Thomas Hefter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748692743
- eISBN:
- 9781474400961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692743.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter focuses on the introduction of al-Jāḥiẓ’s masterpiece of social satire, K. al-Bukhalāʾ (The Book of Misers), which is one of his richest and most elaborate uses of the letter frame and ...
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This chapter focuses on the introduction of al-Jāḥiẓ’s masterpiece of social satire, K. al-Bukhalāʾ (The Book of Misers), which is one of his richest and most elaborate uses of the letter frame and the addressee. After a brief discussion of al-Jāḥiẓ’s views on generosity as a relative virtue for which moderation is the ideal, this chapter turns to an examination of the book’s introduction, in which the obvious hypocrisy of the addressee’s request for a book on miserliness in others is taken through a number of unexpected turns. The shifting stances of the addressee invite the reader to contrast himself with him in contradictory ways which is designed to lead him on a path of self-examination and an exploration of the economic motives that shape his perceptions.Less
This chapter focuses on the introduction of al-Jāḥiẓ’s masterpiece of social satire, K. al-Bukhalāʾ (The Book of Misers), which is one of his richest and most elaborate uses of the letter frame and the addressee. After a brief discussion of al-Jāḥiẓ’s views on generosity as a relative virtue for which moderation is the ideal, this chapter turns to an examination of the book’s introduction, in which the obvious hypocrisy of the addressee’s request for a book on miserliness in others is taken through a number of unexpected turns. The shifting stances of the addressee invite the reader to contrast himself with him in contradictory ways which is designed to lead him on a path of self-examination and an exploration of the economic motives that shape his perceptions.
Thomas Hefter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748692743
- eISBN:
- 9781474400961
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692743.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The ninth century essayist, theologian and encyclopedist ‘Amr b. Baḥr al-Jāḥiẓ is one of our richest sources on the intellectual and social life of the early centuries of Islam. He has long been ...
More
The ninth century essayist, theologian and encyclopedist ‘Amr b. Baḥr al-Jāḥiẓ is one of our richest sources on the intellectual and social life of the early centuries of Islam. He has long been acknowledged as a master of early Arabic prose writing, and his rhetorical inventiveness and provocative introductions, in particular, have been celebrated by readers and scholars alike. Yet only passing notice has been given to the fact that many of his most engaging writings are presented as letters to individuals, even though they are clearly intended to find a broader readership. Passages in which al-Jāḥiẓ is either quoting a letter he purports to have received from an addressee are often cited as direct statements in the author’s own voice and even al-Jāḥiẓ’s replies are not understood as part of a strategically-constructed dialogue with the addressee. This study takes a new approach in interpreting some of al-Jāḥiẓ’s ‘epistolary monographs’, focusing on the varying ways in which he shapes his conversations with the addressee as presented on the page, in order to guide or manipulate his actual readers and encourage them to actively engage with his complex materials.Less
The ninth century essayist, theologian and encyclopedist ‘Amr b. Baḥr al-Jāḥiẓ is one of our richest sources on the intellectual and social life of the early centuries of Islam. He has long been acknowledged as a master of early Arabic prose writing, and his rhetorical inventiveness and provocative introductions, in particular, have been celebrated by readers and scholars alike. Yet only passing notice has been given to the fact that many of his most engaging writings are presented as letters to individuals, even though they are clearly intended to find a broader readership. Passages in which al-Jāḥiẓ is either quoting a letter he purports to have received from an addressee are often cited as direct statements in the author’s own voice and even al-Jāḥiẓ’s replies are not understood as part of a strategically-constructed dialogue with the addressee. This study takes a new approach in interpreting some of al-Jāḥiẓ’s ‘epistolary monographs’, focusing on the varying ways in which he shapes his conversations with the addressee as presented on the page, in order to guide or manipulate his actual readers and encourage them to actively engage with his complex materials.
Thomas Hefter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748692743
- eISBN:
- 9781474400961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692743.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The final chapter looks at an exchange of pseudonymous letters between an advocate of limitless generosity and a proponent of extreme miserliness in a later section of Kitāb al-Bukhalā’. While both ...
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The final chapter looks at an exchange of pseudonymous letters between an advocate of limitless generosity and a proponent of extreme miserliness in a later section of Kitāb al-Bukhalā’. While both letters are clearly parodies of extreme positions with many fallacious arguments, both also contain a number of cogent passages and offer intelligent uses of certain texts in support of their position. The two writers do not address their letters to each other but to an unfortunate addressee whose property, ethical outlook and social aspirations they treat as their own concern rather than his. The reader can hardly help but contrast himself with the helpless addressee as he sorts through the arguments posed from either extreme and this, it is argued, is al-Jāḥiẓ’s way of prompting his audience to sort through the through the contradictory threads of their Arabic and Islamic heritage on the question of generosity and avarice.Less
The final chapter looks at an exchange of pseudonymous letters between an advocate of limitless generosity and a proponent of extreme miserliness in a later section of Kitāb al-Bukhalā’. While both letters are clearly parodies of extreme positions with many fallacious arguments, both also contain a number of cogent passages and offer intelligent uses of certain texts in support of their position. The two writers do not address their letters to each other but to an unfortunate addressee whose property, ethical outlook and social aspirations they treat as their own concern rather than his. The reader can hardly help but contrast himself with the helpless addressee as he sorts through the arguments posed from either extreme and this, it is argued, is al-Jāḥiẓ’s way of prompting his audience to sort through the through the contradictory threads of their Arabic and Islamic heritage on the question of generosity and avarice.
