Medieval European literature was once thought to have been isolationist in its nature, but recent scholarship has revealed the ways in which Spanish and Italian authors - including Cervantes and Marco Polo - were influenced by Arabic poetry, music, and philosophy. A Sea of Languages brings together some of the most influential scholars working in Muslim-Christian-Jewish cultural communications today to discuss the convergence of the literary, social, and economic histories of the medieval Mediterranean.
This volume takes as a starting point Mara Rosa Menocal's groundbreaking work The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, a major catalyst in the reconsideration of prevailing assumptions regarding the insularity of medieval European literature. Reframing ongoing debates within literary studies in dynamic new ways, A Sea of Languages will become a critical resource and reference point for a new generation of scholars and students on the intersection of Arabic and European literature.
Table of Contents:
In Memoriam
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: The Persistence of Philology: Language and Connectivity in the Mediterranean
SUZANNE CONKLIN AKBARI
Part One: Philology in the Mediterranean
2 Beyond Philology: Cross-Cultural Engagement in Literary History and Beyond
SHARON KINOSHITA
3 Linguistic Difference, the Philology of Romance, and the Romance of Philology
SIMON GAUNT
4 Forging New Paradigms: Towards a History of Islamo-Christian Civilization
JOHN TOLAN
5 Reflections on Muslim Hebraism: Codex Vindobonensis Palatinus and al-Biqa‘i
WALID A. SALEH
6 “Mixing the East with the West”: Cosmopolitan Philology in Richard Burton’s Translations from Camões
PAULO LEMOS HORTA
7 Reading Backward: The 1001 Nights and Philological Practice
KARLA MALLETTE
Part Two: The Cosmopolitan Frontier: Andalusi Case Studies
8 Andalusi “Exceptionalism”
ROSS BRANN
9 The Convivencia Wars: Decoding Historiography’s Polemic with Philology
RYAN SZPIECH
10 “In One of My Body’s Gardens”: Hearts in Transformation in Late Medieval Iberian Passion Devotions
CYNTHIA ROBINSON
11 Arab Musical Influence on Medieval Europe: A Reassessment
DWIGHT REYNOLDS
12 Sicilian Poets in Seville: Literary Affinities across Political Boundaries
WILLIAM GRANARA
13 Vidal Benvenist’s Efer ve-Dinah between Hebrew and Romance
DAVID A. WACKS
14 The Shadow of Islam in Cervantes’s “El Licenciado Vidriera”
LEYLA ROUHI
15 “The Finest Flowering”: Poetry, History, and Medieval Spain in the Twenty-First Century
MARÍA ROSA MENOCAL
16 Boustrophedon: Towards a Literary Theory of the Mediterranean
KARLA MALLETTE
Bibliography
Contributors
About the Author :
Suzanne Conklin Akbari is a professor in the Department of English and the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. Karla Mallette is an associate professor in the Departments of Italian and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan.
Review :
"A Sea of Languages is an important scholarly intervention, bringing together brilliant recent work in a fascinating field to model how future methodologies and areas of study might profitably be nurtured. Featuring contributions from prominent scholars who command respect within and across their fields, it is a magisterial and well-unified collection without peer in the field of Mediterranean Studies."
--Christine Chism, Department of English, University of California, Los Angeles
"A serious advance in a burgeoning field, A Sea of Languages offers a wonderful array of approaches to address a major topic: the Arabic presence in medieval literary and cultural history. This excellent volume will be a touchstone in the field and a valuable collection for both scholars and students."
--Martin G. Eisner, Department of Romance Studies, Duke University
