Peter Adamson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195181425
- eISBN:
- 9780199785087
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181425.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This monograph is a comprehensive study of the thought of al-Kindī, the first self-described philosopher in Islam, and the first to write original treatises in Arabic. Al-Kindī’s writings are closely ...
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This monograph is a comprehensive study of the thought of al-Kindī, the first self-described philosopher in Islam, and the first to write original treatises in Arabic. Al-Kindī’s writings are closely engaged with Greek philosophical and scientific texts, whose translation into Arabic he oversaw. Some of the philosophical views for which al-Kindī is known are reactions to Greek thinkers. For instance, he used ideas from Philoponus in arguing against the eternity of the world, and his discussion of divine attributes is based on Neoplatonic texts. However, the book also places al-Kindī’s thought within the context of 9th century Islamic culture, especially contemporary theological developments. The book covers every aspect of al-Kindī’s extant philosophical corpus, including not only his philosophical theology but also his theory of soul, his epistemology, and his ethics. Two chapters are devoted to al-Kindī’s works on the natural sciences (in particular pharmacology, optics, music, and cosmology). The book concludes by discussing how al-Kindī used Greek cosmological ideas in his account of divine providence.Less
This monograph is a comprehensive study of the thought of al-Kindī, the first self-described philosopher in Islam, and the first to write original treatises in Arabic. Al-Kindī’s writings are closely engaged with Greek philosophical and scientific texts, whose translation into Arabic he oversaw. Some of the philosophical views for which al-Kindī is known are reactions to Greek thinkers. For instance, he used ideas from Philoponus in arguing against the eternity of the world, and his discussion of divine attributes is based on Neoplatonic texts. However, the book also places al-Kindī’s thought within the context of 9th century Islamic culture, especially contemporary theological developments. The book covers every aspect of al-Kindī’s extant philosophical corpus, including not only his philosophical theology but also his theory of soul, his epistemology, and his ethics. Two chapters are devoted to al-Kindī’s works on the natural sciences (in particular pharmacology, optics, music, and cosmology). The book concludes by discussing how al-Kindī used Greek cosmological ideas in his account of divine providence.
Raymond P. Scheindlin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195315424
- eISBN:
- 9780199872039
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315424.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting ...
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Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting from Arabic letters by Halevi and his friends, and explores its meaning through analysis of his Hebrew poems. The poems are presented both in Hebrew and in new English verse translations and are provided with full commentary. The discussion introduces Halevi’s circle of Jewish businessmen and intellectuals in al-Andalus and Egypt, examines their way of life, and describes their position vis-à-vis Arabic and Islamic culture. It also explores the interweaving of religious ideas of Jewish, Islamic, and Hellenistic origin in Halevi’s work. Although Halevi was partially motivated by a desire to repudiate the Judeo-Arabic hybrid culture and embrace purely Jewish values, the book demonstrates that his poetry and his pilgrimage continue to reflect the Judeo-Arabic milieu. His poetry and pilgrimage also show that while the Jews’ precarious situation as a tolerated minority weighed on Halevi, he was impelled to the pilgrimage not by a grand plan for ending the Jewish exile, as is widely thought, but by a personal religious quest. Chapters 1 through 3 each deal with one of the major themes of Halevi’s poetry that point in the direction of the pilgrimage. Chapters 4 through 6 are a narrative of the pilgrimage. Chapters 7 through 10 are a study of Halevi’s poems that are explicitly about the Land of Israel and about the pilgrimage. The epilogue explores the later legend of his martyrdom.Less
Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting from Arabic letters by Halevi and his friends, and explores its meaning through analysis of his Hebrew poems. The poems are presented both in Hebrew and in new English verse translations and are provided with full commentary. The discussion introduces Halevi’s circle of Jewish businessmen and intellectuals in al-Andalus and Egypt, examines their way of life, and describes their position vis-à-vis Arabic and Islamic culture. It also explores the interweaving of religious ideas of Jewish, Islamic, and Hellenistic origin in Halevi’s work. Although Halevi was partially motivated by a desire to repudiate the Judeo-Arabic hybrid culture and embrace purely Jewish values, the book demonstrates that his poetry and his pilgrimage continue to reflect the Judeo-Arabic milieu. His poetry and pilgrimage also show that while the Jews’ precarious situation as a tolerated minority weighed on Halevi, he was impelled to the pilgrimage not by a grand plan for ending the Jewish exile, as is widely thought, but by a personal religious quest. Chapters 1 through 3 each deal with one of the major themes of Halevi’s poetry that point in the direction of the pilgrimage. Chapters 4 through 6 are a narrative of the pilgrimage. Chapters 7 through 10 are a study of Halevi’s poems that are explicitly about the Land of Israel and about the pilgrimage. The epilogue explores the later legend of his martyrdom.
Jonathan Owens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199290826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290826.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This chapter recapitulates the main findings of the book. It is emphasized that interpreting Arabic language history requires many more detailed, case studies, models of which are presented in the ...
