Desert Travel as a Form of Boasting: A Study of Du R-Rumma's Poetry (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9783447061124)

Boasting about one's travels through the desert was a very common topic of self-praise in early Arabic poetry (ca. 500-750). Desert crossing would attest to a man's character, providing evidence of his valour, stamina, industriousness and ambition. The book focuses on desert travel as a self-praise theme in early Arabic poetry and especially in the work of the Umayyad poet Dur-Rumma (ca. 695-735), one of the last great exponents of the Bedouin poetic tradition. It discusses the various motifs associated with desert travel in Dur-Rumma and traces their antecedents in the work of earlier poets. By analyzing the diachronic development of the travel theme and evaluating its place within the poem as a whole, it challenges the widespread view of the Arabic ode (qasida) as a tripartite composition and contributes to a better understanding of early Arabic poetics. For despite the fact that desert travel was a central theme of early poetry, it has never been studied in detail and its purport as a theme of self-praise has not been generally recognized.

Author: Nefeli Papoutsakis
ISBN-10: 344706112X
ISBN-13: 9783447061124
Publisher: Harrassowitz
Language: English
Published: 12/01/2009
Pages: 169
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.60w x 0.50d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2010 pg. 245