The Reader in Al-Jahiz: The Epistolary Rhetoric of an Arabic Prose Master Contributor(s): Hefter, Thomas (Author) |
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ISBN: 0748692746 ISBN-13: 9780748692743 Publisher: Edinburgh University Press OUR PRICE: $114.00 Product Type: Hardcover Published: May 2014 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Middle Eastern - Literary Criticism | Books & Reading - Religion | Islam - General |
Dewey: 892.7 |
Series: Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6" W x 9.3" (1.35 lbs) 288 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Middle East - Religious Orientation - Islamic |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher 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. |