Description in Classical Arabic Poetry: Wasf, Ekphrasis, and Interarts Theory (BRILL STUDIES IN MIDDLE EASTERN LITERATURES) - Hardcover

Motoyoshi Sumi, Akiko

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004129227 ISBN 13: 9789004129221

Publisher: Brill Academic Pub, 2003

Synopsis

This volume deals with waṣf or description which is one of the salient characteristics of the qaṣīdah (classical Arabic poetry) tradition. The Introduction offers the theoretical background of waṣf and ekphrasis ("verbal representation of non-verbal texts" in its modern sense) that can be considered a Western counterpart of waṣf. The main part of the book examines descriptive passages in a selected group of Arabic qaṣīdah from different ages (Jāhilī, Abbasid, Andalusian) with the motifs of horses, bees and honey-gathering, visual artifacts, performance of song, and architecture. Approaching the Arabic ode in light of modern Western critical theory, including the theories of ekphrasis and of interarts studies, this work is original and innovative, so it leads to a new understanding of a major form of traditional Arabic poetry.

About this title

About the Author

Motoyoshi Sumi, Ph.D. (2001) in Arabic Literature, Indiana University, is Assistant Professor at Kyoto Notre Dame University, Japan. She has published a number of articles on classical Arabic poetry including "Poetry and Portraiture: A Double Portrait in an Arabic Panegyric by Ibn Zamrak"(JAL 30, no. 3, 1999).

Edition details

• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 9004129227
• ISBN 13: 9789004129221
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 276