Arabic-L:LIT:Ma'arri book identification responses

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 11 Dec 2002
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1) Subject:Ma'arri book identification response
2) Subject:Ma'arri book identification response
3) Subject:Ma'arri book identification response

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1)
Date:  11 Dec 2002
From: rallen at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
Subject:Ma'arri book identification response

There is an article on this work by Pieter Smoor, in the JOURNAL OF  
ARABIC
LITERATURE Volume 12 (1981):73.

ROGER ALLEN

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2)
Date:  11 Dec 2002
From: Muhammad S Eissa <eissa at umich.edu>
Subject:Ma'arri book identification response

In response to the above question here is a short answer:

Yes, Abu al-Alaa has written a risaala called “Risatat al-Sahil  
wal-shaahij” and here is some information about it.

("Letter of a horse and a mule"), which among other works now lost was  
addressed to
the governor ofAleppo. This supposedly lost Risala has recently been  
discovered inMoroccoand subsequently edited with a critical apparatus  
and introduction, by `Aisha Abdel RaHman “Bint al-ShaaTi’” (Cairo1975).  
Abu 'l-‘Alaa’" completed this voluminous Risala in about 411/1021
Besides a great display of erudite learning in technical terms for  
various
phenomena in metrics and rhyme, one also finds in the Risala many  
quotations of poetry which
in some way frequently contain descriptions of animals. Such a display  
of learning and the
poetical lines quoted, though originally composed via association,  
often tend to interfere with
the smooth and logical development of events in the Risala. The same  
phenomenon can be found in the Risalat al-Ghufran which was composed at  
a later date. On the other hand, the R.
al-Ghufran is distinguished from its predecessor, the R. al-Sahil, by a  
much greater amount of irony
and derision at its protagonist and also by its greater interest shown  
in religious questions. For further details, see P. Smoor, Enigmatic  
allusion and double meaning in Ma`arri's newly- discovered Letter of a  
Horse and Mule, in JAL, xii (1981), xiii (1982).

Extract from the Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0

© 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV,Leiden, TheNetherlands

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3)
Date:  11 Dec 2002
From: Dr. M Deeb" <mdeeb at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca >
Subject:Ma'arri book identification response

Dear Miss Guardi,
 
    In response to your query, Ma'arri's book in question is very  
likely _Risaalat aS-Saahil wa'sh-ShaaHij_ (Epistle of the Neigher and  
the Brayer).  The two active participles used in the Arabic title  
denote respectively "the horse" and "the mule."  Al-Ma'arri (973 -  
1058) as well as others preface their prose works with "risaalah"  
(epistle), which in this respect stands for treatise /monograph /  
essay.  In sharp contrast, Alexander Pope, uses "essay" in the title of  
some of his poems, e.g. "Essay on Man" & Essay on Criticism."
 
    _Risaalat aS-Saahil wa'sh-ShaaHij_ is an historical and literary  
document, in which events are re-enacted by two principal actors: a  
horse and a mule.  Other "secondary actors," such as a camel, a fox, a  
hyena and a dove, participate in the dramatic representation.  Whilst  
analogies may be drawn between this work and Ibn al-Muqaffa''s _Kalilah  
wa Dimnah_ (8th. c.), the two works are essentially different.  The  
dialagues in al-Ma'arri's work address factual events in the history of  
Syria and Egypt, and revolve round historical personalities known at  
the time of composition.  Al-Ma'arri's spirit of irony deliberately  
exposes the maladies of his time, so much so that I'm reminded here of  
Orwell's _Animal Farm_.
 
                                                                M. Deeb

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End of Arabic-L:  11 Dec 2002