10:30am-12:00pm on Saturday 22 March
Times shown are in GMT (UTC +0) up to the 26th March. For events on or after 27th March times are in BST (UTC +1).
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA
The Maqamat of al-Hariri is a series of fifty tales that follow the travels of the protagonist, Abu Zayd. With eloquent mastery and command of the Arabic language, Abu Zayd is able to both captivate and deceive his audiences—from ministers and judges, to merchants and farmers.
This celebrated copy, lavishly illustrated by al-Wasiti, represents the artistic and literary achievements of the time and highlights the social and intellectual environment of premodern Iraq and the Arab world.
This session will highlight two important elements of the manuscript: the text and the paintings. Composed using rhyming prose, palindromes, lipograms and other verbal puns and riddles, the Maqamat genre became popular in the premodern period (and beyond) by showcasing the linguistic virtuosity of the Arabic language. The popularity of the text also gave rise to large and illustrated copies of the Maqamat of al-Hariri, as in the copy at the CUL.
Participants will be introduced to this genre through a short talk. They will also listen to the recitation of some of the stories, both in Arabic (used in the original text) and in English (through a recent translation by Michael Cooperson). In addition to providing a window into medieval Arab urban and social life, the manuscript and its large-scale paintings were also an invitation for the public to come together to appreciate and enjoy the stories.
