- University of Salamanca, Departamento de Lengua española, Faculty Memberadd
The history of literature in Islamic Cordoba covers a period of over five centuries, during three of which it was the capital of al-Andalus. This extended time frame fostered the emergence and development, based on imitation and... more
The history of literature in Islamic Cordoba covers a period of over five centuries, during three of which it was the capital of al-Andalus. This extended time frame fostered the emergence and development, based on imitation and assimilation of Eastern models, of a specifically Andalusi literature. Cordoba played a key role in the literature of al-Andalus, not only because it was a center of patronage established by a long succession of culture-loving and art-defending emirs and caliphs but also because of the large number of writers, poets, and scholars it produced, many of whom became leading figures of universal literature, such as Ibn Ḥazm, Ibn Zaydūn, or Ibn Quzmān. Several generations of authors thrived in this rich literary history—some of them not yet sufficiently studied and known—alongside new genres of crucial importance for European literary history, such as zajal and muwashshaḥa.
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En la literatura árabe islámica pueden rastrearse diversos textos en torno a personajes de la Historia de Salvación que pleitean o discuten con la divinidad, como Adán y Eva, Moisés, ʿUzayr / Ezra y hasta el mismo profeta Muhammad. Dichos... more
En la literatura árabe islámica pueden rastrearse diversos textos en torno a personajes de la Historia de Salvación que pleitean o discuten con la divinidad, como Adán y Eva, Moisés, ʿUzayr / Ezra y hasta el mismo profeta Muhammad. Dichos textos, dispersos en diversas fuentes árabes medievales, representan la recepción fragmentaria y discontinua que la rica literatura de debate medioriental tuvo en el imaginario religioso islámico, desde los textos sumerios y acadios hasta el género literario hebreo de la disputa o rīb, así como la apocalíptica apócrifa judeocristiana.
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In medieval Arabic literature there are numerous examples of a special type of lamentation regarding the moral decline and progressive and inevitable deterioration of human civilization. This characteristic lamentation feeds on two... more
In medieval Arabic literature there are numerous examples of a special type of lamentation regarding the moral decline and progressive and inevitable deterioration of human civilization. This characteristic lamentation feeds on two beliefs which together make up a particular topos: traditional Arab fatalism, of a metaphysical, moralizing and elegiac nature, and the Islamic belief in the perfection achieved by humanity at the time of the Prophet and early Islam, after which there is nothing but decline and decadence. This notion of fatalism after perfection likely appeared in the first century of Islam, due to various political, religious and social reasons, and can be thoroughly documented from the end of the ninth century in almost all the manifestations of Arabic literature: poetry, adab prose, historical prose, collections of ḥadīth and other religious works.
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Una reflexión colectiva sobre el arte de traducir
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Córdoba, capital islámica, es universalmente conocida por sus autores, intelectuales y literatos: Ibn Hazm, Ibn Zaydún, Ibn Quzmán o Ibn 'Abd Rabbih. Sin embargo, a lo largo de los siglos de historia islámica, la ciudad conoció además a... more
Córdoba, capital islámica, es universalmente conocida por sus autores, intelectuales y literatos: Ibn Hazm, Ibn Zaydún, Ibn Quzmán o Ibn 'Abd Rabbih. Sin embargo, a lo largo de los siglos de historia islámica, la ciudad conoció además a innnumerables poetas y hombres de letras hoy casi olvidados y que en muchas ocasiones tuvieron una existencia accidentada y azarosa, la propia del oficio del escritor y del poeta en las sociedades árabes premodernas.
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One of the richest and most interesting works of Arabic lexicography, the Kitāb al-Muḫaṣṣaṣ by Ibn Sīdah (d. 458/1066), contains a vast catalogue of voices on sexual vocabulary. The author provides a thorough and comprehensive collection... more
One of the richest and most interesting works of Arabic lexicography, the Kitāb al-Muḫaṣṣaṣ by Ibn Sīdah (d. 458/1066), contains a vast catalogue of voices on sexual vocabulary. The author provides a thorough and comprehensive collection of words with their definitions and peculiarities, including different explanations and philological digressions, as much as authorities from classical poetry, and all sorts of anecdotes and curiosities concerning sex. In his attempt to define this vocabulary as a whole, Ibn Sīdah not only offers numerous data about the sexual imagery of his time, but implicitly gets involved in the construction of a particular discourse about sexuality. Some features of this discourse are the androcentric approach, the direct and frank treatment of Arabic sexual vocabulary (without euphemisms or moralizing restrictions), and humor as a resource to deal with those aspects that seem particularly delicate or sensitive.
