[Andalusi Studies] New volume by OUP: Arabic, Persian, and Turkic Poetics: Towards a Post-Eurocentric Literary Theory

[Hany Rashwan]

Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope this message finds you and your loved ones in good health.

I am thrilled to announce the publication of a volume that bridges the
primary lingua franca of the premodern Islamic world, titled Arabic,
Persian, and Turkic Poetics: Towards a Post-Eurocentric Literary Theory.
This work is based on a conference co-organized at AUB in 2017, culminating
in seven years of dedication, respect, and hard work. The chapters in this
volume are of outstanding quality, and I’m deeply grateful for all the
effort my colleagues have invested to reach this publication. I would also
like to thank Bilal Orfali and the late Professor Abdulrahim Abu-Husayn
(AUB) for their invaluable support during the original conference that
inspired this project.

Many thanks are also due to my co-editors, Rebecca Gould and Nasrin Askari,
for their hard work throughout the review and production process. Working
with them has been a pleasure; I know the contributors share this sentiment.

My sincere appreciation also goes to colleagues who provided thoughtful
endorsements for the volume: Huda Fakhreddine, Louise Marlow, Shawkat M.
Toorawa, Mohammad Salama, and Geert Jan van Gelder.

You can view the table of contents and purchase the volume through this
link:

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/arabic-persian-and-turkic-poetics-9780197267790?cc=ae&lang=en&#

I am attaching the cover and the table of contents for your consideration.
Please let me know if you need any paper, and I will do my best for you.

I wish you all the best in health, success, and happiness.

 Hany


“A generation ago it could still be written in an authoritative work on
comparative poetics that “Neither Arabic nor Persian literature has an
originative poetics per se. But they obviously establish a lyric tradition,
and the highly developed rhetorical studies seem to serve as surrogates for
poetics.” If one thinks that Aristotle’s Poetics and the traditional
western trinity of drama, lyric, and epic must apply universally, one does
not do justice to the Middle Eastern tradition. For Arabic, Persian, and
Ottoman Turkish literature a different set of standards is valid, and those
literatures must be studied on their own terms. This is done in the present
volume, the first of its kind: an excellent and coherent collection of
studies of literary theory and poetics in the premodern Islamic world,
where each language has a literary tradition with its own character, but
where central critical concepts are held in common.” (*Geert Jan van
Gelder, Laudian Professor of Arabic Emeritus, University of Oxford)*

“Arabic, Persian, and Turkish poetics are too often studied in isolation
from one another, or in the stifling shadow of European poetics and
European literary theory. This volume does the very opposite. It brings a
series of important studies—by a wide-ranging, international cadre of
scholars—of distinct and distinctive works from the Arabic, Persian, and
Turkish traditions into conversation *with each other*. And, by excavating
and foregrounding literary-theoretical terms native and inherent to Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish, it posits a literary theory that is both
post-Eurocentric and non-Eurocentric. This will be required reading for
anyone wishing to work within any of or across Arabic, Persian, and Turkish
literature and poetic.” (*Shawkat M. Toorawa, Professor of Arabic and
Comparative Literature, Yale University)*

“In a world where the literary dialogue has long been dominated by
Eurocentric perspectives, this volume emerges as a beacon of enlightenment,
daringly challenging the status quo and charting a revolutionary course in
the study of Islamic poetics. With unparalleled depth and an unyielding
commitment to the rich terminologies and concepts inherent to Arabic,
Persian, and Turkic literary traditions, the authors collectively herald a
new dawn for post-Eurocentric literary theory. This is not merely a book;
it is a clarion call to scholars, inviting them to venture beyond familiar
horizons and immerse themselves in the majestic and multifaceted realm of
Islamicate literary cultures. By resolutely placing indigenous poetics and
theoretical frameworks at the forefront, this volume paves the way for a
future of scholarship that honors the profound cultural distinctions of
these traditions, while boldly engaging with the wider world of literary
discourse. This volume, therefore, is not just groundbreaking— it is
indispensable for scholars, students, and enthusiasts aspiring to truly
comprehend Islamic poetics and champion a more inclusive and representative
global literary theory.” (*Mohammad Salama, Professor and Associate Dean of
Faculty, George Mason University)  *



“This volume launches from urgent questions in the field of comparative
literature: What does it mean to compare? Who compares? Why and when? It
highlights rich traditions of pre-modern comparative practices which
challenge the modernist, Eurocentric biases of the field. The volume also
transcends, through serious expert engagement with literature and theory in
Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, the chronic inferiority complex towards
Euro-American literary theory, which has for a long time kept these
literary traditions captive, framed by imposed Western theoretical
frameworks. These long, rich traditions have always theorized themselves,
offering pioneering insights into language, poetics, and rhetoric. The
groundbreaking work in this volume resets the entire field of comparative
literature, recognizing the urgency of studying the literature of the
Islamicate world on their own terms, not merely as passive subjects of
study but as active and significant participants in the so-called field of
World Literature and the study of the Humanities at large. The work here
announces the welcome advent of a post-Eurocentric, decolonized literary
and critical practice.” (*Huda Fakhreddine, Associate Professor of Arabic
Literature, University of Pennsylvania)*



“In this groundbreaking volume, the reader encounters a superb collection
of studies that detail and illuminate the distinctive characters of the
Arabic, Persian and Turkish literary traditions as well as the numerous and
subtle ways in which they have interacted with one another. With depth and
nuance, the thirteen chapters convey the integrity and logic of a wide
range of types of literary expression, with examples drawn from the tenth
to the twentieth centuries, in the three languages. In elucidating the
conceptual and aesthetic underpinnings of these varied modes of expression
in their own terms, the volume represents a pioneering and much needed
post-Eurocentric exploration of central literary categories of the Arabic,
Persian and Turkish traditions and elucidates what might be termed an
Islamicate comparative poetics – and thereby enriches the repertoire
available for developing a transnational and global literary theory.” (*Louise
Marlow, Professor of Religion, Wellesley College, USA) *


-- 

Best wishes,

Dr Hany Rashwan

Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature

United Arab Emirates University (UAEU)

Honorary Research Fellow

School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music

University of Birmingham (UoB)

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/HanyRashwan

https://bham.academia.edu/HanyRashwan

PhD in  Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS)

Languages & Cultures Faculty

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
University of London
SOAS, University of London, is a world-leading higher education institution
specializing in the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. It has a
unique focus combining both disciplinary and regional expertise with
language scholarship. Founded in 1916, with its first students enrolled in
1917, the School celebrated its Centenary in 2016-17.
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