Looking Back at Al-Andalus: The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Literature (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 34)

Through an examination of a variety of literary genres composed in Arabic and Hebrew, this book examines the literary definition of al-Andalus by taking into account the role of memory, language, and literary convention in analyses of texts composed following cultural and political challenges to Arab hegemony in the Iberian Peninsula.

Looking Back at al-Andalus focuses on Arabic and Hebrew Literature that expresses the loss of al-Andalus from multiple vantage points. In doing so, this book examines the definition of al-Andalus’ literary borders, the reconstruction of which navigates between traditional generic formulations and actual political, military and cultural challenges. By looking at a variety of genres, the book shows that literature aiming to recall and define al-Andalus expresses a series of symbolic literary objects more than a geographic and political entity fixed in a single time and place. Looking Back at al-Andalus offers a unique examination into the role of memory, language, and subjectivity in presenting a series of interpretations of what al-Andalus represented to different writers at different historical-cultural moments.

"Looking back at al-Andalus focuses on Arabic and Hebrew literature that expresses the loss of al-Andalus from multiple vantage points. In doing so, this book examines the definition of al-Andalus' literary borders, the reconstruction of which navigates between traditional generic formulations and actual political, military and cultural challenges. By looking at a variety of genres, the book shows that literature aiming to recall and define al-Andalus expresses a series of symbolic literary objects more than a geographic and political entity fixed in a single time and place. This volume offers a unique examination into the role of memory, language, and subjectivity in presenting a series of interpretations of what al-Andalus represented to different writers at different historical-cultural moments." --Book Jacket Contents Acknowledgements Introduction The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia in Muslim Spain Chapter One Written in Stone: the Andalusï rithä' al-mudun in the Arabic Elegiac Tradition Chapter Two Weeping over the Poetic Past: Poetry into Prose in al-Saraqustï's Qayrawan Maqäma Chapter Three Al-Andalus and Sefarad in the Hebrew Qasïda Chapter Four The View from al-Andalus: Looking East, West, and South for Andalusï Identity Conclusion A Final Look Back Appendix Select Arabic and Hebrew Texts Works Cited Index The poetics of loss and nostalgia in Muslim Spain Written in stone : the Andalusi ritha' al-mudun in the Arabic elegiac tradition Weeping over the poetic past: poetry into prose in al-Saraqusti's Qayrawan maqama Al-Andalus and Sefarad in the Hebrew qasida The view from al-Andalus : looking east, west, and south for Andalusi identity A final look back Select Arabic and Hebrew texts.