The Reader in al-Jahiz : The Epistolary Rhetoric of an Arabic Prose Master (Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature)

Hefter, Thomas

Edinburgh University Press（2026/05発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 288 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781399565080
• DDC分類 892.783408

Full Description

The 9th-century essayist, theologian and encyclopaedist 'Amr b. Baḥr al-Jāḥiẓ has long been acknowledged as a master of early Arabic prose writing. Many of his most engaging writings were clearly intended for a broad readership but were presented as presented as letters to individuals. Despite the importance and quantity of these letters, surprisingly little academic notice has been paid to them. Now, Thomas Hefter takes a new approach in interpreting some of al-Jāḥiẓ's 'epistolary monographs'. By focussing on the varying ways in which he wrote to the addressee, Hefter shows how al-Jāḥiẓ shaped his conversations on the page in order to guide (or manipulate) his actual readers and encourage them to engage with his complex materials.

Contents

Introduction

The Addressee and the Occasion of Writing
Epistolary Confrontations and Dialectics of Parody
Undisclosed Origins and Homelands
Faulting Misers in the Introduction of Kitāb al-Bukhalā
Passive Addressee and Critical Reader in the Ab al-/Ibn al-Tawam Debate

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index