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This chapter recapitulates the main findings of the book. It is emphasized that interpreting Arabic language history requires many more detailed, case studies, models of which are presented in the preceding chapters. It is suggested that taken as a whole, contemporary Arabic, the dialects, are historically conservative in the sense that they exhibit relatively little change from a reconstructed pre-diasporic Arabic. This implicates a major re-thinking not only of Arabic language history, but also of Semitic in general, which has conventionally assumed the Old Arabic, Neo-Arabic dichotomy. It is further noted that besides a linguistic history, a sociolinguistic history of Arabic is needed to describe and explain the emergence of Classical Arabic.Less
This chapter recapitulates the main findings of the book. It is emphasized that interpreting Arabic language history requires many more detailed, case studies, models of which are presented in the preceding chapters. It is suggested that taken as a whole, contemporary Arabic, the dialects, are historically conservative in the sense that they exhibit relatively little change from a reconstructed pre-diasporic Arabic. This implicates a major re-thinking not only of Arabic language history, but also of Semitic in general, which has conventionally assumed the Old Arabic, Neo-Arabic dichotomy. It is further noted that besides a linguistic history, a sociolinguistic history of Arabic is needed to describe and explain the emergence of Classical Arabic.
Jon McGinnis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195331479
- eISBN:
- 9780199868032
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331479.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The aim of the present work is threefold. One, it intends to place the thought of Avicenna within its proper historical context, whether the philosophical-scientific tradition inherited from the ...
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The aim of the present work is threefold. One, it intends to place the thought of Avicenna within its proper historical context, whether the philosophical-scientific tradition inherited from the Greeks or the indigenous influences coming from the medieval Islamic world. Thus, in addition to a substantive introductory chapter on the Greek and Arabic sources and influences to which Avicenna was heir, the historical and philosophical context central to Avicenna’s own thought is provided in order to assess and appreciate his achievement in the specific fields treated in that chapter. Two, the present volume aims to offer a philosophical survey of Avicenna’s entire system of thought ranging from his understanding of the interrelation of logic, physics, psychology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and medicine. The emphasis here is on how, using a relatively small handful of novel insights, Avicenna was not only able to address a whole series of issues that had troubled earlier philosophers working in both the ancient Hellenistic and medieval Islamic world, but also how those insights fundamentally changed the direction philosophy took, certainly in the Islamic East, but even in the Jewish and Christian milieus. Three, the present volume will provide philosophers, historians of science, and students of medieval thought with a starting point from which to assess the place, significance, and influence of Avicenna and his philosophy within the history of ideas.Less
The aim of the present work is threefold. One, it intends to place the thought of Avicenna within its proper historical context, whether the philosophical-scientific tradition inherited from the Greeks or the indigenous influences coming from the medieval Islamic world. Thus, in addition to a substantive introductory chapter on the Greek and Arabic sources and influences to which Avicenna was heir, the historical and philosophical context central to Avicenna’s own thought is provided in order to assess and appreciate his achievement in the specific fields treated in that chapter. Two, the present volume aims to offer a philosophical survey of Avicenna’s entire system of thought ranging from his understanding of the interrelation of logic, physics, psychology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and medicine. The emphasis here is on how, using a relatively small handful of novel insights, Avicenna was not only able to address a whole series of issues that had troubled earlier philosophers working in both the ancient Hellenistic and medieval Islamic world, but also how those insights fundamentally changed the direction philosophy took, certainly in the Islamic East, but even in the Jewish and Christian milieus. Three, the present volume will provide philosophers, historians of science, and students of medieval thought with a starting point from which to assess the place, significance, and influence of Avicenna and his philosophy within the history of ideas.
Daniel Lefkowitz
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195121902
- eISBN:
- 9780199788347
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195121902.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Social and ethnic identity are nowhere more enmeshed with language than in Israel. This book explores the politics of identity in Israel through an analysis of the social life of language. By ...
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Social and ethnic identity are nowhere more enmeshed with language than in Israel. This book explores the politics of identity in Israel through an analysis of the social life of language. By examining the social choices Israelis make when they speak, and the social meanings such choices produce, the book reveals how Israeli identities are negotiated through language. It studies three major languages and their role in the social lives of Israelis: Hebrew, the dominant language, Arabic, and English. It reveals their complex interrelationship by showing how the language a speaker chooses to use is as important as the language they choose not to use — in the same way that a claim to an Israeli identity is simultaneously a claim against other, opposing identities. The result is an analysis of how the identity of “Israeliness” is linguistically negotiated in the three-way struggle among Ashkenazi (Jewish), Mizrahi (Jewish), and Palestinian (Arab) Israelis. This book's ethnography of language — use is both thoroughly anthropological and thoroughly linguistic — provides an examination of the role of language in Israeli society.Less
Social and ethnic identity are nowhere more enmeshed with language than in Israel. This book explores the politics of identity in Israel through an analysis of the social life of language. By examining the social choices Israelis make when they speak, and the social meanings such choices produce, the book reveals how Israeli identities are negotiated through language. It studies three major languages and their role in the social lives of Israelis: Hebrew, the dominant language, Arabic, and English. It reveals their complex interrelationship by showing how the language a speaker chooses to use is as important as the language they choose not to use — in the same way that a claim to an Israeli identity is simultaneously a claim against other, opposing identities. The result is an analysis of how the identity of “Israeliness” is linguistically negotiated in the three-way struggle among Ashkenazi (Jewish), Mizrahi (Jewish), and Palestinian (Arab) Israelis. This book's ethnography of language — use is both thoroughly anthropological and thoroughly linguistic — provides an examination of the role of language in Israeli society.
