UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) [Review of: D. Semah, G.J. Kanazi (2003) ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn Naṣr al Shayzarī. Rawḍat al qulūb wa-nuzhat al-muḥibb wal-maḥbūb] Schippers, A. DOI 10.2143/BIOR.68.5.2152697 Publication date 2011 Published in Bibliotheca Orientalis Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Schippers, A. (2011). [Review of: D. Semah, G.J. Kanazi (2003) ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn Naṣr al Shayzarī. Rawḍat al qulūb wa-nuzhat al-muḥibb wal-maḥbūb]. Bibliotheca Orientalis, 68(5-6), 617-618. https://doi.org/10.2143/BIOR.68.5.2152697 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). 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This book is the resultof a three-yearproject suppoÍed by St John's College (Oxford University) about the Imaginary in Arabic Poetics.It is divided into two main parts: Part One consistingof translatedClassical Arabic texts on Poetics, selected,translated and annotatedby Geert Jan van Gelder and Marlé Hammond,and Part Two consistingof several articlesby modern scholarson the Imaginary in Arabic lit- erature.In the preface(pp. ix-xv) Anne Sheppardsketches relatedterminology of the fantasticin the classicaltradition (Aristotle and the Hellenistic tradition and the Roman writ- ers).Visualisation is an importantelement of Aristotle's thinking, which conceivesthe dramatistas visualisinghis tt**.ï:lffll"io ounone by wolÍhart Heinrichs,-enti- tled "Takltyil: Make-Believeand Image Creation in Arabic Literary theory" (pp. l-14), statesthat the term taklryíl has to be split up in severalterms, since it hasbeen used in dif- ferentdisciplines and severalcontexts. So he dealswith sev- eral subchapters:I. Takltyílin philosophicalpoetics; 2. Takhyil in the rhetoric of poetry; 3. Takhyïl in the theory of imagery;4. Takhyrlin Qur'anicexegesis and 5. Takhyrlas a rhetoricalfigure: namely tawriya (often translatedas "dou- ble-entendre"). The translationsof Part One are partly done by GeertJan van Gelderand partly by Marlé Hammond; it containstrans- lations from al-Fárálcf'sTreatise on Poetry and Great Book of Music (d. 950; p. 15),followed by Ibn Sïnà'sSyllogism, Remarksand Admonitions, and Wisdomfor al-'Aru(r (d. 1034;p. 24): "Abd al-Qáhiral-Jurjánï's Secrets of Eloquence I nuo'o BioÍ 2011 5-6 oz.rndd566 10/r1l11O8:r6 t- | 615 BOEKBESPREKTNGEN- ARABTCA 6t6 (d. 1078or 1081;p.29); Ab[ l-Barakátal-BaghdádT's Les- medieval Baghdad, with its contÍoversy between admirers sonsin Wisclom(after I164; p.70); Ibn Rushd'sContmen- of "ancient" poetry and those who favoured the "new" tary on Aristotle's Rhetoric (d. 1198; p. 73); Hazim poets. She mentions commentaries on verses that contain al-Qartájannl'sPath of the Elocluentand the Lamp of the taklrytl with references to poet's biographies. Within the Letterecl(d. 1285;p. 85); Al-Khatïbal-QazwrnÍ's Résumé of practice of badí' style, the new style of accumulation of the Key (d. 1338;p. 114); and at the end an annotatedbib- metaphors and comparisons, phantastic style was much líographyonTakhyïl (p. 120). appreciated by the ruling class. She gives many examples The articlesin PartTwo aredealing with the varioussub- from literary circles. jects, after an acknowledgmentand an introductionon the Geert Jan van Gelder's article, entitled "A Good Cause: contributors(p. l3l ). Fantastic Aetiology (Husn al-ta'lïl) in Arabic Poetics" (pp. Katrin Kohl's "PoeticUniversals?" (p. 133-146)deals 221- 237) deals with this figure in Arabic and Persian litera- 'Abd with the generaltheoretical aspects of phantasia.She deals ture starting with al-Qáhir al-JurjánI (d. 1078) and his with philosophicaland rhetoricalconcepts of phantasia,the Asrar al-Balaghaft (Secrets of Eloquence). Many rhetoric classicalideas about the facultyof imaginationand the men- and stylistic works are dealt with, and he ends the article on tal image.She first dwells upon the Aristoteliantheory (in fantastic aetiology, called once by Helmut Ritter, the famous 'a his Poetics)about mimesis as the universalof poetry,mime- translator of the Asrdr into German, magic formula' with sis being for Aristotle the relationshipbetween poetry and a statement: "It is certainly a major technique of reinterpret- the world