The anthologist's art : Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī and his Yatīmat al-dahr /

Why did premodern authors in the Arabic-Islamic culture compile literary anthologies, and why were these works remarkably popular? How can an anthology that consists of reproduced material be original and creative, and serve various literary and political ends? How did anthologists select their mate...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Urfahʹlī, Bilāl (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2016]
Series:Brill studies in Middle Eastern literatures ; v. 37.
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Online Access:CONNECT
Description
Summary:Why did premodern authors in the Arabic-Islamic culture compile literary anthologies, and why were these works remarkably popular? How can an anthology that consists of reproduced material be original and creative, and serve various literary and political ends? How did anthologists select their material, then record and arrange it? This book examines the life and works of Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī (350-429/961-1039), an eminent anthologist from Nīshāpūr, paying special attention to his magnum opus, Yatīmat al-dahr (The Unique Pearl), and its sequel, Tatimmat al-Yatīma (The Completion of the Yatīma). This book is a direct window on to an anthologist's workshop in the second half of the fourth/tenth century. It examines the methodological consciousness expressed in Thaʿālibī's selection and arrangement, and his sophisticated system of internal references and cross-references to other works; how he selected from his contemporaries' oeuvres; how he sought, recorded, memorized, misplaced, and sometimes lost or forgot his selections; how he scrutinized the authenticity of material, accepting, questioning, or rejecting its attribution; and the errors and inconsistencies that resulted from this process.
Item Description:Based on the author's thesis (doctoral, Yale University, 2009), issued under title: The art of anthology : al-Thaʻālibī and his Yatīmat al-dahr.
EBSCO eBook Academic Comprehensive Collection North America
Physical Description:1 online resource (xix, 271 pages) : illustrations (some color).
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-256) and index.
ISBN:9789004317352
900431735X
ISSN:1571-5183 ;