The Life and Times of Abu Tammam Hardback
by Abu Bakr Al-Suli
Part of the Library of Arabic Literature series
Hardback
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A robust defense of a poetic geniusAbÅ« TammÄm (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†(badÄ«Ê¿), 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 AbÅ« TammÄm, translated into English for the first time, the courtier and scholar AbÅ« Bakr Muḥammad ibn YaḥyÄal-ṢūlÄ« (d. 335 or 336/946 or 947) mounts a robust defense of “modern†poetry and of AbÅ« TammÄm’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-Ṣūlī 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-Ṣūlī'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.
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Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:336 pages
- Publisher:New York University Press
- Publication Date:01/12/2015
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- ISBN:9780814760406
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Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:336 pages
- Publisher:New York University Press
- Publication Date:01/12/2015
- Category:
- ISBN:9780814760406