A Translation and Critical Study of Ten Pre-Islamic Odes: Traces in the Sand
| Author: | Nouryeh, Christopher | |
| Year: | 1993 | |
| Pages: | 264 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-9319-0 978-0-7734-9319-3 | |
| Price: | $199.95 + shipping | |
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This book unveils the unique event of pre-Islamic poetry. It shows how personal ethics which is also an esthetics inaugurate Arabic cultural heritage free of outside moral authority or discipline. Here, among a group of poets, one discovers the roots of that heritage.
Reviews
"It is clear that Dr. Nouryeh's purpose in writing this manuscript is to undermine the dehumanizing image in which the pre-Islamic Arab, and by extension, the modern Arab is cast. To do so, he appeals to multicultural understanding, by highlighting the living reality of pre-Islamic culture, the singularity of the pre-Islamic event and by attempting, successfully, I believe, to present the pre-Islamic poet as an artist re-creating himself through art. With this purpose in mind, one can appreciate Dr. Nouryeh's appeal to metaphysics, ideology and moral authority in his introductions and notes. Likewise, the translations . . . are intended to be accessible to the general western reader, not necessarily the pre-Islamic scholar." - Adnan Haydar