| The Life and Times of Abū Tammām Contributor(s): Al-Ṣūlī, Abū Bakr (Author), Gruendler, Beatrice (Translator), Cave, Terence (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 1479868027 ISBN-13: 9781479868025 Publisher: New York University Press OUR PRICE: $16.15 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2018 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Middle Eastern - Biography & Autobiography - History | Middle East - Arabian Peninsula |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2018012793 |
| Series: Library of Arabic Literature |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.5" W x 8.2" (1.00 lbs) 296 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Middle East - Cultural Region - Arab World |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A robust defense of a poetic genius Abu Tammam (d. 231 or 232/845 or 846) is one of the most celebrated poets in the Arabic language. Born in Syria to Greek Christian parents, he converted to Islam and quickly made his name as one of the premier Arabic poets in the caliphal court of Baghdad, promoting a new style of poetry that merged abstract and complex imagery with archaic Bedouin language. Both highly controversial and extremely popular, this sophisticated verse influenced all subsequent poetry in Arabic and epitomized the "modern style" (badi'), an avant-garde aesthetic that was very much in step with the intellectual, artistic, and cultural vibrancy of the Abbasid dynasty. In The Life and Times of Abu Tammam, translated into English for the first time, the courtier and scholar Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli (d. 335 or 336/946 or 947) mounts a robust defense of "modern" poetry and of Abu Tammam's significance as a poet against his detractors, while painting a lively picture of literary life in Baghdad and Samarra. Born into an illustrious family of Turkish origin, al-Suli was a courtier, companion, and tutor to the Abbasid caliphs. He wrote extensively on caliphal history and poetry and, as a scholar of "modern" poets, made a lasting contribution to the field of Arabic literary history. Like the poet it promotes, al-Suli's text is groundbreaking: it represents a major step in the development of Arabic poetics, and inaugurates a long line of treatises on innovation in poetry. An English-only edition. |
Contributor Bio(s): Cave, Terence: - Terence Cave is Emeritus Professor of French Literature and Emeritus Research Fellow, St John's College.Al-Suli, Abu Bakr: - Abu Bakr al-Suli (d. 335 or 336 H/946 or 947 AD) was a courtier, companion, and tutor to Abbasid caliphs. His works on caliphal history, on poetry generally, and in particular on the "modern" poets, are a major contribution to Arabic literature."Gruendler, Beatrice: - Beatrice Gruendler is Professor of Arabic at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her books include The Development of the Arabic Scripts (1993), Medieval Arabic Praise Poetry (2003), and the edited collections Understanding Near Eastern Literatures (2000) with Verena Klemm, and Classical Arabic Humanities in Their Own Terms (2008) with Michael Cooperson. |