Jonathan Owens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199290826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710469
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290826.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
A widespread interpretation of the history of Arabic is that of Old Arabic, roughly Classical Arabic of the 9th and 10th centuries, developing into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. This ...
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A widespread interpretation of the history of Arabic is that of Old Arabic, roughly Classical Arabic of the 9th and 10th centuries, developing into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. This development involved a simplification of grammar and a spread of analytic as opposed to synthetic structures. This idea, first propounded in 1854, constitutes interpretations of Arabic language history until today. This book takes a very different interpretive perspective. Arguing that the historical comparative method has never been systematically applied to explain the development of contemporary spoken Arabic (the dialects), it is shown through a number of case studies that in many respects contemporary spoken Arabic has moved relatively little from a reconstructed ‘proto-Arabic’. This book, providing major methodological innovation as far as Arabic historical linguistics goes, aims to incorporate wide-ranging comparative data from the modern dialects, together with a detailed reading of the classical sources, in particular the works of the grammatical tradition and the Koranic variants. It is shown that many presumed ‘innovations’ in the modern dialects are, in fact, well-attested in detail in the classical descriptions. It is suggested that the results will require a re-thinking of Semitic historical linguistics, and points to the need for a broader Sociolinguistic history of the Arabic language.Less
A widespread interpretation of the history of Arabic is that of Old Arabic, roughly Classical Arabic of the 9th and 10th centuries, developing into the contemporary Neo-Arabic dialects. This development involved a simplification of grammar and a spread of analytic as opposed to synthetic structures. This idea, first propounded in 1854, constitutes interpretations of Arabic language history until today. This book takes a very different interpretive perspective. Arguing that the historical comparative method has never been systematically applied to explain the development of contemporary spoken Arabic (the dialects), it is shown through a number of case studies that in many respects contemporary spoken Arabic has moved relatively little from a reconstructed ‘proto-Arabic’. This book, providing major methodological innovation as far as Arabic historical linguistics goes, aims to incorporate wide-ranging comparative data from the modern dialects, together with a detailed reading of the classical sources, in particular the works of the grammatical tradition and the Koranic variants. It is shown that many presumed ‘innovations’ in the modern dialects are, in fact, well-attested in detail in the classical descriptions. It is suggested that the results will require a re-thinking of Semitic historical linguistics, and points to the need for a broader Sociolinguistic history of the Arabic language.
Jonathan Owens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199290826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290826.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This introductory chapter situates the study in two contexts. First, the two kinds of sources used for the interpretation of Arabic are described. On the one hand are the written Arabic sources which ...
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This introductory chapter situates the study in two contexts. First, the two kinds of sources used for the interpretation of Arabic are described. On the one hand are the written Arabic sources which become available in a significant volume towards the end of the 2nd/8th centuries; particularly important are the early Arabic grammars. On the other are reconstructions using the comparative method derived from the contemporary Arabic dialects. These lead to a reconstruction of what is termed, pre-diasporic Arabic, an Arabic reconstructible to the 7th century, i.e., the era before Arabic spread outside of its Arabian borders. The second context is an overview of western approaches to the study of the history of Arabic. It is suggested that these rarely have applied the comparative method systematically, but rather have been developed on the basis of non-historical dichotomies, such as ‘analytic vs. synthetic’, or have assumed that Classical Arabic may be regarded as a proto-language.Less
This introductory chapter situates the study in two contexts. First, the two kinds of sources used for the interpretation of Arabic are described. On the one hand are the written Arabic sources which become available in a significant volume towards the end of the 2nd/8th centuries; particularly important are the early Arabic grammars. On the other are reconstructions using the comparative method derived from the contemporary Arabic dialects. These lead to a reconstruction of what is termed, pre-diasporic Arabic, an Arabic reconstructible to the 7th century, i.e., the era before Arabic spread outside of its Arabian borders. The second context is an overview of western approaches to the study of the history of Arabic. It is suggested that these rarely have applied the comparative method systematically, but rather have been developed on the basis of non-historical dichotomies, such as ‘analytic vs. synthetic’, or have assumed that Classical Arabic may be regarded as a proto-language.
Robyn Creswell
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691182186
- eISBN:
- 9780691185149
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691182186.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book is an exploration of modernism in Arabic poetry, a movement that emerged in Beirut during the 1950s and became the most influential and controversial Arabic literary development of the ...
