Philip F. Kennedy – författare

The classical period of Arab civilization produced the most extensive and highly developed bacchic tradition in world literature, In this book, the author traces the history of classical Arabic wine poetry from its origins in sixth century Arabia to its heyday in Baghdad at the turn of the ninth century. The focus is on the greatest and perhaps most likeable of Arabic poets, Abú Nuwás. Although wine poetry is only one of the many genres for which he is known, it is the one that has ensured his fame, and the one on which this book concentrates. The wine songs of the poet are analysed and their connections with poetics, ethics, and religion are explored. The author also puts Abú Nuwás in perspective by comparing him with his most important predecessors and contemporaries and by discussing his interaction with other poetic genres such as amatory, invective, ascetic, or gnomic verse.

Fifteen essays on literature, linguistics, history and epigraphy. Contents include: Maysir-gambling in early Arabic poetry ( N Jamil ); the Qu'ran as a source of law: the case of zakat (alms-tax) ( Y Dutton ); On the difficulty of knowing mediaeval Arab authors: the case of Abu I-Faraj and pseudo-Isfahani ( H Kilpatrick ); Mahfuz's urban battlegrounds ( R Ostle ); Inscriptions of companions of the prophet in the Merv Oasis ( V Porter ); Muslim jizya-payers in Christian Sicily ( J Johns ); The Mu'allaqat in the west: a brief bibliographical survey ( H Bleaney ); Theomnestus of Nicopolis, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and the beginnings of Islamic veterinary science ( R Hoyland ); Historians and the Arabic biographical dictionary ( P Auchterlonie ).

According to Aristotle, a well-crafted recognition scene is one of the basic constituents of a successful narrative. It is the point when hidden facts and identities come to light—in the classic instance, a son discovers in horror that his wife is his mother and his children are his siblings. Aristotle coined the term ‘anagnôrisis’ for the concept. In this book Philip F. Kennedy shows how 'recognition' is key to an understanding of how one reads values and meaning into, or out of, a story. He analyses texts and motifs fundamental to the Arabic literary tradition in five case studies: the Qur’an; the biography of Muhammad; Joseph in classical and medieval re-tellings; the ‘deliverance from adversity’ genre and picaresque narratives.

The first study to analyse the recognition scene in the Arabic narrative traditionAccording to Aristotle, a well-crafted recognition scene is one of the basic constituents of a successful narrative. It is the point when hidden facts and identities come to light in the classic instance, a son discovers in horror that his wife is his mother and his children are his siblings. Aristotle coined the term 'anagnorisis' for the concept. In this book Philip F. Kennedy shows how 'recognition' is key to an understanding of how one reads values and meaning into, or out of, a story. He analyses texts and motifs fundamental to the Arabic literary tradition in five case studies: the Qur'an; the biography of Muhammad; Joseph in classical and medieval re-tellings; the 'deliverance from adversity' genre and picaresque narratives.Key FeaturesOffers new vistas for reading, understanding and interpreting Arabic literature as well as the culture in which it was producedProvides a comparative perspective, appealing to students of narrative literature across linguistic, regional and cultural traditionsHighlights the importance of intertextuality, showing the various ways in which literature and other genres of writing must be read together as manifestations of one complex cultural narrativeDemonstrates the fruitfulness of interdisciplinarity in literary studies

A witty satire of the medical professionThe Doctors' Dinner Party is an eleventh-century satire in the form of a novella, set in a medical milieu. A young doctor from out of town is invited to dinner with a group of older medical men, whose conversation reveals their incompetence. Written by the accomplished physician Ibn Buṭlān, the work satirizes the hypocrisy of quack doctors while displaying Ibn Buṭlān's own deep technical knowledge of medical practice, including surgery, blood-letting, and medicines. He also makes reference to the great thinkers and physicians of the ancient world, including Hippocrates, Galen, and Socrates.Combining literary parody with social satire, the book is richly textured and carefully organized: in addition to the use of the question-and-answer format associated with technical literature, it is replete with verse and subtexts that hint at the infatuation of the elderly practitioners with their young guest. The Doctors' Dinner Party is an entertaining read in which the author skewers the pretensions of the physicians around the table.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Scheherazade's Children gathers together leading scholars to explore the reverberations of the tales of the Arabian Nights across a startlingly wide and transnational range of cultural endeavors. The contributors, drawn from a wide array of disciplines, extend their inquiries into the book's metamorphoses on stage and screen as well as in literature—from India to Japan, from Sanskrit mythology to British pantomime, from Baroque opera to puppet shows. Their highly original research illuminates little-known manifestations of the Nights, and provides unexpected contexts for understanding the book's complex history. Polemical issues are thereby given unprecedented and enlightening interpretations.Organized under the rubrics of Translating, Engaging, and Staging, these essays view the Nights corpus as a uniquely accretive cultural bundle that absorbs the works upon which it has exerted influence. In this view, the Arabian Nights is a dynamic, living and breathing cross-cultural phenomenon that has left its mark on fields as disparate as the European novel and early Indian cinema. While scholarly, the writers' approach is also lively and entertaining, and the book is richly illustrated with unusual materials to deliver a sparkling and highly original exploration of the Arabian Nights' radiating influence on world literature, performance, and culture.

Scheherazade's Children gathers together leading scholars to explore the reverberations of the tales of the Arabian Nights across a startlingly wide and transnational range of cultural endeavors. The contributors, drawn from a wide array of disciplines, extend their inquiries into the book's metamorphoses on stage and screen as well as in literature—from India to Japan, from Sanskrit mythology to British pantomime, from Baroque opera to puppet shows. Their highly original research illuminates little-known manifestations of the Nights, and provides unexpected contexts for understanding the book's complex history. Polemical issues are thereby given unprecedented and enlightening interpretations.Organized under the rubrics of Translating, Engaging, and Staging, these essays view the Nights corpus as a uniquely accretive cultural bundle that absorbs the works upon which it has exerted influence. In this view, the Arabian Nights is a dynamic, living and breathing cross-cultural phenomenon that has left its mark on fields as disparate as the European novel and early Indian cinema. While scholarly, the writers' approach is also lively and entertaining, and the book is richly illustrated with unusual materials to deliver a sparkling and highly original exploration of the Arabian Nights' radiating influence on world literature, performance, and culture.