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A Sea of Languages: Rethinking the Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History

Edited by Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Karla Mallette

© 2013

Medieval European literature was once thought to have been isolationist in its nature, but recent scholarship has revealed the ways in which Spanish and Italian authors – including Cervantes and Marco Polo – were influenced by Arabic poetry, music, and philosophy.  A Sea of Languages brings together some of the most influential scholars working in Muslim-Christian-Jewish cultural communications today to discuss the convergence of the literary, social, and economic histories of the medieval Mediterranean.

This volume takes as a starting point María Rosa Menocal's groundbreaking work The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, a major catalyst in the reconsideration of prevailing assumptions regarding the insularity of medieval European literature. Reframing ongoing debates within literary studies in dynamic new ways, A Sea of Languages will become a critical resource and reference point for a new generation of scholars and students on the intersection of Arabic and European literature.

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Product Details

  • World Rights
  • Page Count: 328 pages
  • Dimensions: 6.3in x 1.0in x 9.3in
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SKU# SP003505

  • PUBLISHED JUL 2013

    From: $60.00

    Regular Price: $80.00

    ISBN 9780802098689
  • PUBLISHED DEC 2013

    From: $60.00

    Regular Price: $80.00

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Quick Overview

Reframing ongoing debates within literary studies in dynamic new ways, A Sea of Languages will become a critical resource and reference point for a new generation of

scholars and students on the intersection of Arabic and European literature.

A Sea of Languages: Rethinking the Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History

Edited by Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Karla Mallette

© 2013

Medieval European literature was once thought to have been isolationist in its nature, but recent scholarship has revealed the ways in which Spanish and Italian authors – including Cervantes and Marco Polo – were influenced by Arabic poetry, music, and philosophy.  A Sea of Languages brings together some of the most influential scholars working in Muslim-Christian-Jewish cultural communications today to discuss the convergence of the literary, social, and economic histories of the medieval Mediterranean.

This volume takes as a starting point María Rosa Menocal's groundbreaking work The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, a major catalyst in the reconsideration of prevailing assumptions regarding the insularity of medieval European literature. Reframing ongoing debates within literary studies in dynamic new ways, A Sea of Languages will become a critical resource and reference point for a new generation of scholars and students on the intersection of Arabic and European literature.

Continue Reading Read Less

Product Details

  • World Rights
  • Page Count: 328 pages
  • Dimensions: 6.3in x 1.0in x 9.3in

  • Reviews

    “A Sea of Languages is an important scholarly intervention, bringing together brilliant recent work in a fascinating field to model how future methodologies and areas of study might profitably be nurtured. Featuring contributions from prominent scholars who command respect within and across their fields, it is a magisterial and well-unified collection without peer in the field of Mediterranean Studies.”


    Christine Chism, Department of English, University of California, Los Angeles

    “A serious advance in a burgeoning field, A Sea of Languages offers a wonderful array of approaches to address a major topic: the Arabic presence in medieval literary and cultural history. This excellent volume will be a touchstone in the field and a valuable collection for both scholars and students.”


    Martin G. Eisner, Department of Romance Studies, Duke University

  • Author Information

    Suzanne Conklin Akbari is a professor in the Department of English and the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto.



    Karla Mallette is an associate professor in the Departments of Italian and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan.

  • Table of contents

    In Memoriam

    Acknowledgments

    1 Introduction: The Persistence of Philology: Language and Connectivity in the Mediterranean
    SUZANNE CONKLIN AKBARI

    Part One: Philology in the Mediterranean

    2 Beyond Philology: Cross-Cultural Engagement in Literary History and Beyond
    SHARON KINOSHITA

    3 Linguistic Difference, the Philology of Romance, and the Romance of Philology
    SIMON GAUNT

    4 Forging New Paradigms: Towards a History of Islamo-Christian Civilization
    JOHN TOLAN

    5 Reflections on Muslim Hebraism: Codex Vindobonensis Palatinus and al-Biqa‘i
    WALID A. SALEH

    6 “Mixing the East with the West”: Cosmopolitan Philology in Richard Burton’s Translations from Camões
    PAULO LEMOS HORTA

    7 Reading Backward: The 1001 Nights and Philological Practice
    KARLA MALLETTE

    Part Two: The Cosmopolitan Frontier: Andalusi Case Studies

    8 Andalusi “Exceptionalism”
    ROSS BRANN

    9 The Convivencia Wars: Decoding Historiography’s Polemic with Philology
    RYAN SZPIECH

    10 “In One of My Body’s Gardens”: Hearts in Transformation in Late Medieval Iberian Passion Devotions
    CYNTHIA ROBINSON

    11 Arab Musical Influence on Medieval Europe: A Reassessment
    DWIGHT REYNOLDS

    12 Sicilian Poets in Seville: Literary Affinities across Political Boundaries
    WILLIAM GRANARA

    13 Vidal Benvenist’s Efer ve-Dinah between Hebrew and Romance
    DAVID A. WACKS

    14 The Shadow of Islam in Cervantes’s “El Licenciado Vidriera”
    LEYLA ROUHI

    15 “The Finest Flowering”: Poetry, History, and Medieval Spain in the Twenty-First Century
    MARÍA ROSA MENOCAL

    16 Boustrophedon: Towards a Literary Theory of the Mediterranean
    KARLA MALLETTE

    Bibliography

    Contributors

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