| Heroic Poets, Poetic Heroes: The Ethnography of Performance in an Arabic Oral Epic Tradition Contributor(s): Reynolds, Dwight F. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1501723219 ISBN-13: 9781501723216 Publisher: Cornell University Press OUR PRICE: $16.78 Product Type: Paperback Published: August 2018 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Folklore & Mythology - Literary Criticism | Middle Eastern - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
| Series: Myth and Poetics |
| Physical Information: 0.61" H x 6" W x 9" (0.88 lbs) 128 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Middle East |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: An astonishingly rich oral epic that chronicles the early history of a Bedouin tribe, the Sirat Bani Hilal has been performed for almost a thousand years. In this ethnography of a contemporary community of professional poet-singers, Dwight F. Reynolds reveals how the epic tradition continues to provide a context for social interaction and commentary. Reynolds's account is based on performances in the northern Egyptian village in which he studied as an apprentice to a master epic-singer. Reynolds explains in detail the narrative structure of the Sirat Bani Hilal as well as the tradition of epic singing. He sees both living epic poets and fictional epic heroes as figures engaged in an ongoing dialogue with audiences concerning such vital issues as ethnicity, religious orientation, codes of behavior, gender roles, and social hierarchies. |
Contributor Bio(s): Reynolds, Dwight F.: - Dwight F. Reynolds is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Arab Folklore: A Handbook and editor and coauthor of Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition and The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture. |