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This book is an exploration of modernism in Arabic poetry, a movement that emerged in Beirut during the 1950s and became the most influential and controversial Arabic literary development of the twentieth century. The book introduces English-language readers to a poetic movement that will be uncannily familiar—and unsettlingly strange. It provides an intellectual history of Lebanon during the early Cold War, when Beirut became both a battleground for rival ideologies and the most vital artistic site in the Middle East. Arabic modernism was centered on the legendary magazine Shi'r (“Poetry”), which sought to put Arabic verse on “the map of world literature.” The Beiruti poets—Adonis, Yusuf al-Khal, and Unsi al-Hajj chief among them—translated modernism into Arabic, redefining the very idea of poetry in that literary tradition. This book includes analyses of the Arab modernists' creative encounters with Ezra Pound, Saint-John Perse, and Antonin Artaud, as well as their adaptations of classical literary forms. The book also reveals how the modernists translated concepts of liberal individualism, autonomy, and political freedom into a radical poetics that has shaped Arabic literary and intellectual debate to this day.Less
This book is an exploration of modernism in Arabic poetry, a movement that emerged in Beirut during the 1950s and became the most influential and controversial Arabic literary development of the twentieth century. The book introduces English-language readers to a poetic movement that will be uncannily familiar—and unsettlingly strange. It provides an intellectual history of Lebanon during the early Cold War, when Beirut became both a battleground for rival ideologies and the most vital artistic site in the Middle East. Arabic modernism was centered on the legendary magazine Shi'r (“Poetry”), which sought to put Arabic verse on “the map of world literature.” The Beiruti poets—Adonis, Yusuf al-Khal, and Unsi al-Hajj chief among them—translated modernism into Arabic, redefining the very idea of poetry in that literary tradition. This book includes analyses of the Arab modernists' creative encounters with Ezra Pound, Saint-John Perse, and Antonin Artaud, as well as their adaptations of classical literary forms. The book also reveals how the modernists translated concepts of liberal individualism, autonomy, and political freedom into a radical poetics that has shaped Arabic literary and intellectual debate to this day.
Jonathan Owens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199290826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290826.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Whereas the previous chapter examined only classical sources, this chapter turns exclusively to the dialects. Forty-nine features, 25 morphological, and 24 phonological in two Arabic dialect areas ...
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Whereas the previous chapter examined only classical sources, this chapter turns exclusively to the dialects. Forty-nine features, 25 morphological, and 24 phonological in two Arabic dialect areas are examined in detail, Mesopotamian Arabic and the western Sudanic (Chad, northern Cameroon, NE Nigeria). The data are compared using the statistical measure of standard deviation (SD). Two key points emerge. First, the Mesopotamian area is considerably more diverse (with a higher SD) than is the western Sudanic, a point explained in terms of longer settlement as well as other factors. Secondly, adding a further comparison with Uzbekistan Arabic — usually considered to be closely related to the Mesopotamian dialects — reveals that it is as close to western Sudanic in the feature comparison as it is to Mesopotamian. The significant similarities between Uzbekistan and western Sudanic are explained in terms of common retention, pointing to a pre-diasporic core dating to the 7th century.Less
Whereas the previous chapter examined only classical sources, this chapter turns exclusively to the dialects. Forty-nine features, 25 morphological, and 24 phonological in two Arabic dialect areas are examined in detail, Mesopotamian Arabic and the western Sudanic (Chad, northern Cameroon, NE Nigeria). The data are compared using the statistical measure of standard deviation (SD). Two key points emerge. First, the Mesopotamian area is considerably more diverse (with a higher SD) than is the western Sudanic, a point explained in terms of longer settlement as well as other factors. Secondly, adding a further comparison with Uzbekistan Arabic — usually considered to be closely related to the Mesopotamian dialects — reveals that it is as close to western Sudanic in the feature comparison as it is to Mesopotamian. The significant similarities between Uzbekistan and western Sudanic are explained in terms of common retention, pointing to a pre-diasporic core dating to the 7th century.
Heather Sharkey
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520235588
- eISBN:
- 9780520929364
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520235588.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
Histories written in the aftermath of empire have often featured conquerors and peasant rebels but have said little about the vast staffs of locally recruited clerks, technicians, teachers, and ...
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Histories written in the aftermath of empire have often featured conquerors and peasant rebels but have said little about the vast staffs of locally recruited clerks, technicians, teachers, and medics who made colonialism work day to day. Even as these workers maintained the colonial state, they dreamed of displacing imperial power. This book examines the history of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1898–1956) and the Republic of Sudan that followed in order to understand how colonialism worked on the ground, affected local cultures, influenced the rise of nationalism, and shaped the postcolonial nation-state. Relying on a rich cache of Sudanese Arabic literary sources—including poetry, essays, and memoirs, as well as colonial documents and photographs—it examines colonialism from the viewpoint of those who lived and worked in its midst. By integrating the case of Sudan with material on other countries, particularly India, the book has broad comparative appeal. The author shows that colonial legacies—such as inflexible borders, atomized multi-ethnic populations, and autocratic governing structures—have persisted, hobbling postcolonial nation-states. Thus countries like Sudan are still living with colonialism, struggling to achieve consensus and stability within borders that a fallen empire has left behind.Less
Histories written in the aftermath of empire have often featured conquerors and peasant rebels but have said little about the vast staffs of locally recruited clerks, technicians, teachers, and medics who made colonialism work day to day. Even as these workers maintained the colonial state, they dreamed of displacing imperial power. This book examines the history of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1898–1956) and the Republic of Sudan that followed in order to understand how colonialism worked on the ground, affected local cultures, influenced the rise of nationalism, and shaped the postcolonial nation-state. Relying on a rich cache of Sudanese Arabic literary sources—including poetry, essays, and memoirs, as well as colonial documents and photographs—it examines colonialism from the viewpoint of those who lived and worked in its midst. By integrating the case of Sudan with material on other countries, particularly India, the book has broad comparative appeal. The author shows that colonial legacies—such as inflexible borders, atomized multi-ethnic populations, and autocratic governing structures—have persisted, hobbling postcolonial nation-states. Thus countries like Sudan are still living with colonialism, struggling to achieve consensus and stability within borders that a fallen empire has left behind.
