Desert Travel as a Form of Boasting: A Study of Du R-Rumma's Poetry (Arabische Studien)

Nefeli Papoutsakis

ISBN 10: 344706112X / ISBN 13: 9783447061124

Published by Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009

About this Item

vi, 169 pages ; 24 cm.

Seller Inventory # ewsperl506

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Desert Travel as a Form of Boasting: A Study of Du R-Rumma's Poetry (Arabische Studien)
• Publisher: Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz Verlag
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 344706112X
• ISBN 13: 9783447061124
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Travel
  • Literature
  • Islam

About this title

Synopsis

Boasting about one's travels through the desert was a very common topic of self-praise in early Arabic poetry (ca. 500-750). Desert crossing would attest to a man's character, providing evidence of his valour, stamina, industriousness and ambition. The book focuses on desert travel as a self-praise theme in early Arabic poetry and especially in the work of the Umayyad poet Dur-Rumma (ca. 695-735), one of the last great exponents of the Bedouin poetic tradition. It discusses the various motifs associated with desert travel in Dur-Rumma and traces their antecedents in the work of earlier poets. By analyzing the diachronic development of the travel theme and evaluating its place within the poem as a whole, it challenges the widespread view of the Arabic ode (qasida) as a tripartite composition and contributes to a better understanding of early Arabic poetics. For despite the fact that desert travel was a central theme of early poetry, it has never been studied in detail and its purport as a theme of self-praise has not been generally recognized.