Revelation, and the Coming Out of the BelovedMajnūn Laylā and the ʿUdhrī Romances
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The Rational, Irrational, and RecognitionFirāsah, Detection, and the Uncanny Atavism of Kinship in Some Medieval Arabic Narratives
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ʿUbayd Allāh Ibn Aḥmad Ibn Abī Ṭāhir and His (Continuation of His Father’s) History of Baghdād
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Ibn Fāris and the Origins of the Maqāmah Revisited
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The Philosopher as LittérateurAl-Tawḥīdī and His Predecessors
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Championing the EraApproaching Al-Khafājī’s Rayḥānat Al-Alibbāʾ
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Cairene Newspapers and Cultural ControversyA Case from 1902
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“We’re the Ones Who Made the Ants Stand in Line”Preposterous Boasts and the Ideology of Ingenuity in Egyptian Arabic
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Subject Index
