Com- Pilation and Creation in Adab
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8650_BIOR_06_1-2_01 11-04-2006 10:22 Pagina 94 183 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIII N° 1-2, januari-april 2006 184 ARABICA same section (pp. 97-129) and by ‘Umar Îamdan in the fol- lowing one (pp. 359-377), forming a fil rouge which goes ARAZI, A., J. SADAN, D.J. WASSERSTEIN (eds.) — Com- through the book and nudges the reader towards consider- pilation and Creation in Adab and Luga. Studies in Mem- ing the coexistence within one author of renowned Ìanbali ory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948-1997). (Israel Oriental or Âahiri austerity with what in our modern eyes would be Studies, XIX). Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, 1999. (23 cm, frivolous works such as treaties on love and catalogues of 499). ISBN 1-57506-045-0. ISSN 0334-4401. $ 59,50 funny people. Examples abound (Ibn Îazm, al-Washsha’, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Kha†ib al-Baghdadi) and several of the arti- Is compilation the opposite of creation? In their short pref- cles in this book contribute to the fascinating discussion of ace to this volume, which is the nineteenth of the Israel Ori- this phenomenon, joining the voices of, for example, Fedwa ental Studies series, the editors question such a narrow defi- Malti-Douglas and Abdelfattah Kilito. nition, stressing that these are two necessary and The third tone-setting piece of this section, by Albert Arazi complementary elements of a healthy cultural environment. (pp. 221-238), focuses on what the author calls “theoretical After reading this volume, which in fact covers much more adab”, i.e. literary critique and distinction between genres, ground than its title promises, one is left with the impression while remarking that all genres are similar in that they are that distinguishing compilation from creation (much as dis- inferior to the Qur’an. A first longer part is devoted to poetry, tinguishing fact from fiction!) in a classical Arabic context a second shorter one to adab which, however, the author does is less fruitful an exercise than comparing, contrasting and not define as a literary genre. analysing the interactions between these two elements, as The remaining seven articles in this section deal with top- many authors here do, without tracing a necessarily artificial ics that are very varied (Rachel Milstein on Islamic art; dividing line. How can one not agree? Gabriel M. Rosenbaum on Ibn al-Jawzi’s humour; Reuven However one may look at it, that of compilation and cre- Snir on a Òufi epistle; Sadan on war between cats and mice ation remains a fundamental dichotomy with which the stu- within different literary contexts; Dominique and Marie- dent of almost any aspect of the medieval Middle East has to Thérèse Urvoy on cases where adab works treat falsafa), grapple. It is, however, not the only di- or trichotomy to be while in different ways remaining within the premises posed found within the book: this is a large collection of articles by the title. Two papers in particular, Ulrich Marzolph’s on written in three different languages, divided into three JuÌa in the Arabic and Turkish, manuscript and printed tra- unevenly-sized sections and dedicated to the memory of a ditions (pp. 161-172) and David Wasserstein’s on three scholar. In it, some articles focus on a very narrow topic, oth- instances of a proverb in several languages and times (pp. ers seem to aim at being all-encompassing. Some are for the 233-259), seem particularly successful in discussing the specialist, some other for the layman. Some are addressed to book’s stated subject from an unusual and fascinating angle. the Arabist, some other to the Hebraist. Some are as short as Part II, on “Luga, its Creativity and Uses”, begins, as has less than five pages; others are extremely long and unjusti- been mentioned, with a biography of the scholar to whom the fiably so. Some have a separate bibliography, some do not. book is dedicated (pp. 263-265). Such a collocation does make Most, but not all, deal with pre-modern times. sense, given that Kinberg himself was a grammarian, and it is Less than two pages of introduction can hardly be expected enhanced by articles such as that by Kees Versteegh (pp. 272- to cover all this variety. And indeed, the preface (pp. 7-8) 286) on the merging of ∂/‰, which is related to the work of only explains the rationale behind one aspect of the title, that Kinberg before his death (Versteegh himself, in the meantime, of compilation and creation in adab, making no mention of has edited a posthumous volume together with Leah Kinberg: Naphtali Kinberg, to whose memory the book is dedicated. Studies in the linguistic structure of classical Arabic, Leiden: An obituary, however, is