Interpreting the Self

Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition

Dwight F. Reynolds

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520226678
• eBook ISBN: 9780520926110
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Autobiography is a literary genre which Western scholarship has ascribed mostly to Europe and the West. Countering this assessment and presenting many little-known texts, this comprehensive work demonstrates the existence of a flourishing tradition in Arabic autobiography. Interpreting the Self discusses nearly one hundred Arabic autobiographical texts and presents thirteen selections in translation. The authors of these autobiographies represent an astonishing variety of geographical areas, occupations, and religious affiliations. This pioneering study explores the origins, historical development, and distinctive characteristics of autobiography in the Arabic tradition, drawing from texts written between the ninth and nineteenth centuries c.e. This volume consists of two parts: a general study rethinking the place of autobiography in the Arabic tradition, and the translated texts. Part one demonstrates that there are far more Arabic autobiographical texts than previously recognized by modern scholars and shows that these texts represent an established and—especially in the Middle Ages—well-known category of literary production. The thirteen translated texts in part two are drawn from the full one-thousand-year period covered by this survey and represent a variety of styles. Each text is preceded by a brief introduction guiding the reader to specific features in the text and providing general background information about the author. The volume also contains an annotated bibliography of 130 premodern Arabic autobiographical texts. In addition to presenting much little-known material, this volume revisits current understandings of autobiographical writing and helps create an important cross-cultural comparative framework for studying the genre.
Autobiography is a literary genre which Western scholarship has ascribed mostly to Europe and the West. Countering this assessment and presenting many little-known texts, this comprehensive work demonstrates the existence of a flourishing tradition in Ara

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS 10
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Introduction
• PART 1 A Thousand Years of Arabic Autobiography
• CHAPTER ONE The Fallacy of Western Origins
• CHAPTER TWO The Origins of Arabic Autobiography
• CHAPTER THREE Toward a History of Arabic Autobiography
• CHAPTER FOUR Arabic Autobiography and the Literary Portrayal of the Self
• PART TWO Translations
• The Autobiography of Hunayn ibn Ishaq
• Epistle on the Trials and Tribulations Which Befell Hunayn ibn Ishaq [ʿUyun, pp. 257-74]
• The Autobiography of al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi
• The Beginning of the Career of Abi ‘Abd Allah [the Sage of Tirmidh] [Khatm al-awliya, pp. 14-32]
• The Autobiography of al-Mu’ayyad fi al-Din Hibat Allah al-Shirazi
• The End of Ramadan [Sirat al-Muayyad, pp. 5-11]
• The Autobiography of al-Tmad al-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani
• The Pen and the Sword
• The Autobiography of ‘Abd al-Laf al-Baghdd
• Selections from the Autograph Notes of ‘Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi
• The Autobiography of Ibn al-Adim
• 'Umar ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Jarada, known as Ibn al-'Adim
• The Autobiography of Abu Shama
• The Life of Abu Shama
• The Autobiography of 'Ala al-Dawla al-Simnn
• Finding the Straight Path [al-Urwa, pp. 396-400]
• The Autobiography of Fray Anselmo Turmeda, ‘Abd Allah al-Turjuman
• A Unique Find for the Intelligent Mind ʿTuhfat al-adib, pp. 27-39]
• The Autobiography of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
• Chapter 17 On How God Blessed Me by Setting Enemies Against Me to Harm Me and Tested Me with the False Accusations of an Ignoramus, as Has Also Happened to Our Forefathers
• The Autobiography of al-Aydars
• The Life of al'Aydarus
• The Autobiography of Yusuf al-Bahrn
• An Account of the Life of the Author and the Events That Have Befallen Him
• The Autobiography of ‘All Mubarak
• The Childhood of ‘Al Mubarak
• Conclusion
• AN ANNOTATED GUIDE TO ARABIC AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS (NINTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURIES C.E.)
• GLOSSARY
• REFERENCES
• CONTRIBUTORS
• INDEX