Al-Jahiz: In Praise of Books Contributor(s): Montgomery, James E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0748683321 ISBN-13: 9780748683321 Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions Published: November 2013 Click for more in this series: Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature Eup |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Middle Eastern - Literary Criticism | African - Religion | Islam - General |
Dewey: 892.709 |
Series: Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature Eup |
Physical Information: 1.6" H x 6.2" W x 9.4" L (2.45 lbs) 592 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Middle East |
Features: Bibliography, Index |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Edinburgh University Press will publish two self-contained guides to reading al-Jahiz that also shed light on his society and its writings. This first volume, 'In Praise of Books', is devoted to bibliomania and al-Jahiz's bibliophilia. Volume 2, In Censure of Books, explores Al-Jahiz's bibliophobia. Al-Jahiz 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. |
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