God's banquet : food in classical Arabic literature Geert Jan van Gelder

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gelder, G. J. H. van.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food in literature.

Gastronomy in literature.

Arabic literature--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

vii, 178 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, ©2000.

Summary:

"Geert Jan van Gelder's God's Banquet surveys the many and varied ways in which food appears in classical Arabic literature, including pre-Islamic poetry, the Koran, Islamic poetry and tales, the Thousand and One Nights, and popular genres such as the adab-anthologies and satires. Focusing more on dishes than foodstuffs, on concoctions rather than ingredients, van Gelder is concerned with how food is depicted, as well as how literary texts are shaped by the theme of food." "God's Banquet also investigates the representations of stereotypical diets to distinguish different types of people - contrasting, for examples, Sufis and Bedouins, princes and peasants, aesthetes and "women of easy virtue." More unusual subjects, such as the roles of various dishes in dream interpretation, as well as the idea of the text itself as a sort of banquet, also receive witty and lucid treatment in van Gelder's expert hands."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

Early Poetry: Feeding as Good Breeding

Food and Glory

The Qasida or 'Ode'

The Qit'a or Short Poem

Eating and the New Ethos

From Generously Abstaining to Pious Abstinence

Satiety and Sin

Adab, or the Text as a Banquet

Adab Anthologies

Dishes and Discourse: Food in Narrative and Poetry

Food and Filth in al-Azdi's A Day in the Life of Abu l-Qasim

Food for Satire and Parody

Cacophagy

Ibn Sudun's Sweet Nothings

Warring Edibles, High and Low: Ibn al-Hajjar's Delectable War

From Faludhaj to Ful: Different Food for Different People

Peasant Fare: al-Shirbini's The Nodding Noddles

Alimentary Metaphors

Two Good Things: Food and Sex

Dreams Sweet and Savoury

Texts and Tastes.

Notes:

Published simultaneously in the United Kingdom by Curzon under title: Of dishes and discourse.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 156-169) and index.

Local Notes:

HSP Historic Culinary Arts Collection.

Other Format:

Online version: Gelder, G.J.H. van. God's banquet.

ISBN:

0231119488

9780231119481

OCLC:

41612372