Mapping Frontiers Across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the 'Abbasid Empire (Library of Middle East History) - Hardcover

Zadeh, Travis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184885451X ISBN 13: 9781848854512

Publisher: I.B.Tauris, 2011

Synopsis

The story of the 9th-century caliphal mission from Baghdad to discover the legendary barrier against the apocalyptic nations of Gog and Magog mentioned in the Quran, has been either dismissed as superstition or treated as historical fact. By exploring the intellectual and literary history surrounding the production and early reception of this adventure, Travis Zadeh traces the conceptualization of frontiers within early 'Abbasid society and re-evaluates the modern treatment of marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Islamic descriptions of the world. Examining the roles of translation, descriptive geography, and salvation history in the projection of early 'Abbasid imperial power, this book is essential for all those interested in Islamic studies, the 'Abbasid dynasty and its politics, geography, religion, Arabic and Persian literature, and European Orientalism.

About this title

About the Author

Travis Zadeh is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Haverford College, Pennsylvania. He received his PhD from Harvard in Comparative Literature (2007), and has published in the Journal of Arabic Literature and the Journal of Qur'anic Studies, with forthcoming publications in the Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures and the Journal of the American Oriental Society.

Review

""[This] is a worthy and often brilliant discussion of the themes of wonder, translation from one medium to another and other major concepts in medieval Islamic writing -- both in Persian and in Arabic."" -- Roy Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History and Chair, Committee on Islamic Studies, Harvard University

Edition details

• Publisher: I.B.Tauris
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 184885451X
• ISBN 13: 9781848854512
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 328