Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature
<p>This is the study of a previously neglected genre in pre-modern Arabic literature: the (poetic) epigram anthology. The epigram anthology was pioneered by a handful of poets in 14th-century Syria, but the genre was soon taken up by anthologists across the pre-modern Middle East and soon beca...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2014
|
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1797106185557508096 |
|---|---|
| author | Talib, A |
| author2 | Van Gelder, G |
| author_facet | Van Gelder, G Talib, A |
| author_sort | Talib, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This is the study of a previously neglected genre in pre-modern Arabic literature: the (poetic) epigram anthology. The epigram anthology was pioneered by a handful of poets in 14th-century Syria, but the genre was soon taken up by anthologists across the pre-modern Middle East and soon became one of the most popular types of Arabic poetry up until the modern period. This study is divided into two parts. Part One deals with critical issues in literary history and comparative literature, while Part Two is made up of three encapsulated studies on specific aspects of the social and literary (structural and textual) composition of the texts. In Part One, the epistemological background of the terms <em>epigram</em> and <em>anthology</em> is surveyed and their suitability for application to pre-modern Arabic literature is evaluated. Part One also includes a comprehensive history of the <em>maqāṭīʿ</em> (sing. <em>maqṭūʿ</em>, also <em>maqṭūʿah</em>) genre in Arabic as well as a detailed explication of this style of poetry, its anthological context, its generic status in the Arabic literary tradition, and its relation to the wider world-literary category of epigram. The three chapters of Part Two are devoted to the social network of anthologists and poets, the structure and composition of the anthologies themselves, and the way in which anthologists used a technique, which is called ‘variation’ in this study, to link the cited poetic material into an organic whole respectively. NB: This is a literary-historical study informed by the discipline of comparative literature; it is not primarily a philolological, biographical, or codicological investigation. The literary material presented here is what has been deemed most relevant for the purposes of the larger generic discussion at the centre of this literary-historical study. An annotated bibliography of unpublished sources is provided in an appendix in order to help the reader navigate the tricky present status of many Mamluk and Ottoman era sources.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:58:09Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:fed5b992-9403-4f79-aa6f-92a9b5dd7406 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:58:09Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:fed5b992-9403-4f79-aa6f-92a9b5dd74062022-03-27T13:39:40ZOut of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literatureThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:fed5b992-9403-4f79-aa6f-92a9b5dd7406ArabicEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2014Talib, AVan Gelder, G<p>This is the study of a previously neglected genre in pre-modern Arabic literature: the (poetic) epigram anthology. The epigram anthology was pioneered by a handful of poets in 14th-century Syria, but the genre was soon taken up by anthologists across the pre-modern Middle East and soon became one of the most popular types of Arabic poetry up until the modern period. This study is divided into two parts. Part One deals with critical issues in literary history and comparative literature, while Part Two is made up of three encapsulated studies on specific aspects of the social and literary (structural and textual) composition of the texts. In Part One, the epistemological background of the terms <em>epigram</em> and <em>anthology</em> is surveyed and their suitability for application to pre-modern Arabic literature is evaluated. Part One also includes a comprehensive history of the <em>maqāṭīʿ</em> (sing. <em>maqṭūʿ</em>, also <em>maqṭūʿah</em>) genre in Arabic as well as a detailed explication of this style of poetry, its anthological context, its generic status in the Arabic literary tradition, and its relation to the wider world-literary category of epigram. The three chapters of Part Two are devoted to the social network of anthologists and poets, the structure and composition of the anthologies themselves, and the way in which anthologists used a technique, which is called ‘variation’ in this study, to link the cited poetic material into an organic whole respectively. NB: This is a literary-historical study informed by the discipline of comparative literature; it is not primarily a philolological, biographical, or codicological investigation. The literary material presented here is what has been deemed most relevant for the purposes of the larger generic discussion at the centre of this literary-historical study. An annotated bibliography of unpublished sources is provided in an appendix in order to help the reader navigate the tricky present status of many Mamluk and Ottoman era sources.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Arabic Talib, A Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature |
| title | Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature |
| title_full | Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature |
| title_fullStr | Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature |
| title_short | Out of many, one: epigram anthologies in pre-modern Arabic literature |
| title_sort | out of many one epigram anthologies in pre modern arabic literature |
| topic | Arabic |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT taliba outofmanyoneepigramanthologiesinpremodernarabicliterature |