Writing the Twilight The Arabic Poetics of Ageing in Medieval Sicily and al-Andalus

Writing the Twilight The Arabic Poetics of Ageing in Medieval Sicily and al-Andalus Nicola Carpentieri Pages: x + 190 p. Size:156 x 234 mm Language(s):English, Arabic Publication Year:2023 Buy print version ? 70,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE ISBN: 978-2-503-60053-6 Hardback Available SUBJECT(S) Semitic langs & lits Literature: history & criticism Medieval literature (general or comparative) Italian Peninsula (c. 500-1500) Iberian Peninsula (c. 500-1500) BIO Nicola Carpentieri graduated summa sum laude from Ca' Foscari University and obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2012. He is the author of over 60 titles between peer-reviewed articles, edited volumes, scholarly editions and book reviews. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, and has been an invited speaker at prestigious venues such as Harvard, Brown and Humboldt university. He currently works at the University of Padova, Italy. SUMMARY In the eleventh century, as Muslim sovereignty in the Western Mediterranean was eroded by both internal divisions and external attacks, Sicily fell to the Normans. At the same time, al-Andalus fragmented into a series of small kingdoms that were then picked off by powerful conquerors. Against this backdrop, Arabic poets made use of their craft to try and explain the changes in their world. Among them were the Andalusian Abu Ishaq and the Sicilian Ibn Hamdis, both of whom wrote vividly about their own ageing and mortality, as well as about the broader twilight of the worlds they knew. Taking these two protagonists as its starting point, this extraordinary volume explores how Abu Ishaq and Ibn Hamdis, despite their different locations, both made use of poetry. For them, it was a tool to confront their mortality, lament their own physical decay, and appeal to their age and experience, as well as a way of juxtaposing their concerns with the political and social dismemberment of their wider societies and the need for a restoration of world order. The result is also a broader discussion of the relationship between poetry and politics in Maghribi Islam, and a reminder of poetry's importance as a medium to engage with the world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction. A Poetics of Ageing Chapter One. The Twilight of Arabo-Muslim Hegemony in the West: The Rise of Abu Ish?aq and Ibn ?amdis as Political Poets Chapter Two. The Poetics of Ageing: Al-Shayb wa-l-shabab as a Poetic Motif Chapter Three. A Poetics of Loss: The Elegies Chapter Four. The Poetics of Withdrawal: Ascetic Verse Conclusion Bibliography Indices Language : english and arabic text