Lital Levy
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162485
- eISBN:
- 9781400852574
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162485.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
A Palestinian-Israeli poet declares a new state whose language, “Homelandic,” is a combination of Arabic and Hebrew. A Jewish-Israeli author imagines a “language plague” that infects young Hebrew ...
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A Palestinian-Israeli poet declares a new state whose language, “Homelandic,” is a combination of Arabic and Hebrew. A Jewish-Israeli author imagines a “language plague” that infects young Hebrew speakers with old world accents, and sends the narrator in search of his Arabic heritage. This book brings together such startling visions to offer the first in-depth study of the relationship between Hebrew and Arabic in the literature and culture of Israel/Palestine. More than that, the book presents a captivating portrait of the literary imagination's power to transgress political boundaries and transform ideas about language and belonging. Blending history and literature, the book traces the interwoven life of Arabic and Hebrew in Israel/Palestine from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, exposing the two languages' intimate entanglements in contemporary works of prose, poetry, film, and visual art by both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. In a context where intense political and social pressures work to identify Jews with Hebrew and Palestinians with Arabic, the book finds writers who have boldly crossed over this divide to create literature in the language of their “other,” as well as writers who bring the two languages into dialogue to rewrite them from within. Exploring such acts of poetic trespass, the book introduces new readings of canonical and lesser-known authors, including Emile Habiby, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Anton Shammas, Saul Tchernichowsky, Samir Naqqash, Ronit Matalon, Salman Masalha, A. B. Yehoshua, and Almog Behar. By revealing uncommon visions of what it means to write in Arabic and Hebrew, the book will change the way we understand literature and culture in the shadow of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.Less
A Palestinian-Israeli poet declares a new state whose language, “Homelandic,” is a combination of Arabic and Hebrew. A Jewish-Israeli author imagines a “language plague” that infects young Hebrew speakers with old world accents, and sends the narrator in search of his Arabic heritage. This book brings together such startling visions to offer the first in-depth study of the relationship between Hebrew and Arabic in the literature and culture of Israel/Palestine. More than that, the book presents a captivating portrait of the literary imagination's power to transgress political boundaries and transform ideas about language and belonging. Blending history and literature, the book traces the interwoven life of Arabic and Hebrew in Israel/Palestine from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, exposing the two languages' intimate entanglements in contemporary works of prose, poetry, film, and visual art by both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. In a context where intense political and social pressures work to identify Jews with Hebrew and Palestinians with Arabic, the book finds writers who have boldly crossed over this divide to create literature in the language of their “other,” as well as writers who bring the two languages into dialogue to rewrite them from within. Exploring such acts of poetic trespass, the book introduces new readings of canonical and lesser-known authors, including Emile Habiby, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Anton Shammas, Saul Tchernichowsky, Samir Naqqash, Ronit Matalon, Salman Masalha, A. B. Yehoshua, and Almog Behar. By revealing uncommon visions of what it means to write in Arabic and Hebrew, the book will change the way we understand literature and culture in the shadow of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Jonathan Owens
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199290826
- eISBN:
- 9780191710469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290826.003.0007
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This chapter shows that a process of vowel harmony termed imala, which was described in great detail by Sibawaih, is attested in various manifestations in four post-diasporic regions: Spain, Malta, ...
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This chapter shows that a process of vowel harmony termed imala, which was described in great detail by Sibawaih, is attested in various manifestations in four post-diasporic regions: Spain, Malta, Eastern Libya, and the Mesopotamian area. Imala is the change of /aa/ to /ie/ in the context of a conditioning high vowel /i/. After explaining the complex variational features of imala described by Sibawaih, its manifestations in modern regions are explained. It is shown that a reconstruction of imala based solely on its survivals in the modern dialects yields a form and distribution remarkably similar to that described by Sibawaih.Less
This chapter shows that a process of vowel harmony termed imala, which was described in great detail by Sibawaih, is attested in various manifestations in four post-diasporic regions: Spain, Malta, Eastern Libya, and the Mesopotamian area. Imala is the change of /aa/ to /ie/ in the context of a conditioning high vowel /i/. After explaining the complex variational features of imala described by Sibawaih, its manifestations in modern regions are explained. It is shown that a reconstruction of imala based solely on its survivals in the modern dialects yields a form and distribution remarkably similar to that described by Sibawaih.
Margaret Litvin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691137803
- eISBN:
- 9781400840106
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691137803.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
For the past five decades, Arab intellectuals have seen themselves in Shakespeare's Hamlet: their times “out of joint,” their political hopes frustrated by a corrupt older generation. This book ...
