Overview
The story of the 9th-century caliphal mission from Baghdad to discover the legendary barrier against the apocalyptic nations of Gog and Magog mentioned in the Quran, has been either dismissed as superstition or treated as historical fact. By exploring the intellectual and literary history surrounding the production and early reception of this adventure, Travis Zadeh traces the conceptualization of frontiers within early 'Abbasid society and re-evaluates the modern treatment of marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Islamic descriptions of the world. Examining the roles of translation, descriptive geography, and salvation history in the projection of early 'Abbasid imperial power, this book is essential for all those interested in Islamic studies, the 'Abbasid dynasty and its politics, geography, religion, Arabic and Persian literature and European Orientalism.
Full Product Details
Author: Travis Zadeh
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Tauris Academic Studies
Volume: v. 27
Dimensions:
Width: 13.80cm
, Height: 3.30cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.580kg
ISBN: 9781848854512
ISBN 10: 184885451
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 28 June 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
'[This] is a worthy and often brilliant discussion of the themes of wonder, translation from one medium to another and other major concepts in medieval Islamic writing - both in Persian and in Arabic.' - Roy Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History and Chair, Committee on Islamic Studies, Harvard University
'A worthy and often brilliant discussion of the themes of wonder, translation from one medium to another and other major concepts in medieval Islamic writing - both in Persian and in Arabic.' - Roy Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History and Chair, Committee on Islamic Studies, Harvard University
Author Information
Travis Zadeh is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Haverford College, Pennsylvania. He received his PhD from Harvard University in Comparative Literature (2007), and has published articles on Islamic intellectual and cultural history in the Journal of Arabic Literature, the Journal of Qur'anic Studies, Middle Eastern Literatures, and the Journal of the American Oriental Society. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Vernacular Qur'an: Translation and the Rise of Persian Exegesis (Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies), which examines early debates over translating the Qur'an and the development of Persian exegetical literature.
