Makers of the Muslim World: Abu Nuwas A Genius of Poetry

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Abu Nuwas (c.756-813) was one of the greatest Arab poets of the classical period. In literary history he is remembered chiefly as the hard-drinking and eloquent composer of dissolute wine poems, from which he emerges as one of the most charismatic figures in world literature. Yet he was in fact an all-round poet and exerted a profound influence on Abbasid poetry more generally; he is one of a handful of individuals who can be deemed to stand at the very heart of Arabic literary culture. In the narrative tradition his impish persona appears in some stories of the Thousand and One Nights. Abu Nuwas presents the entertaining life story of this legendary figure alongside accessible translations of some of his most important poems. With commentaries, a glossary and a guide to further reading, this book is the ideal introduction to a true genius of Arabic literature. About theAuthor Philip F. Kennedy is associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Comparative Literature at New York University. Table of Contents • "Dangling Locks and Babel Eyes"  A Biographical Sketch of Abu Nuwas (c. 757-814) • Background and origins • Education • Love for Janan • The Move to Baghdad • The "Modern" Poet • Sexuality • Character and Temperament • Prison • Sojourn in Egypt • Death and Afterlife • "Love, Wine, Sodomy...and the Lash" The lyric Poetry of Abu Nuwas • Erotic Poetry • Two Traditions of Love Poetry  A Sketch • a Digest of Idealized Love • Inching towards Frivolity and Lust • The Psychology of Master and Servant • Turning the Tables • Pandering (to) Satan • Fear of Woman and Other Anxieties • Seduction and Rape • Writing (and) Letters • Christian Boys • Wine Poetry • Beloved Wine • Failed Cross Wooing and an Orgy • Two Views of Time • "Whose are the Remnants...  • Trumping the Theologian • Dialogue with a Jewish taverner • Numinous Wine • Jonah Comes Out of the Whale • "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" On Panegyric and Satire • The Panegyric • Formal and Sober • Less Formal and Less Sober • Occasional and Miscellaneous Eulogy • "Pens Dipped in Bitter Gall" Satire • Bread and Bereavement • The Politics of State and al-Amin • Spite and Sacrilege • Tasteless Ja  far the Barmecide • The Alchemist and phony Genealogies • Isma  il ibn Abi Sahl • The Stolen Member • Quack Philosopher of Egypt • Onanist Job • A Prison Consultation • Servants and Singing Girls • Fatal Provocation  • Some Hunting Poems and a Game of Polo • A Saluki Hound • The Cheetah • Elegy for a Hound • The Polo Match • "Poetry for Mortals and the Dead" On the Ascetic Poem and the Elegy • The Ascetic Poem • A Righteous Dowry • Man s Mortal Genealogy • The Danger of Empty Talk • Eloquent Simplicity • Sound and Meaning • The Permanent Ink of the Angels • The Elegy • For Harun al-Rashid 9 (d. 809) • For Muhammad ibn Zubayda "al-Amin" (d. 813) • For the Barmercides • Fragment for His Son • For Waliba ibn al-Hubab • For a Sick Friend • For Himself