found at the beginning of part two Brill, 2001). Not all articles in this section, which is much (p. 263), which is devoted to Kinberg’s area of research. shorter than the previous one, seem to really belong here. For While such a structure may appear disjointed, the volume instance, MuÌammad Jabbarin (pp. 287-341) writes on seri- maintains an internal coherence in that the majority of indi- ousness and humour in anecdotes within grammarians’ biogra- vidual articles respect and elaborate on the topic proposed by phies. While one may debate whether this topic falls within the title. the realm of biography or adab (fact or fiction, which ulti- The first and longest section, consisting of ten papers, is mately is the focus of the paper), it seems out of place in an devoted to “Motifs in Adab and Fann”. Three articles set otherwise very technical section. On the other hand, humour the tone by dealing with large questions. Mohammed Ark- is another recurrent theme in this book, another fil rouge which oun (pp. 9-22) begins by briefly illustrating the characteris- keeps this volume together effectively. tics of classical Arabic humanism as studied by himself and Part III, on “Cultural and Literary History”, is concluded other scholars. Claude Gilliot (pp. 49-96) follows with an by a useful review by Camilla Adang of E. Wust’s recent cat- erudite discussion of the role of the khabar within adab and alogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the A.S. Yahuda Col- tafsir respectively, concluding that, despite the importance lection in Jerusalem (pp. 495-499). This last example of the of isnad criticism, exegetes are ready to accept imperfect book’s versatility introduces perfectly our summarising khabars if they make sense within their preferred theologi- remark: this is an uneven collection containing several excel- cal framework. Gilliot notes how traditionists transmit lent pieces. “right” khabars beside faulty ones, which they reject but which continue to be part of their material. Gilliot also Basel, December 2005 Letizia OSTI remarks on cases of strictly orthodox religious scholars who also composed works of adab, animated by “le même besoin du récit et le même plaisir du texte” (p. 87). Similar ** points are later discussed by Gabriel M. Rosenbaum in this * 8650_BIOR_06_1-2_01 11-04-2006 10:22 Pagina 95 185 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARABICA 186 DIEM, W., and SCHÖLLER, M. — The Living and the Dead P. 27, l. 18: la stèle n’est pas de 344 mais de 348 H. in Islam. Studies in Arabic Epitaphs. I: Epitaphs as P. 32, l. 5: la stèle est A 449 et non 339. Texts. II: Epitaphs in Context. III: Indices. Verlag Otto P. 69. «Morts de la peste». Il faut ajouter à la liste donnée Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2004. (24,5 cm, XXIV, 633; par W.D. les exemples tirés de L.I. LAVROV, Epigrafitcheskie XX, 681; VIII, 204). ISBN 3-447-05083-7. / 145,-. Pamiatniki Severnovo Kavkasa Na Arabskom, Persidkom i L’introduction générale, les remerciements et le glossaire Touretskom Iazykakh, Les Monuments épigraphiques du Cau- , t. I, Inscriptions arabe-anglais en fin de volume se retrouvent dans les deux case du Nord en arabe, en persan et en turc du Xe au XVIIe s., t. II, Inscriptions du XVIIIe au XXe s., t. ouvrages. III, Inscriptions du Xe au XXe s., Moscou, 1966, 1968 et 1980. La cause du décès, la peste, est notée dans t. I, 395 de 999 H., L’ouvrage de W. Diem t. II, 663 de 854 H., t. III, 754 de 903 ou 913 H., 799 de 1112 Le but de l’auteur est d’analyser de manière rigoureuse tout H., 809 de 1130 H., 855 de 1227 H. ce qu’une épitaphe nous apprend sur le vivant et tout ce P. 77 et n. 309: ‘Abd al-RaÌman n’est pas un artisan de qu’elle nous apporte concernant ses croyances, ses espoirs, Dahlak mais de la Mekke (v. Schneider, «Points com- ainsi que ceux de son entourage, au moment de son passage muns…», Aula Orientalis, XIX,(2001), 67-69. dans l’au-delà. Pour ce faire, W. D. n’a négligé aucune P. 77. Lieu du décès: les quatre stèles mentionnées (l. 2, source. Le matériel le plus important est fourni par les dix lire 588 et non 558 H.) sortent de l’atelier des Makki. Ces tomes du Catalogue des stèles funéraires d’Egypte, le RCEA artisans ne devaient pas manquer de commandes et pour la et les Corpus. Toutefois, d’autres publications, inscriptions région et pour l’étranger (v. Schneider, op.cit., p. 69, 6.4.6). d’un site, d’une région n’ont pas été laissées de côté. W.D. Le lieu du décès aurait-il été mentionné sur la stèle de ces n’utilise donc que du matériel déjà publié. Mais, pour le bien défunts, tous personnages qui sortaient du commun, pour des auteurs fautifs, et des épigraphistes à venir, les textes, si indiquer où la pierre devait être acheminée? besoin est, sont critiqués et améliorés (textes en vers en par- P.