By Abū Nuwās
Edited and translated by James E. Montgomery
New York University Press
ISBN: 9781479834129
Abū Nuwās is widely regarded as one of the great poets of the Middle Ages. This book brings together more than a hundred poems attributed to him—each with an English translation—focused on hunting.
Excerpt:
Abū Nuwās’s poetry is sheer joy: it never fails to delight, surprise, and excite. His diwan, his collected poems, encompasses the principal early Abbasid poetic genres: panegyrics (madīḥ), renunciant poems (zuhdiyyāt), lampoons (hijāʾ), hunting poems (ṭardiyyāt), wine poems (khamriyyāt), love poems (ghazaliyyāt) to males (mudhakkarāt) and females (muʾannathāt), and transgressive verse (mujūn). What is most striking in his poetry is its apparent effortlessness and the naturalness of its Arabic, despite the deployment of the full panoply of the new rhetorical style known as the badīʿ. Abū Nuwās represented the poetic trend the critics termed muḥdath, which means both “modern” and “modernist.” The ease with which he celebrates the accepted features of the pre-Islamic and Umayyad corpus, often inverting and subverting them, and innovates at both the level of the individual verse and of the macro structure of the poem is virtually unparalleled. Such simplicity is deceptive, for it is usually the result of deep artifice.
Who is this book for?
Abū Nuwās is a fascinating figure, and his poetry has remained popular more than 1,200 years after his death. This book focuses on his hunting poems, offering a window into a pastime that flourished during the height of the Abbasid caliphate. The translations will interest readers studying the literature and culture of the period, while those drawn to medieval animals will also find plenty here—dogs, cheetahs, and birds of prey feature prominently throughout.
You can read some other translations of Abū Nuwās’ poetry by Montgomery here.
You can also read a critique of Montgomery’s translations here.
The Translator
James E. Montgomery is Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on the Abbasid era. This is one of three recent books in which he has translated Arabic works related to hunting. See also Fate the Hunter: Early Arabic Hunting Poems
A Demon Spirit: Arabic Hunting Poems
By Abū Nuwās
Edited and translated by James E. Montgomery
New York University Press
ISBN: 9781479834129
Abū Nuwās is widely regarded as one of the great poets of the Middle Ages. This book brings together more than a hundred poems attributed to him—each with an English translation—focused on hunting.
Excerpt:
Abū Nuwās’s poetry is sheer joy: it never fails to delight, surprise, and excite. His diwan, his collected poems, encompasses the principal early Abbasid poetic genres: panegyrics (madīḥ), renunciant poems (zuhdiyyāt), lampoons (hijāʾ), hunting poems (ṭardiyyāt), wine poems (khamriyyāt), love poems (ghazaliyyāt) to males (mudhakkarāt) and females (muʾannathāt), and transgressive verse (mujūn). What is most striking in his poetry is its apparent effortlessness and the naturalness of its Arabic, despite the deployment of the full panoply of the new rhetorical style known as the badīʿ. Abū Nuwās represented the poetic trend the critics termed muḥdath, which means both “modern” and “modernist.” The ease with which he celebrates the accepted features of the pre-Islamic and Umayyad corpus, often inverting and subverting them, and innovates at both the level of the individual verse and of the macro structure of the poem is virtually unparalleled. Such simplicity is deceptive, for it is usually the result of deep artifice.
Who is this book for?
Abū Nuwās is a fascinating figure, and his poetry has remained popular more than 1,200 years after his death. This book focuses on his hunting poems, offering a window into a pastime that flourished during the height of the Abbasid caliphate. The translations will interest readers studying the literature and culture of the period, while those drawn to medieval animals will also find plenty here—dogs, cheetahs, and birds of prey feature prominently throughout.
You can read some other translations of Abū Nuwās’ poetry by Montgomery here.
You can also read a critique of Montgomery’s translations here.
The Translator
James E. Montgomery is Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on the Abbasid era. This is one of three recent books in which he has translated Arabic works related to hunting. See also Fate the Hunter: Early Arabic Hunting Poems
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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