Arabic Literary Salons in the Islamic Middle Ages

Arabic literary salons emerged in ninth-century Iraq and, by the tenth, were

flourishing in Baghdad and other urban centers, In an age before broadcast

media and classroom education, salons were the primary source of entertainment

and escape for middle- and upper-rank members of society, serving also as a

space and means for educating the young. Although salons relied on a culture

of oral performance from memory, scholars of Arabic literature have focused

almost exclusively on written sources of the tradition.

That emphasis, argues Samer Ali, has neglected the interplay of oral and

written, as well as of religious and secular knowledge in salon society, and

the surprising ways in which these seemingly discrete categories blurred in

the lived experience of participants. Looking at the period from 500 to 1250,

and using methods from European medieval studies, folklore, and cultural

anthropology, Ali interprets Arabic manuscripts in order to answer fundamental

questions about literary salons as a social institution. He identifies salons

not only as sites for socializing and educating, but as loci for performing

literature and oral history; for creating and transmitting cultural identity;

and for continually reinterpreting the past.

A fascinating recovery of a key element of humanistic culture, Ali's work will

encourage a recasting of our understanding of verbal art, cultural memory, and

daily life in medieval Arab culture.

" **_Arabic Literary Salons in the Islamic Middle Ages_ ** is a unique

contribution to understanding how poetry and literature were received in

medieval Islam. By brilliantly situating salons both in the context of their

predecessors and in comparable European and Persian traditions, Ali shows how

the _mujalasat_ tradition shaped, and was shaped by, people from all ages and

walks of life. His careful study makes this tradition, with its vibrant

performative dimension, come to life for a contemporary audience." -- **Dale

F. Eickelman, Dartmouth College**

"This important book makes a unique contribution to the social history of

Arabic literature, literacy practices, and historical consciousness. Its

arguments are built on meticulous, theoretically innovative readings of some

key Abbasid works in their contexts of composition and salon performance. It

will be of great value to Arabists and to scholars of world comparative

literature, the ethnography of literacy, and historiography in and beyond

medieval studies." -- **Margaret A. Mills, Ohio State University**

"Samer Ali has written a wonderful, very accessible book that addresses

important aesthetic phenomena of the Arab Middle Ages, especially those

emanating from the heart of the Abbasid Empire. A major contribution is his

inclusion of new or barely considered manuscript material as well as

discussion of the social dynamics of everyday life in the Arab Middle East and

North Africa, little known by most westerners." -- **Sabra Webber, Ohio State

University**