 |
|
 |
Selections from The Art of Party-Crashing
in Medieval Iraq
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
Translated from the Arabic and illustrated by Emily Selove
Cloth $24.95s
| 978-0-8156-3298-6
| 2012
He’s fond of anyone who throws a party;
he’s always at a party in his dreams,
for party-crashing’s blazoned on his heart . . .
a prisoner to the path of fine cuisine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (1002–1071) was a Muslim preacher and scholar of the
hadith. Al-Khatib is most well-known for Tarikh Baghdad (The History of Baghdad),
which describes thousands of Baghdadi scholars. Like most of his writing, Tarikh
Baghdad was intended as an aid for students of the hadith. Emily Selove is a PhD
candidate and Arabic instructor at the University of California in Los Angeles. She
is currently writing her dissertation on Hikayat Abi al-Qasim, an eleventh-century
Arabic text about a Baghdadi party-crasher in Isfahan.
|
With this statement, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, a Muslim preacher and
scholar, introduces The Art of Party-Crashing, a book that represents a
sharp departure from the religious scholarship for which he is known.
Compiled in the eleventh century, this collection of irreverent and playful
anecdotes celebrates eating, drinking, and general merriment. Ribald
jokes, flirtations, and wry observations of misbehaving Muslims acquaint
readers with everyday life in medieval Iraq in a way that is both entertaining
and edifying.
Selove’s translation, accompanied by her whimsical drawings,
introduces the delights and surprises of medieval Arabic humor to a new
audience.
5 x 7, 168 pages, 10 black-and-white illustrations,
notes, bibliography, index
|
|
|
