Recognition in the Arabic Narrative Tradition: Discovery, Deliverance and Delusion (Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature)

The first study to analyse the recognition scene in the Arabic narrative traditionWinner of the 2019 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the category Arab Culture in Other LanguagesAccording to Aristotle, a well-crafted recognition scene is one of the basic constituents of a successful narrative. It is the point when hidden facts and identities come to light―in the classic instance, a son discovers in horror that his wife is his mother and his children are his siblings. Aristotle coined the term ‘anagnôrisis’ for the concept. In this book Philip F. Kennedy shows how 'recognition' is key to an understanding of how one reads values and meaning into, or out of, a story. He analyses texts and motifs fundamental to the Arabic literary tradition in five case studies: the Qur’an; the biography of Muhammad; Joseph in classical and medieval re-tellings; the ‘deliverance from adversity’ genre and picaresque narratives.Key FeaturesOffers new vistas for reading, understanding and interpreting Arabic literature as well as the culture in which it was producedProvides a comparative perspective, appealing to students of narrative literature across linguistic, regional and cultural traditionsHighlights the importance of intertextuality, showing the various ways in which literature and other genres of writing must be read together as manifestations of one complex cultural narrativeDemonstrates the fruitfulness of interdisciplinarity in literary studies Read more