Al-Jahiz: In Praise of Books

James E. Montgomery

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2013

Al-Jahiz

In Praise of Books

James E. Montgomery

In the series Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748683338

Overview
Contents

About this book

Shortlisted for The Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2017

Introduces the writings and ‘Abbasid-period textual world of Al-Jāhiz, the 'father of Arabic prose'

Al-Jāhiz was a bibliomaniac, theologian, and spokesman for the political and cultural elite, a writer who lived, counselled and wrote in Iraq during the first century of the 'Abbasid caliphate. He advised, argued and rubbed shoulders with the major power brokers and leading religious and intellectual figures of his day, and crossed swords in debate and argument with the architects of the Islamic religious, theological, philosophical and cultural canon. His many, tumultuous writings engage with these figures, their ideas, theories and policies. They give us an invaluable but much-neglected window onto the values and beliefs of this cosmopolitan elite.

Edinburgh University Press will publish two self-contained guides to reading al-Jāhiz that also shed light on his society and its writings. Volume 1, In Praise of Books, is devoted to bibliomania and al-Jāhiz’s bibliophilia. Volume 2, In Censure of Books, explores Al-Jāhiz's bibliophobia.

Praise from the BRISMES Book Prize

‘James E. Montgomery’s study must rank among the finest scholarly works on classical Arabic literature ever to have appeared in any language. I would in fact consider it to be the best I have come across.’

‘Montgomery’s book is not only a work of great scholarship. Between the lines the reader can sense the story of an intense, long and deeply personal quest. It is that of a modern, Western intellect undertaking everything in its power to encounter, comprehend and elucidate one of the most complex and creative minds of the Islamic Middle Ages. The resulting sense of drama informs the writing on every page and turns the book into a human document of the first order.’

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1 Physiognomy of an Apocalyptic Age
1.1 Cataclysm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
1.2 Eristics and Salvation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
1.3 A Self-chronicling Society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Part 2 The Book of Living
2.1 The Totalising Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
2.2 The Treatise as Totality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
2.3 Parsing Totality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
2.4 The Articulation of The Book of Living Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
2.5 Analogues? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Part 3 The Jāḥiẓian Library Under Attack
3.1 Introducing the ‘Introduction’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
3.2 Translation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
3.3 Commentary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
3.4 The Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
Part 4 The salvific book
4.1 Biobibliographies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
4.2 The Form of the ‘Introduction’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
4.3 The Enigma of the Addressee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
4.4 Invective Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
4.5 The Cohesiveness of Society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256
4.6 An Encyclopaedia to Save Society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Part 5 The architecture of design
5.1 Governance of the Cosmos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
5.2 The Grateful Response, 1 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
5.3 The Grateful Response, 2 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333
5.4 Obliquity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
Part 6 Appreciating design
6.1 An Eristical Contest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391
6.2 Translation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	394
6.3 The Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	418
6.4 Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	423
Postface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	427
Appendix: The Praise of Books Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	430
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	470
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	534
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	571

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 592
Keywords: Islamic Studies

eBook

Published: November 13, 2013
ISBN: 9780748683338