Lives in Adab

Alexander Key is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He is the author of Language between God and the Poets: Ma‘na in the Eleventh Century (University of California Press, 2018) and is currently working on an under-contract edition and translation of al-Jurjani's Dala'il al-I'jaz for the Library of Arabic Literature. Letizia Osti is Associate Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures at the University of Milan. She is the author/editor of numerous books, including most recently The Historian of Islam at Work: Essays in Honor of Hugh N. Kennedy (co-edited with Maaike van Berkel, Brill, 2022) and History and Memory in the Abbasid Caliphate: Writing the Past in Medieval Arabic Literature (Bloomsbury, 2022).

This remarkable volume, paying tribute to Julia Bray, also honors the intellectual rigour and curiosity she has modelled, exemplified in her persistent questioning of what adab is, what it does and why it continues to matter. The essays explore the multiple dimensions of adab, redefining boundaries, challenging assumptions and opening new avenues for understanding the richness and complexity of Arabic literary culture.

• Transliterations, Translations and ThanksList of Illustrations1. Practical adab and the practice of adabAlexander Key and Letizia Osti2. Bodily peculiarities and lists in Ibn Qutayba’s Kitab al-maʿarifAntonella Ghersetti3. Insects: The Tiniest Creatures in Kalila wa-DimnaBeatrice Gruendler with Dima Mustafa Sakran and Mahmoud Kozae4. The absence of Baghdad in the ʿIqd al-farid--Abbasid myth in the makingIsabel Toral5. Nobility and Prestige (شرف) as Criteria for Inclusion in AnthologiesBilal W. Orfali and Maurice A. Pomerantz6. The Novel in Adab: a Modern genre placed in conversation with al-TanukhiAlexander Key7. Al-birka al-husna and the birkas of SamarraAlastair Northedge8. Al-Mutanabbi in Tiberias and ShirazJames E. Montgomery9. Virtue in Misfortune: al-Buhturi on al-Fath ibn Khaqan’s Fall from a BridgeGabrielle Russo10. Barmakid Benevolence: An Account from Deliverance Follows AdversityShawkat M. Toorawa11. Al-Tanukhi, Storytelling and AdabWen-chin Ouyang12. A text from AR3222Robert Hoyland13. Letter to a treacherous lover: love and responsibility in Abbasid romancePernilla Myrne14. Parody and Play, Gender and GenreJonny Lawrence15. Trailing John Greaves’s TimelineTaha Yasin Arslan, Fyza Parviz Jazra16. In Search of Intertexts: Literary Imitation, Authorial Lineage and Networked Time in Premodern Arabic CriticismJames White17. Death in the monastery: visualising emotions, space, and performance in al-TanukhiLetizia Osti18. The flattening of the Arabic lexiconMichael Cooperson19. Ibn Taymiyya on Reason, Anger and DesireRobert Gleave20. The Emotional Lives of Prophets in al-Kisaʾi’s Qisas al-anbiyaʾHelen Blatherwick21. Remarks on Recognition in Hadith and AkhbarPhilip Kennedy22. Inspired by Ibn al-Farid? An anonymous mukhammas (مُخَمَّس) featuring St. John of Damascus, St. Peter and the Virgin MaryHilary Kilpatrick23. From Poem to Song: The Artistry of Singer-Composers in Abu l-Faraj al-Isbahani’s Kitab al-AghaniDwight F. Reynolds24. Revisiting The Letter to the Proponents of Freewill (al-Risalah ila l-Qadariyyah) attributed to the Umayyad caliph ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz (r. 99-101/717-720)Sean W. Anthony25. How to be a bad ruler: Miskawayh’s demolition of ʿIzz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar (r. 356/967-367-977)Hugh Kennedy26. Al-Tanukhi and the Arabian Adventure TalePeter Webb27. Ibn Rushd on Fraud, Morality and The LawJoseph E. Lowry28. You Can Take it with You: Self, Wealth, and Legacy in Arabic LettersDevin J. StewartJulia Bray’s Published Works to Date IndexBibliography