Abu Nuwas

A Genius of Poetry

Philip F. Kennedy

• Publisher: Oneworld Academic
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN:
  9781780741888
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Religions

This is the first book to present the life, times and poetry of one of the greatest poets in the Arab tradition, Abu Nuwas. Author Philip Kennedy provides the narrative of Abu Nuwas's fascinating life, which was full of intrigue and debauched adventure, in parallel with the presentation of his greatest poems, across all genres, in easy and accessible translations, giving commentary where needed.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Dedication and Copyright page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 “DANGLING LOCKS AND BABEL EYES” – A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ABU NUWAS (c. 757–814)
• Background and origins
• Education
• Love for Janan
• The Move to Baghdad
• The “Modern” Poet
• Sexuality
• Character and Temperament
• Prison
• Sojourn in Egypt
• Death and Afterlife
• 2 “LOVE, WINE, SODOMY ... AND THE LASH” – THE LYRIC POETRY OF ABU NUWAS
• Erotic Poetry
• Two Traditions of Love Poetry – A Sketch
• A Digest of Idealized Love
• Inching towards Frivolity and Lust
• The Psychology of Master and Servant
• Turning the Tables
• Pandering (to) Satan
• Fear of Women and Other Anxieties
• Seduction and Rape
• Writing (and) Letters
• Christian Boys
• Wine Poetry
• Beloved Wine
• Failed Cross-Wooing and an Orgy
• Two Views of Time
• “Whose are the Remnants...?”
• Trumping the Theologian
• Dialogue with a Jewish Taverner
• Numinous Wine
• Jonah Comes Out of the Whale
• 3 “THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY” – ON PANEGYRIC AND SATIRE
• The Panegyric
• A. Formal and Sober
• B. Less Formal and Less Sober
• C. Occasional and Miscellaneous Eulogy
• “Pens Dipped in Bitter Gall” – Satire
• Bread and Bereavement
• The Politics of State and al-Amin
• Spite and Sacrilege
• Tasteless Ja‘far the Barmecide
• The Alchemist and Phony Genealogies
• Isma‘il ibn Abi Sahl
• The Stolen Member
• Quack Philosopher of Egypt
• Onanist Job
• A Prison Consultation
• Servants and Singing Girls
• Fatal Provocation?
• 4 SOME HUNTING POEMS AND A GAME OF POLO
• A Saluki Hound
• The Cheetah
• Elegy for a Hound
• The Polo Match
• 5 “POETRY FOR MORTALS AND THE DEAD” – ON THE ASCETIC POEM AND THE ELEGY
• The Ascetic Poem
• A Righteous Dowry
• Man’s Mortal Genealogy
• The Danger of Empty Talk
• Eloquent Simplicity
• Sound and Meaning
• The Permanent Ink of the Angels
• The Elegy
• For Harun al-Rashid (d. 809)
• For Muhammad ibn Zubayda “al-Amin” (d. 813)
• For the Barmecides
• Fragment for His Son
• For Waliba ibn al-Hubab
• For a Sick Friend
• For Himself
• An Afterword – “Walk the Even Path with Me ...”
• Bibliography
• Index