within the framework of philosophy.Then she ing the world, which is what Arabic poets are supposed to investigateslanguage, poetry and the role of imaginationin do: not to represent it as it is (what would be the point of poeticliterature (p. l3a). that?) but to represent it as it is not but might be, or should JamesE. Montgomery'sfarrtastic article "Convention as be, or would be or seems to be. It is a magic formula, that is Cognition: On the Cultivatiorrof Emotion" (pp. 147-178) sometimes as insipid and banal as a conjurer's abracadabra dealsfirst with Arabic poetic convention,for instance,the or hey presto, but which often enough produces true poetry 'Abbasid complexitiesof the ghazalwhich are constructed (p.234)". arounda numberof recurrentimages which areconventional. Suaadal-Mana's "Al-Badi', Verse and the PoeticNon- He mentionsthe role of Music, the Cosmos,and the Soul PoeticBinary in lbn al-Bannà'al-'Adadr" (pp.238-264) pre- and the classicaltheories behind these.In the philosophic sentsa very negativeconcept of takhyílas found in the work traditionmusic was capableof effectingwondrous changes by Ibn al-Banná'al-'AdadT,who rejectedit asuntruthfulness, in the soul and body of the listener.The emotions(tarah) with unrealisticand imaginative elements. arousedby music,aósociated with inebriation,in the Arabic In his contribr.rtion"The Lamp and Its Mirror Image: context,are not exclusivelyinner states of mind or the men- Házim al-Qartàjannl'sPoetry in the Light of his Path oJ'the tal productsof physiologicaleffects. They are public ges- Eloquentand Lamp of the Lettered" (pp.265-273),Geert Jan tures,actions performed in the socialsphere. Taking music van Gelder,discusses the specialtechnique in takhyïlpoetry and theorieson music as a point of departure,he stresses which combinessomething of the real world with a metaphor the performativecharacter of classicalpoetry. Music and creatingan imaginaryworld basinghimself onHázim's Min- poetryare techniquesof psychotherapywhich includeboth haj al-Bulagha' (Path of the Eloquent) also called Su'd7 cognitivehabits (thinking, imagining, recollecting, remem- al-Udaha'(Lampof the Lettered). bering)and externalactions (emotional and sentimental Marlé Hammond'sarticle "From Phantasiato Paronoma- responses). sia: lmage-evocationand the double entendrein Khalïl 'The The conventionsprovide the poet and his audiencewith Háwï's Mariner and the Dervish"' (pp. 274-286) ana- transhistoricalschemes of cognitionand communication. lyzes a poem by the Lebanesepoet Khalïl Háwï (d. 1982) They are communalacts which persistthrough repeated from his collectionNahr al-Ramàd(River of Ashes)demon- rehearsal.Within the systemof adab, control of the articula- stratinghow classicalconcepts of poetic languageare still tion, cultivation,and performance of emotionwould be one valid for modernpoetry. of the meanswhereby ideological systems would ensuresur- This is certainlya useful book which appliescritical vival andcontinued hegemony. To mastermkhyrl is to culti- methodsfor analyzingthe Arabic theoreticalwritings on vateemotion. takhyïlin a balancedway. Any readeror translatorshould Yaron Klein's contributionentitled "Imaginationand take into considerationthe fact that the rhetoricaltreatises Music: Takhyrland the Productionof Music in al-Fárábï's havetheir own socio-culturalcontext and that insightsfrom Kitab al-Mtlsrqíal-Kabrr" (pp. 179-195)deals with various differentdisciplines and literatures are useful and shouldbe aspectsof al-FárábT'stheory of music,he dealswith the dif- appliedto betterunderstand Medieval Arabic rhetoricaland ferentwritings on music,such as the ComprehensiyeGreat philosophicaltexts. We recognizethat the authorshave Book of Music, dealswith his distinctionbetween practical donea greatservice for scholarsof medievalArabic litera- andtheoretical arts of music,the causeof melodies,the rea- ture and literary theory by directingthem to pay closer sonwhy certainmelodies are more pleasant than others. He attentionto the socialand culturalbackground and context makesthe distinctionbetween the dispositionto perform of wherethe actualdiscussions on stylisticsand rbetoricin melodies,and the dispositionto composemelodies. He also the Arabic Middle Ages might have takenplace. Since in madethe