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The history of ice in medieval Arab societies is obscured behind a mosaic of a variety of references and scholarly citations. Beyond al-Qalqashandı’s reference to organised ice trafficking in fourteenth-century Mamluk Egypt, we do not... more
The history of ice in medieval Arab societies is obscured behind a mosaic of a variety of references and scholarly citations. Beyond al-Qalqashandı’s reference to organised ice trafficking in fourteenth-century Mamluk Egypt, we do not have conclusive
evidence on the origin and use of ice as a consumer product. In this paper we trace its presence based on three genres of references: historical and literary quotations, medicine and literature pertaining to food. These references allow us to consider the extent of ice consumption in the Arab world before the ninth century, as well as the existence of an organised trade throughout the Middle Ages from that time. However, contrary to the Persian world, with its well-documented Iranian yakhchals, we still know virtually
nothing about ice-houses in medieval Arab societies. We also know very little about the profession of the thallâj or ice-seller, or whether the widespread consumption of ice that originated in Spain in the sixteenth century was in fact a legacy of an earlier trade in al-Andalus.
evidence on the origin and use of ice as a consumer product. In this paper we trace its presence based on three genres of references: historical and literary quotations, medicine and literature pertaining to food. These references allow us to consider the extent of ice consumption in the Arab world before the ninth century, as well as the existence of an organised trade throughout the Middle Ages from that time. However, contrary to the Persian world, with its well-documented Iranian yakhchals, we still know virtually
nothing about ice-houses in medieval Arab societies. We also know very little about the profession of the thallâj or ice-seller, or whether the widespread consumption of ice that originated in Spain in the sixteenth century was in fact a legacy of an earlier trade in al-Andalus.
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In Western cultural and academic media it has been customary to establish a close parallelism between Islam and the green color, as if this were the color most suitable or representative of this religion. Often this kind of statements are... more
In Western cultural and academic media it has been customary to establish a close parallelism between Islam and the green color, as if this were the color most suitable or representative of this religion. Often this kind of statements are based on data selected random or partially. A detailed run-through of the historical, canonical and literary sources of Arab and Islamic culture shows that there is no conclusive data about the fact that the color green has unanimously enjoyed until late age any symbolic or religious consideration. However, it is possible to document that, in the eschatological and spiritual dimensions, the color green traditionally has enjoyed in Islamic culture (as in many other cultures) rejuvenating, fertile and invigorating connotations. Such connotations, in addition to the documented survival of vegetal/agrarian cults within Islamic societies, might have contributed to the unconscious association of the Islamic spirituality with the green color. To this must be added the confusion created by the unexplained decree of the caliph al-Ma’mûn (817) on the short adoption of green as official color of the Caliphate, alongside with the much more late rule of mamluk Sultan al-Ashraf Sa'bân b. Hasan (1371), according to which the descendants of the Prophet should carry a green sign in their turbans as honorary distinction. Even so, nor a detailed study of the insignia and Islamic flags allows us to draw the clear cut conclusion that the green has been unanimously viewed as the representative color of Islamic power.
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In Arabic literature there exist many examples of what we could call «rhetorical enumeration». In general, this enumeration usually groups three or four highly heterogeneous elements under a common characteristic, the reasons or causes... more
In Arabic literature there exist many examples of what we could call «rhetorical enumeration». In general, this enumeration usually groups three or four highly heterogeneous elements under a common characteristic, the reasons or causes for which are not always made clear or are understood to be known to all. A classic example would be the old adage that affirms that: «There are three impossible things: the gûl, the ‘anqâ’ and the loyal friend». These enumerations appear in the Arabic tradition so frequently that they may indicate the presence of a literary topos, a rhetorical convention rather than a repeated manifestation of simple
«counted things» on the basis of the expressive needs of each narrator or their own knowledge and beliefs. These enumerations are not infrequent in other cultures and literary traditions, be they Islamic or not. The present study attempts to analyze several of the rhetorical enumerations, and proposes some explanations for why they exist in relation to Arabic culture, literature and rhetorical tradition.
