Mar 21 Public Lecture: Adam Talib (American University, Cairo)

Adam Talib, Assistant Professor of classical Arabic literature, American University Cairo

presents a lecture:

How do you say “Epigram” in Arabic?

Monday, March 21, 4:00 p.m.  ~~ 6 Divinity Avenue, room 201

The qaṣīdah and the qiṭʿah are well known to all scholars and students of classical Arabic literature, but the maqṭūʿ, a form of classical Arabic poetry that emerged in the thirteenth century and soon became ubiquitous, is as obscure today as it was once popular. This literary-historical lacuna is an occasion for us to consider how categories of world literature are applied to the classical Arabic literary tradition and to confront the larger question of generic commensurability.