Arabian Satire : Poetry from 18th-Century Najd / Ḥmēdān al-Shwēʿir; Marcel Kurpershoek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

al-Shwēʿir, Ḥmēdān, Author.

Contributor:

Kurpershoek, Marcel, Editor.

Series:

Library of Arabic literature.

Library of Arabic Literature ; 49

Language:

Arabic

English

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 pages).

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : New York University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English and Arabic.

Summary:

This lively volume collects poems by Hmedan al-Shwe'ir, who lived in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula shortly before the hegemony of the Wahhabi movement in the early 18th century.A master of satire known for his ribald humor, self-deprecation, and invective verse (hija), Hmedan was acerbic in his criticisms of society and its morals, voiced in in a poetic idiom that is widely referred to as “Nabati,” here a mix of Najdi vernacular and archaic vocabulary and images dating back to the origins of Arabic poetry. In Arabian Satire, Hmedan is mostly concerned with worldly matters, and addresses these in different guises: as the patriarch at the helm of the family boat and its unruly crew; as a picaresque anti-hero who revels in taking potshots at the established order, its hypocrisy, and its moral failings; as a peasant who labors over his palm trees, often to no avail and with no guarantee of success; and as a poet recording in verse how he thinks things ought to be.The poems in Arabian Satire reveal a plucky, headstrong, yet intensely socially committed figure—representative of the traditional Najdi ethos—who infuses his verse with proverbs, maxims, and words of wisdom expressed plainly and conversationally. Hmedan is accordingly "ed by historians of the Gulf region and in anthologies of popular sayings. This is the first full translation of this remarkable poet.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Letter from the General Editor

Table of Contents

Introduction

Map: Northeastern Arabia

Map: Central Najd around Sudayr and al-Washm

Note on the Text

Notes to the Introduction

Arabian Satire

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index of Poems, Editions, and Manuscripts Used for this Edition

Index

About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

About the Typefaces

Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature

About the Editor–Translator

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jun 2020)

ISBN:

9781479811199

147981119X

OCLC:

1132222751