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For the past five decades, Arab intellectuals have seen themselves in Shakespeare's Hamlet: their times “out of joint,” their political hopes frustrated by a corrupt older generation. This book traces the uses of Hamlet in Arabic theatre and political rhetoric, and asks how Shakespeare's play developed into a musical with a happy ending in 1901 and grew to become the most obsessively quoted literary work in Arab politics today. Explaining the Arab Hamlet tradition, the book also illuminates the “to be or not to be” politics that have turned Shakespeare's tragedy into the essential Arab political text, cited by Arab liberals, nationalists, and Islamists alike. On the Arab stage, Hamlet has been an operetta hero, a firebrand revolutionary, and a muzzled dissident. Analyzing productions from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait, the book follows the distinct phases of Hamlet's naturalization as an Arab. The book uses personal interviews as well as scripts and videos, reviews, and detailed comparisons with French and Russian Hamlets. The result shows Arab theatre in a new light. It identifies the French source of the earliest Arabic Hamlet, shows the outsize influence of Soviet and East European Shakespeare, and explores the deep cultural link between Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and the ghost of Hamlet's father. Documenting how global sources and models helped nurture a distinct Arab Hamlet tradition, this book represents a new approach to the study of international Shakespeare appropriation.Less
For the past five decades, Arab intellectuals have seen themselves in Shakespeare's Hamlet: their times “out of joint,” their political hopes frustrated by a corrupt older generation. This book traces the uses of Hamlet in Arabic theatre and political rhetoric, and asks how Shakespeare's play developed into a musical with a happy ending in 1901 and grew to become the most obsessively quoted literary work in Arab politics today. Explaining the Arab Hamlet tradition, the book also illuminates the “to be or not to be” politics that have turned Shakespeare's tragedy into the essential Arab political text, cited by Arab liberals, nationalists, and Islamists alike. On the Arab stage, Hamlet has been an operetta hero, a firebrand revolutionary, and a muzzled dissident. Analyzing productions from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait, the book follows the distinct phases of Hamlet's naturalization as an Arab. The book uses personal interviews as well as scripts and videos, reviews, and detailed comparisons with French and Russian Hamlets. The result shows Arab theatre in a new light. It identifies the French source of the earliest Arabic Hamlet, shows the outsize influence of Soviet and East European Shakespeare, and explores the deep cultural link between Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and the ghost of Hamlet's father. Documenting how global sources and models helped nurture a distinct Arab Hamlet tradition, this book represents a new approach to the study of international Shakespeare appropriation.
Reem Bassiouney
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623730
- eISBN:
- 9780748671373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.003.0007
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It identifies two facts that render Arabic inclusive in many respects. The first is the non-distinction between Classic Arabic, Modern Standard ...
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This presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It identifies two facts that render Arabic inclusive in many respects. The first is the non-distinction between Classic Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and the colloquials by the mass of native speakers who may think they speak Arabic, perhaps bad Arabic, but still perceived by many as a corrupted version of the same language as that of the Qur'an. An aggregate picture of Arabic is prevalent. The second fact that this book has tried to capture is the diversity of the Arab world, whether religious, historical, political, ethnic, social, or economic. This diversity in itself renders Arabic an inclusive, common component of different communities. Tribes, religious groups, upheavals, rapid urbanisation, wars, civil wars, social and political changes, dislocation of large groups, ethnic minorities, varied ethno-geographic, and historical backgrounds are all characteristics of the Arab world that are reflected directly or indirectly through language.Less
This presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It identifies two facts that render Arabic inclusive in many respects. The first is the non-distinction between Classic Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and the colloquials by the mass of native speakers who may think they speak Arabic, perhaps bad Arabic, but still perceived by many as a corrupted version of the same language as that of the Qur'an. An aggregate picture of Arabic is prevalent. The second fact that this book has tried to capture is the diversity of the Arab world, whether religious, historical, political, ethnic, social, or economic. This diversity in itself renders Arabic an inclusive, common component of different communities. Tribes, religious groups, upheavals, rapid urbanisation, wars, civil wars, social and political changes, dislocation of large groups, ethnic minorities, varied ethno-geographic, and historical backgrounds are all characteristics of the Arab world that are reflected directly or indirectly through language.
Lital Levy
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162485
- eISBN:
- 9781400852574
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162485.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter juxtaposes the Arabic prose fiction of the Palestinian Israeli writer Emile Habiby (1922–1996) and the Iraqi Jewish writer Samir Naqqash (1938–2004). Habiby was a major figure in the ...
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This chapter juxtaposes the Arabic prose fiction of the Palestinian Israeli writer Emile Habiby (1922–1996) and the Iraqi Jewish writer Samir Naqqash (1938–2004). Habiby was a major figure in the Israeli political and cultural landscapes as well as in Modern Arabic literature. Naqqash was the most important contemporary Jewish writer of Arabic, yet remains virtually unknown. As two native speakers of Arabic who wrote Arabic prose fiction in Israel, they offer an illuminating, if unorthodox, point of comparison. The chapter explores the poetics of misunderstanding in their fiction, elucidating how they thematize communicative failure as one means of contesting dominant historical narratives and undermining their faulty logic. It also offers the first comparative study of Habiby's critical reception in both Arabic and Hebrew, based on a bilingual reading of his masterpiece al-Mutasha'il (The Pessoptimist).Less
This chapter juxtaposes the Arabic prose fiction of the Palestinian Israeli writer Emile Habiby (1922–1996) and the Iraqi Jewish writer Samir Naqqash (1938–2004). Habiby was a major figure in the Israeli political and cultural landscapes as well as in Modern Arabic literature. Naqqash was the most important contemporary Jewish writer of Arabic, yet remains virtually unknown. As two native speakers of Arabic who wrote Arabic prose fiction in Israel, they offer an illuminating, if unorthodox, point of comparison. The chapter explores the poetics of misunderstanding in their fiction, elucidating how they thematize communicative failure as one means of contesting dominant historical narratives and undermining their faulty logic. It also offers the first comparative study of Habiby's critical reception in both Arabic and Hebrew, based on a bilingual reading of his masterpiece al-Mutasha'il (The Pessoptimist).
