Description
Book SynopsisPanegyric poetry, in both Arabic and Persian, was one of the most important genres of literature in the medieval Middle East and Central Asia. Jocelyn Sharlet argues that panegyric poetry is important not only because it provides a commentary on society and culture in the medieval Middle East, but also because panegyric writing was one of the key means for individuals to gain social mobility and standing during this period. This is particularly so within the context of patronage, a central feature of social order during these times. Sharlet places the medieval Arabic and Persian panegyric firmly within its cultural context, and identifies it as a crucial way of gaining entry to and movement within this patronage network. This is an important contribution to the fields of pre-modern Middle Eastern and Central Asian literature and culture.
Trade Review'This is a work of very wide, very thorough and very impressive scholarship. Dr. Sharlet's use of primary sources is exemplary in its scope and in its ability to identify what is apposite to illustrate a given argument. Work on praise poetry is the great lacuna of modern scholarship on Middle Eastern medieval verse; it is an absolutely crucial genre (and indeed much of the rhetoric of other poetic genres in these cultures demonstrably derives from the rhetoric of praise poetry), and yet there are virtually no good discussions of what poets in this genre did, or how and why they did it. Dr. Sharlet's book is easily the most important contribution to our understanding of this important genre that I am aware of.' - Dick Davis, Chair and Professor of Persian, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Ohio State University; 'Unlike many of her predecessors, who have studied patronage in the context of panegyric poetry or in passing as part of their analysis of narrative texts, in this book Sharlet undertakes to dissect the interplay of risk and success as the stuff not only of sponsored literature within a literary patronage system, but also as the instantiation of a form of social order. This is an ambitious, original, and important text - one that will set the bar higher for all who work in medieval Arabic and Persian literature.' - Margaret Larkin, Professor of Arabic Literature, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: The Rhetoric of Patronage: Building Possibilities Chapter 2: Panegyric Discourse: Elaborating on Possibilities Chapter 3: Awareness of Patronage Relationships in Panegyric Poetry Chapter 4: Connections of Interaction Chapter 5: Uncertainty and Flexibility in Patronage Chapter 6: Flexibility and Social Mobility in Patronage
