Overview

Arabic folk literature is a territory long neglected, and therefore still largely unexplored. This book represents the first full-length study in any language (including Arabic) of a genre hardly known in the West, and yet rich in surprises. The author, an academic Arabist who has resided in Egypt for a quarter of a century, has the intimate knowledge of colloquial Arabic needed to deal with material which not only contains linguistic elements unrecorded in any reference work, but also abounds in elaborate puns. In providing not so much an interpretation as an accurate and economical record of facts and direct observations, the book will be of use to more than just linguists and literary historians; folklorists will encounter here a living, many-faceted, and fast changing art, and social scientists will acquire insights into a society whose practices and priorities are seldom reflected in the literature of the élite. In fact, the greater part of the book consists of integral texts, meticulously transcribed and translated, ranging from erotic tales to accounts of contemporary deeds of violence. One of its significant aspects lies in showing how few of the modernistic values of the educated Egyptian élite have percolated to the masses, and how questionable it is to take the literature of this élite as the main indicator of cultural change.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pierre Cachia (Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, Columbia University, New York)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Clarendon Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.50cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 22.40cm
Weight:   0.632kg
ISBN:  

9780198265450

ISBN 10:   019826545
Pages:   384
Publication Date:   09 February 1989
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Transcription of colloquial Arabic texts. Part 1 A survey: popular literature - a tentative survey; facts - the beginnings and outlets of the narrative ballad; facts - themes and forms; facts - balladmongers; inferences - composition and transmission; linguistic and literary characteristics; underlying social values; lines of demarcation; concluding generalizations. Appendix: a musicologist's description of three narrative ballads. Part 2 An anthology: an erotic tale - In Izbikiyya ; a fable - The Snare and the Sparrow ; Muslim scriptural stories - The Story of God's Prophet Adam, on whom be Peace , The Lady Mary ; a Christian scriptural story - O Radiant Night ; an Islamic legend - The Story of the Beduin or The Camel's Utterance ; a Muslim saint - Ghareeb ; a Christian saint - St George the Roman ; a political event - Danshaway I and II ; a contemporary event - The New Era ; honour crimes - Mitwalli , The Girgawi Affair , Hasan and Naeema . Glossary. Bibliography. Index.

Reviews

An important and readable resource for critics of comparative literature, Arabic studies, and popular culture, as well as for anthropologists and folklorists. Recommended for graduate and undergraduate libraries. --Choice<br>

'well-produced book ... a pioneer study, in that it publishes hitherto unknown material in colloquial Egyptian Arabic' H.T. Norris, SOAS Bulletin 'Professor Cachia's perceptions can always be counted on to blaze new trails ... Cachia's work is the most extensive and the most competent on the Egyptian ballad that we have.' Jareer Aby-Haidar, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

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