«counted things» on the basis of the expressive needs of each narrator or their own knowledge and beliefs. These enumerations are not infrequent in other cultures and literary traditions, be they Islamic or not. The present study attempts to analyze several of the rhetorical enumerations, and proposes some explanations for why they exist in relation to Arabic culture, literature and rhetorical tradition.
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In Western cultural milieus it has been customary to identify the Arabian legend of the giant bird 'Anqâ' as a version of the mythical Phoenix known from Greco-Latin sources. Linking these two together is based almost exclusively on the... more
In Western cultural milieus it has been customary to identify the Arabian legend of the giant bird 'Anqâ' as a version of the mythical Phoenix known from Greco-Latin sources. Linking these two together is based almost exclusively on the Phoenix supposedly coming from Arabia. However, a detailed analysis of the sources clearly shows that the two myths are essentially different, and describe two birds that are completely divergent in shape, mythical development and textual significance.
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Medieval Arabic literature offers numerous examples of the survival of the Greco-Roman topos on the weakness caused by sexual relations and the expulsion of semen. This idea may have been transmitted to Arab culture through one of two... more
Medieval Arabic literature offers numerous examples of the survival of the Greco-Roman topos on the weakness caused by sexual relations and the expulsion of semen. This idea may have been transmitted to Arab culture through one of two ways: the direct influence of scientific translations from Greek to Arabic starting in the 9th century, or the extended belief in a relationship between semen, bones and marrow, the presence of which seems probable in Arab folklore through Islamic folk medicine or the « Medicine of the Prophet ». However, the topos of weakness due to the expulsion of semen did not contribute to the creation of a negative image of sexual relations in Islamic sexual morality – legally guaranteed by the sunnah – but, more likely, confirmed the Greek idea of its moderate practice as a guarantee to a long life.
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La interpretación de la misteriosa expresión ‘kenap renanim’ en Job 39:13 está estrechamente ligada a la Vulgata, que la relaciona con el avestruz. Dicha interpretación solo resulta verosímil en el caso de que San Jerónimo trabajara con... more
La interpretación de la misteriosa expresión ‘kenap renanim’ en Job 39:13 está estrechamente ligada a la Vulgata, que la relaciona con el avestruz. Dicha interpretación solo resulta verosímil en el caso de que San Jerónimo trabajara con una Vorlage distinta del texto masorético. Por otra parte, recordamos que la expresion ‘kenap renanim’, cuyo significado sigue siendo incierto y conjetural, fue recibida en las tradiciones rabínicas y siríacas como un ave sobrenatural y cosmogónica, de continuada presencia en el folklore y la mitologia de Oriente Medio.
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The emergence of graffiti’s urban subculture as a means of political expression has become a singular issue of the so-called Arab Spring. Graffiti and urban art, which had little to no relevance in the Arab world until now, emerged with... more
The emergence of graffiti’s urban subculture as a means of political expression has become a singular issue of the so-called Arab Spring. Graffiti and urban art, which had little to no relevance in the Arab world until now, emerged with unusual force in many countries, notably in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Egypt. This blossoming takes shape in tangent with the strengthening of a civil society and its rise as a decisive actor in the new political arena. In Egypt’s case, graffiti achieved a leading role that reflected the milestones of civil disturbance, marking the walls with virtual snapshots of the popular sentiment. The proliferation of graffiti also had considerable resonance in international media because of the strategy of spreading rebellious and subversive slogans by means of the symbolic occupation of a public space, which, until now, was monopolized by authoritarian powers.
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Se presenta al público de lengua española esta nueva edición, revisada y con renovadas introducción y notas, de la traducción del Kitāb al-tarbīʿ wa l-tadwīr de al-Yáhiz (s. IX).
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Traducción al español, con comentario, glosario, índices y notas, de la epístola de al-Ŷāḥiẓ 'Mufājarat al-ŷawārī wa l-gilmān'. A translation into Spanish of the epistle 'Mufākharat al-jawārī wa l-ghilmān' by al-Jāḥiẓ, with... more
Traducción al español, con comentario, glosario, índices y notas, de la epístola de al-Ŷāḥiẓ 'Mufājarat al-ŷawārī wa l-gilmān'.
A translation into Spanish of the epistle 'Mufākharat al-jawārī wa l-ghilmān' by al-Jāḥiẓ, with introduction, notes and index.
A translation into Spanish of the epistle 'Mufākharat al-jawārī wa l-ghilmān' by al-Jāḥiẓ, with introduction, notes and index.