Youssef A. Haddad
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474434072
- eISBN:
- 9781474444866
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474434072.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics
This book analyses the sociopragmatics of attitude datives in four Levantine Arabic varieties; these are Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian Arabic. Attitude datives are optional pronominal ...
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This book analyses the sociopragmatics of attitude datives in four Levantine Arabic varieties; these are Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian Arabic. Attitude datives are optional pronominal pragmatic markers that serve two broad functions: (i) an evaluative function to express a stance toward an issue or an object, and/or (ii) a relational function to manage (e.g., affirm, challenge) relationships between social actors. The study provides ample data from a variety of sources: soap operas, movies, plays, talk shows, social media, and so on. It is supplemented with short videos of most data on a companion website https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/haddad. The study has four goals: to document the phenomenon of attitude datives in Levantine Arabic; to analyze their meaning contribution in interaction; to examine the contextual factors that inform and are informed by their use; to account for the cognitive coordination that social actors engage in when an attitude dative is used.Less
This book analyses the sociopragmatics of attitude datives in four Levantine Arabic varieties; these are Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian Arabic. Attitude datives are optional pronominal pragmatic markers that serve two broad functions: (i) an evaluative function to express a stance toward an issue or an object, and/or (ii) a relational function to manage (e.g., affirm, challenge) relationships between social actors. The study provides ample data from a variety of sources: soap operas, movies, plays, talk shows, social media, and so on. It is supplemented with short videos of most data on a companion website https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/haddad. The study has four goals: to document the phenomenon of attitude datives in Levantine Arabic; to analyze their meaning contribution in interaction; to examine the contextual factors that inform and are informed by their use; to account for the cognitive coordination that social actors engage in when an attitude dative is used.
Nathan Brown
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520237629
- eISBN:
- 9780520937789
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520237629.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book does what hostilities in the Middle East have made nearly impossible: it offers a measured, internal perspective on Palestinian politics, viewing emerging political patterns from the ...
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This book does what hostilities in the Middle East have made nearly impossible: it offers a measured, internal perspective on Palestinian politics, viewing emerging political patterns from the Palestinian point of view rather than through the prism of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Based on groundbreaking fieldwork, interviews with Palestinian leaders, and an extensive survey of Arabic-language writings and documents, it presents the meaning of state building and self-reliance as Palestinians themselves have understood them in the years between 1993 and 2002. The author focuses his work on five areas: legal development, constitution drafting, the Palestinian Legislative Council, civil society, and the effort to write a new curriculum. His book shows how Palestinians have understood efforts at building institutions as acts of resumption rather than creation—with activists and leaders seeing themselves as recovering from an interrupted past, Palestinians seeking to rejoin the Arab world by building their new institutions on Arab models, and many Palestinian reformers taking the Oslo Accords as an occasion to resume normal political life. Providing a vantage point on most of the issues of Palestinian reform and governance that have emerged in recent policy debates—issues such as corruption, constitutionalism, democracy, and rule of law—this book helps to put Palestinian aspirations and accomplishments in their proper context within a long and complex history, and within the larger Arab world.Less
This book does what hostilities in the Middle East have made nearly impossible: it offers a measured, internal perspective on Palestinian politics, viewing emerging political patterns from the Palestinian point of view rather than through the prism of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Based on groundbreaking fieldwork, interviews with Palestinian leaders, and an extensive survey of Arabic-language writings and documents, it presents the meaning of state building and self-reliance as Palestinians themselves have understood them in the years between 1993 and 2002. The author focuses his work on five areas: legal development, constitution drafting, the Palestinian Legislative Council, civil society, and the effort to write a new curriculum. His book shows how Palestinians have understood efforts at building institutions as acts of resumption rather than creation—with activists and leaders seeing themselves as recovering from an interrupted past, Palestinians seeking to rejoin the Arab world by building their new institutions on Arab models, and many Palestinian reformers taking the Oslo Accords as an occasion to resume normal political life. Providing a vantage point on most of the issues of Palestinian reform and governance that have emerged in recent policy debates—issues such as corruption, constitutionalism, democracy, and rule of law—this book helps to put Palestinian aspirations and accomplishments in their proper context within a long and complex history, and within the larger Arab world.
Clive Holes (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198701378
- eISBN:
- 9780191770647
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198701378.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This book, by a group of leading international scholars, outlines the history of the spoken dialects of Arabic from the Arab conquests of the seventh century up to the present day. It specifically ...
