Looking Back at al-Andalus: The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Literature

200 Pages·2009·1.322 MB·English

by  Alexander E. Elinson

Looking Back at al-Andalus
Brill Studies in Middle Eastern
Literatures
The Studies in Arabic Literature series, which was inaugurated in 1971
to publish monographic supplements to the Journal of Arabic Literature,
has now expanded its purview to include other literatures (Persian,
Turkish, etc.) of the Islamic Middle East. While preserving the same
format as SAL, the title of the expanded series will be Brill Studies in
Middle Eastern Literatures. As in the past, the series aims to publish
literary critical and historical studies on a broad range of literary mate-
rials: classical and modern, written and oral, poetry and prose. It will
also publish scholarly translations of major literary works. Studies that
seek to integrate Middle Eastern literatures into the broader discourses
of the humanities and the social sciences will take their place alongside
works of a more technical and specialized nature. We hope to announce
shortly an advisory board for the expanded BSMEL series.
Edited by
Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych
VOLUME XXXIV
Looking Back at
al-Andalus
The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia
in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Literature
By
Alexander E. Elinson
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
Cover illustration: Alhambra. Photograph by John Boccaccio.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Elinson, Alexander E.
Looking back at al-Andalus : the poetics of loss and nostalgia in medieval Arabic
and Hebrew literature / by Alexander E. Elinson.
p. cm. — (Brill studies in Middle Eastern literatures)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-16680-6 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Arabic literature—History and
criticism. 2. Hebrew literature—History and criticism. 3. Andalusia (Spain)—In
literature. 4. Nostalgia in literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PJ7519.A497E45 2009
892.7’09353—dc22
2008050877
ISSN 1571-5183
ISBN 978 90 05 16680 6
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910,
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
In memory of Magda M. al-Nowaihi

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ........................................................................... ix
Introduction The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia in Muslim
Spain ............................................................................................... 1
Chapter One Written in Stone: the Andalusī rithāʾ al-mudun
in the Arabic Elegiac Tradition ................................................. 15
Chapter Two Weeping over the Poetic Past: Poetry into
Prose in al-Saraqustị̄’s Qayrawan Maqāma ............................. 51
Chapter Three Al-Andalus and Sefarad in the Hebrew
Qasị̄da ............................................................................................. 81
Chapter Four The View from al-Andalus: Looking East,
West, and South for Andalusī Identity .................................... 117
Conclusion A Final Look Back ................................................... 151
Appendix Select Arabic and Hebrew Texts .............................. 155
Works Cited ....................................................................................... 171
Index ................................................................................................... 181

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to give my special thanks to my colleagues and mentors
for helping me during the many stages of this book’s journey. First
and foremost, I thank Magda al-Nowaihi, under whose guidance I first
began this project. She was instrumental in providing encouragement,
insight, and focus every step of the way. She passed away before its
completion but her inquisitive spirit and intellectual inspiration infuses
it from beginning to end and for these reasons, I dedicate this book
to her. Raymond Scheindlin provided much encouragement and gave
graciously of his time to help me with important conceptual issues,
as well as with translation questions in both the Arabic and Hebrew
texts. This book owes a great deal to him. Muhsin al-Musawi provided
invaluable assistance and advice, and I have benefited greatly from his
vast expertise. Philip Kennedy’s wit, knowledge, and boundless curi-
osity has served as a model for me and he has been instrumental in
the development of my thinking. Special thanks also to George Saliba
and Nader Sohrabi who read and commented upon this work at its
various stages.
I also would like to thank my friends and colleagues who, in discus-
sions, arguments, and various fact-finding missions provided expertise
and support, without which this book would not have been completed:
Ammiel Alcalay, Abdullah Baali, Ross Brann, Ahmad Chahlane, Jona-
than Decter, Terri DeYoung, Muhammad Ezroura, Arnold Franklin,
Kenneth Garden, Teresa Garulo, Tamara Green, Abdelfattah Kilito,
Scott Noegel, Ismail el-Outmani, Carmen Pozuelo Calero, Jonathan
Shannon, Christopher Stone, Fatima Tahtah, and John Willis.
I would like to thank the series editor Suzanne Stetkevych whose
keen editorial eye and expertise helped immensely in completing the
final version. Special thanks also to Trudy Kamperveen and Gera van
Bedaf at Brill whose help and patience in terms of easing this book
through the publication process has been greatly appreciated. For their
assistance in preparing much of the Arabic and Hebrew texts, I would
like to thank Melanie Clouser and Maayan Barkan. James Monroe was
kind enough to give his permission to use his translation of al-Saraqustị̄’s
Qayrawan Maqāma, originally published in Al-Maqāmāt al-Luzūmīyah
x acknowledgements
by Abū l-Ṭāhir Muhạ mmad ibn Yūsuf al-Tamīmī al-Saraqustị̄ ibn
al-Aštarkūwī (d. 538/1143) (Leiden; Boston; Köln: Brill, 2002). Chap-
ter one is a revised version of “Loss Written in Stone: Ibn Shuhayd’s
Rithaʾ for Cordoba, and its Place in the Arabic Elegiac Tradition” which
appeared in Transforming Loss into Beauty: Essays on Arabic Literature
and Culture in Memory of Magda Al-Nowaihi, eds. Marlé Hammond
and Dana Sajdi (Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo
Press, 2008). Chapter two is a revised version of a previously published
article entitled “Tears Shed Over the Poetic Past: The Prosification of
Rithāʾ al-Mudun in al-Saraqustị̄’s Maqāma Qayrawāniyya,” published
in the Journal of Arabic Literature 36:1 (2005), 1–27.
For funding support, I would like to acknowledge and thank Colum-
bia University and the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages
and Cultures, the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, and the
Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York.
None of this could have been done without the love and support
of my family. Special thanks goes to my wife Amy whose support,
encouragement, insight, and keen eye for detail were instrumental in
the completion of this book. Finally, I must thank my sons Max and
Zane who encouraged me to take frequent and much needed breaks
from writing, to remind me that, although the past is a fascinating
place, the present is a lot of fun too.
Alexander E. Elinson
New York, NY
August, 2008