Studies in Near Eastern-Western Literary Relations

(This seminar is a continuation of CL 232 , Fall 2001. New students are encouraged to attend Part II.)

In this class we will read a select number of Arabic poems, both monorhymed and classical (qasida and qita’), as well as strophic and colloquial (muwassah and zajal), from al-Andalus. We will discuss the contributions to Andalusi poetry made by the literature of the dominant, Arab tradition, as well as the innovations to that tradition that resulted from contacts with the Ibero-Romance substratum. Finally, we will discuss the structure of the poems studied, along with their literary merit. A reading knowledge of either Arabic or a Romance language is required. Participants in the seminar will be requested to contribute analyses of specific poems to the group, and a final, term paper will be expected of each.