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This book, by a group of leading international scholars, outlines the history of the spoken dialects of Arabic from the Arab conquests of the seventh century up to the present day. It specifically investigates the evolution of Arabic as a spoken language, in contrast to the many existing studies that focus on written Classical or Modern Standard Arabic. The volume begins with a discursive introduction that deals with important issues in the general scholarly context, including the indigenous myth and probable reality of the history of Arabic; Arabic dialect geography and typology; types of internally and externally motivated linguistic change; social indexicalization; and pidginization and creolization in Arabic-speaking communities. Most chapters then focus on developments in a specific region—Mauritania, the Maghreb, Egypt, the Levant, the Northern Fertile Crescent, the Gulf, and South Arabia—with one exploring Judaeo-Arabic, a group of varieties historically spread over a wider area. The remaining two chapters in the volume examine individual linguistic features of particular historical interest and controversy, specifically the origin and evolution of the b- verbal prefix, and the adnominal linker –an/–in. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students of the linguistic and social history of Arabic as well as to comparative linguists interested in topics such as linguistic typology and language change.Less
This book, by a group of leading international scholars, outlines the history of the spoken dialects of Arabic from the Arab conquests of the seventh century up to the present day. It specifically investigates the evolution of Arabic as a spoken language, in contrast to the many existing studies that focus on written Classical or Modern Standard Arabic. The volume begins with a discursive introduction that deals with important issues in the general scholarly context, including the indigenous myth and probable reality of the history of Arabic; Arabic dialect geography and typology; types of internally and externally motivated linguistic change; social indexicalization; and pidginization and creolization in Arabic-speaking communities. Most chapters then focus on developments in a specific region—Mauritania, the Maghreb, Egypt, the Levant, the Northern Fertile Crescent, the Gulf, and South Arabia—with one exploring Judaeo-Arabic, a group of varieties historically spread over a wider area. The remaining two chapters in the volume examine individual linguistic features of particular historical interest and controversy, specifically the origin and evolution of the b- verbal prefix, and the adnominal linker –an/–in. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students of the linguistic and social history of Arabic as well as to comparative linguists interested in topics such as linguistic typology and language change.
Raymond P. Scheindlin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195315424
- eISBN:
- 9780199872039
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315424.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Halevi’s work is partly a reaction to the deteriorating political and intellectual conditions of the time, the former undermining the Jewish claim to a special covenant with God, and the latter ...
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Halevi’s work is partly a reaction to the deteriorating political and intellectual conditions of the time, the former undermining the Jewish claim to a special covenant with God, and the latter portraying individual religions as mere social contrivances. The Kuzari grounds Jewish claims to special status on their gift for prophecy. In Halevi’s poetry, this status is expressed in themes of competition with Christianity and Islam. (The claim of Israel’s superiority complicated Halevi’s attitude toward Arabic-style Hebrew poetry, which he came to see as debasing the holy tongue; he probably did not, however, vow to abstain from writing poetry.) Halevi wrote extensive poetry dealing with the messianic redemption. But his pilgrimage was not a messianic gesture; rather, it reflects his embrace of quietism, the national counterpart to the theme of trust in God so prominent in his personal poetry. The chapter concludes with three poems that exemplify these themes.Less
Halevi’s work is partly a reaction to the deteriorating political and intellectual conditions of the time, the former undermining the Jewish claim to a special covenant with God, and the latter portraying individual religions as mere social contrivances. The Kuzari grounds Jewish claims to special status on their gift for prophecy. In Halevi’s poetry, this status is expressed in themes of competition with Christianity and Islam. (The claim of Israel’s superiority complicated Halevi’s attitude toward Arabic-style Hebrew poetry, which he came to see as debasing the holy tongue; he probably did not, however, vow to abstain from writing poetry.) Halevi wrote extensive poetry dealing with the messianic redemption. But his pilgrimage was not a messianic gesture; rather, it reflects his embrace of quietism, the national counterpart to the theme of trust in God so prominent in his personal poetry. The chapter concludes with three poems that exemplify these themes.
Stephen J. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199258628
- eISBN:
- 9780191718052
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199258628.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter traces key developments in Copto-Arabic Christology and Christopraxis from the 10th to the 13th century, beginning with the so-called ‘father’ of Copto-Arabic literature, Sāwīrus ibn ...
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This chapter traces key developments in Copto-Arabic Christology and Christopraxis from the 10th to the 13th century, beginning with the so-called ‘father’ of Copto-Arabic literature, Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa. Topics covered include the emergence of a Copto-Arabic theological tradition; the textual and historical construction of a Copto-Arabic Christological Canon; Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa's addressing of authority and identity in relation to his contemporary medieval context; and biblical, sacramental-liturgical, and social dimensions of Christological mimesis.Less
This chapter traces key developments in Copto-Arabic Christology and Christopraxis from the 10th to the 13th century, beginning with the so-called ‘father’ of Copto-Arabic literature, Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa. Topics covered include the emergence of a Copto-Arabic theological tradition; the textual and historical construction of a Copto-Arabic Christological Canon; Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa's addressing of authority and identity in relation to his contemporary medieval context; and biblical, sacramental-liturgical, and social dimensions of Christological mimesis.
