Hispano-Arabic Poetry of al-Andalus: The Muwashshaat

Arabic 2xxxx 20xx

This class is designed to give a comprehensive view of the unique contribution of the writers of al-Andalus to Arabic literature: the muwashshaa. This course will seek to highlight the complex stylistics and diverse composition and performance of muwashshat across time and space - aspects such as rhyme, meter, in#uences from other Arabic poetic forms, religious compositions and contemporary performance. In order to gain the greatest appreciation for such considerations, a two-fold approach will be used in this class: textual and contextual elements.

As pertains to the materials of the textual variety, particular importance will be placed on metrical and compositional elements, the variety of themes most commonly found therein, the nature of kharja (the $nal line of a muwashshaa), production of muwashshat in eastern centers such as Egypt and Syria, and the role of music in both early and modern muwashshah performance. As regards the contextual, topics to be covered include: theory of Hispano-Romance language, Eastern in#uences on literary production in al-Andalus, centers of early literary production from Quruba to the awa'if kingdoms and, $nally, the concurrent development of zajal poetry.

Each week, we will integrate at least one of the tangential topics with one of the muwashshah-centered topics, in the aim to fully explore the modalities of the muwashshah while situating it within the sphere of contemporary Arabic literature and civilization.

* Expectations

The students should come to class each week bearing completed homework, having read the assigned materials and prepared to discuss them. Readings for the $rst week are to be done before the class convenes. Participation is freely encouraged (see Grading, below) as are questions should the material assigned for homework or class be unclear. In return, the student can expect to gain: a detailed understanding of literary production and creativity in Arabic during medieval Andalus culture, familiarity with stylistic features of Andalus Arabic poetry and an ability to draw connections between the various strains of in#uence which came to bear upon and were exerted by the muwashshat as a literary and performance genre.

* Grading

Grading will consist of four parts: attendance (10%), participation (20%), homework (30%), and a $nal paper (40%) concerning a topic relating to the course, which can be discussed in o'ce hours (see below).

* O'ce Hours:XXXX

*Course Schedule

Week 1: In#uences- Readings:

* Jareer Abu-Haidar. Hispano-Arabic Literature and Early Provenal Lyrics, Ch. 7

"The Muwashshahat: Are They a Mystery?", Richmond (Curzon), 2001; pp. 126-138.

* Otto Zwartjes. Love Songs From al-Andalus: History, Structure and Meaning of the Kharja, Leiden (Brill) 1997; Ch. 2 "The origins of the Hispano-Arabic muwassah and the zajal," pp. 23-40.

* Philip Kennedy. "Thematic Relationships between the Kharjas, the Corpus of Muwassahat and Eastern Lyrical Poetry," Studies on the Muwassahat and the Kharja, ed. Alan Jones and Richard Hitchcock. Oxford (Ithaca Press), 1992; pp. 68-87.

* David J. Wasserstein. "The Language Situation in al-Andalus," Studies on the Muwassahat and the Kharja, ed. Alan Jones and Richard Hitchcock. Oxford (Ithaca Press), 1992; pp. 1-15.

* In-class: Abu Nawas. From Khamriyyat.

Week 2: Rise of Quruba, Zajal and Hazl- Readings

* James Monroe and Mark Pettigrew. "The Decline of Courtly Patronage and the

Appearance of New Genres in Arabic Literature: The Case of the Zajal, the Maqma, and the Shadow Play," Journal of Arabic Literature, Vol. 34, No. 1/2, The Arabic Literature of Al-Andalus (2003), pp. 138-177.*Abu-Haidar. Hispano-Arabic Literature, Ch.2 "Al-Hazl: Burlesque Literature in Al-Andalus and its Antecedents in the Arab East, pp. 42-54.* Todo Ben Guzman, Garca-Gomez

Week 3: Themes - Nature- Readings

* James Bellamy and Patricia Owen Steiner. Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi: The Banners of the Champions - An Anthology of Medieval Arabic Poetry from Andalusia and Beyond. Madison (Seminary of Hispanic Medieval Studies), 1989; Introduction, pp. xvii - xxxii.

* Selections from Ray'at al-mubarrazin wa ghayat al-mumayyazin and al-Iskandaryah, Dwn al-muwashshat al-Andalusyah

Week 4: Themes - Religion- Readings

* Abdallah Fathallah. Al-Muwashshahat Al-Andalusia Al-Dinia. Beirut (Dar al-Kitab

al-Arabi), 1988; al-Muqaddimah, pp. 14-21.

* James W. Morris. "Ibn 'Arabi's 'Esotericism': The Problem of Spiritual

Authority, Studia Islamica, No. 71 (1990), pp. 37-64.

* Reading of Ezra ben Ibrahim and Abdallah Fathallah. (See Handout)

Week 5: Themes - Men in Action- Readings

* Miriam Decosta. "Historical and Literary Views of Yusuf, African Conqueror of

Spain", The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 60, No. 4 (Oct., 1975), pp. 480-490.

* R. Hrair Dekmejian and Adel Fathy Thabit. "Machiavelli's Arab Precursor: Ibn

afar al-iqill," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Nov., 2000), pp. 125-137.* Selections

Week 6: Themes - Wine and Love- Readings

* T.J. Gorton. Andalus: Moorish Songs of Love and Wine. London (Eland), 1983;

Introduction, pp.

* Yaseen Noorani. "Heterotopia and the Wine Poem in Early Islamic Culture",

International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Aug., 2004), pp. 345-366.

* Michael Sells. "Love," The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: The Literature of

al-Andalus. Ed. Mara Rosa Menocal, Raymond Scheindlin, Michael Sells. Cambridge (Cambridge University Press), 2000; pp. 126-155.

* Selections

Week 7: Themes - Architecture- Readings

* D. F. Ruggles. "Arabic Poetry and Architectural Memory in al-Andalus," Ars

Orientalis, Vol. 23, Pre-Modern Islamic Palaces (1993), pp. 171-178.

* Selections

Week 8: The Kharja- Readings

* Alan Jones. Romance Kharjas. Oxford (Ithaca Press), 1992; Introduction, pp.

1-25

* Zwartjes, Love Songs from al-Andalus, pp. 188 - 218.

* Selections

Week 9: Music - North African Appropriations- Readings

* Arie Schippers. "Some Remarks on the Present-Day Tradition of Andalusian

Muwassahat in North Africa," Studies on the Muwassahat and the Kharja, ed. Alan Jones and Richard Hitchcock. Oxford (Ithaca Press), 1992; pp. 149-159.

* Interview with Dwight Reynolds, available here.

* Recording of the Ibn Arabi Ensemble here.

Week 10: Music - Eastern Appropriations- Readings

* Ralph Locke. "Cutthroats and Casbah Dancers, Muezzins and Timeless Sands:

Musical Images of the Middle East, 19th-Century Music, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Summer, 1998), pp. 20-53.

* Selections from: Iberian Garden. Volume II: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Music in Medieval Spain. Call #### CDA 9733.