Routledge Curzon Studies in Middle-Eastern Literatures is a monograph series devoted to aspects of the literatures of the Near and Middle East and North Africa both modern and pre-modern. It is hoped that the provision of such a forum will lead to a greater emphasis on the comparative study of the literatures of this area, although studies devoted to one literary or linguistic region are warmly encouraged. It is the editors' objective to foster the comparative and multi-disciplinary investigation of the written and oral literary products of this area.
By Geert Jan van Gelder
March 08, 2011
Considers how Arab and Islamic culinary culture may be represented in literary forms. Scholars of the medieval Islamic period are keenly aware of the importance of food and wine as themes in literature. Van Gelder's witty and subtle approach teases the most out of texts as well as enabling the ...
By Beatrice Gruendler
October 06, 2010
This book gives an insight into panegyrics, a genre central to understanding medieval Near Eastern Society. Poets in this multi-ethnic society would address the majority of their verse to rulers, generals, officials, and the urban upper classes, its tone ranging from celebration to reprimand and ...
By Eva Sallis
January 13, 2011
The Thousand and One Nights was reborn into an alien environment in 1704, its signs being received in a radically different way from their original meanings. Works of literature change as people and cultures who read them change. This study explores the Nights with reference to this view of ...
By Ibrahim Taha
September 30, 2010
Examines the complex relationship between the reality of the Palestinian minority in Israel and their literature through six novels, according to a literary communication model which enables Dr Taha to examine how authors who belong to this minority relate to their readers....
By Deborah Starr
February 13, 2013
Remembering Cosmopolitan Egypt examines the link between cosmopolitanism in Egypt, from the nineteenth century through to the mid-twentieth century, and colonialism. While it has been widely noted that such a relationship exists, the nature and impact of this dynamic is often overlooked. Taking a ...
Edited
By Glenda Abramson, Hilary Kilpatrick
January 13, 2011
This collection brings together discussions of the way in which Muslim and Jewish beliefs and practices are represented in modern literary texts of poetry, fiction and drama. The chapters collected here consider elements of the expression of Judaism and Islam in modern literature. Key topics ...
By Shawkat M. Toorawa
October 06, 2010
Toorawa re-evaluates the literary history and landscape of third to ninth century Baghdad by demonstrating and emphasizing the significance of the important transition from a predominantly oral-aural culture to an increasingly literate one. This transformation had a profound influence on...
By Hilary Kilpatrick
October 06, 2010
This is the first systematic literary study of one of the masterpieces of classical Arabic literature, the fourth/tenth century Kitâb al-aghânî (The Book of Songs) by Abû I-Faraj al-Isbahânî. Until now the twenty-four volume Book of Songs has been regarded as a rather chaotic but priceless mine of ...
By Samah Selim
October 06, 2010
The book locates questions of languages, genre, textuality and canonicity within a historical and theoretical framework that foregrounds the emergence of modern nationalism in Egypt. The ways in which the cultural discourses produced by twentieth century Egyptian nationalism created a space ...
By Kamran Rastegar
August 25, 2010
Providing a broad ranging and unique comparative study of the development of English, Persian and Arabic literature, this book looks at their interrelations with specific reference to modernity, nationalism and social value. It gives a strong theoretical underpinning to the development of Middle ...
By Elisabeth Kendall
August 25, 2010
The author explores the role of journalism in Egypt in effecting and promoting the development of modern Arabic literature from its inception in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. Remapping the literary scene in Egypt over recent decades, Kendall focuses on the ...
By Cynthia Robinson
August 25, 2010
Medieval Andalusian Courtly Culture discusses the unicum manuscript of the Hadîth Bayâd wa Riyâd, the only illustrated manuscript known to have survived for more than eight centuries of Muslim and Arabic-speaking presence in present-day Spain. The manuscript is of paramount importance as it ...