• Introduction: the making of a literary humanism
• The making of an Iranian world in an Islamic universe: the rise of Persian language and literature (632-750)
• The Persian presence in the Abbasid empire: resisting Arabic literary imperialism (750-1258)
• The prose and poetry of the world: the rise of literary humanism in the Seljuqid empire (1038-1194)
• The triumph of the word: the perils and promises of the Mongol empire (1256-1353)
• The lure and lyrics of a literature: the center and periphery of the Timurid empire (1314-1508)
• The making of a literary cosmopolitanism: treading over multiple empires (1501-1732)
• The dawn of new empires: literary humanism in search of itself (1736-1924)
• The final frontiers: new Persian literary humanism (1906-present)
• Conclusion.

What does it mean to be human? Humanism has mostly considered this question from a Western perspective. Through a detailed examination of a vast literary tradition, Hamid Dabashi asks that question anew, from a non-European point of view. The answers are fresh, provocative, and deeply transformative. This groundbreaking study of Persian humanism presents the unfolding of a tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization. Exploring how 1,400 years of Persian literature have taken up the question of what it means to be human, Dabashi proposes that the literary subconscious of a civilization may also be the undoing of its repressive measures. This could account for the masculinist hostility of the early Arab conquest that accused Persian culture of effeminate delicacy and sexual misconduct, and later of scientific and philosophical inaccuracy. As the designated feminine subconscious of a decidedly masculinist civilization, Persian literary humanism speaks from a hidden and defiant vantage point-and this is what inclines it toward creative subversion. Arising neither despite nor because of Islam, Persian literary humanism was the artistic manifestation of a cosmopolitan urbanism that emerged in the aftermath of the seventh-century Muslim conquest. Removed from the language of scripture and scholasticism, Persian literary humanism occupies a distinct universe of moral obligations in which "a judicious lie, " as the thirteenth-century poet Sheykh Mosleh al-Din Sa'di writes, "is better than a seditious truth.".
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Humanism has mostly considered the question "What does it mean to be human?" from a Western perspective. Dabashi asks it anew from a non-European perspective, in a groundbreaking study of 1,400 years of Persian literary humanism. He presents the unfolding of this vast tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Prelude: Bir el-Amir
• Saffuriyya I
• Saffuriyya II
• Lebanon
• Reina
• Nazareth I
• Nazareth II.

Beautifully written, and composed with a novelist's eye for detail, this book tells the story of an exceptional man and the culture from which he emerged. Taha Muhammad Ali was born in 1931 in the Galilee village of Saffuriyya and was forced to flee during the war in 1948. He traveled on foot to Lebanon and returned a year later to find his village destroyed. An autodidact, he has since run a souvenir shop in Nazareth, at the same time evolving into what one leading American critic has dubbed 'perhaps the most accessible and delightful poet alive today'.As it places Muhammad Ali's life in the context of the lives of his predecessors and peers, "My Happiness" offers a sweeping depiction of a charged and fateful epoch. It is a work that Arabic scholar Michael Sells describes as 'among the five 'must read' books on the Israel-Palestine tragedy'. In an era when talk of the 'Clash of Civilizations' dominates, this biography offers something else entirely: a view of the people and culture of the Middle East that is rich, nuanced, and above all else, deeply human.
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• Cover; Letter from the General Editor; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations used in the Introduction and Translation; Introduction; A Note on the Text; A Note on the Edition; Notes to the Introduction; THE EPISTLE OF IBN AL-QARIH; Ibn al-Qarih's hopes for a meeting with al-Maarri; Criticism of heresy and heretics; On fate; Ibn al-Qarih's complaints of old age; The Prophet at the beginning of his mission; Ibn al-Qarih's weaknesses and self-reproach; The Sheikh exculpates himself; Praise of al-Maarri; On memorizing and forgetting; Ibn al-Qarih complains again.

• THE EPISTLE OF FORGIVENESSPreamble; al-Maarri's description of Ibn al-Qarih's letter; Paradise (I); Description of Paradise; A drinking scene; The Sheikh's excursion; The conversation with al-Asha Maymun; The conversation with Zuhayr; The conversation with Abid ibn al-Abras; The conversation with Adi ibn Zayd; The conversation with Abu Dhuayb al-Hudhali; The conversation with the two Nabighahs, al-Dhubyani and al-Jadi; The geese of Paradise; The first conversation with Labid; The singing of the damsels; An altercation in Paradise; The conversation with Hassan ibn Thabit.

• The five one-eyed men of QaysThe story of Tamim ibn Ubayy ibn Muqbil; The Sheikh's Story of his Resurrection, the Day of Judgement, and his Entry into Paradise; The Sheikh's conversation with Ridwan and Zufar, guards of the Garden; The conversation with Ali ibn Abi Talib; The conversation with Fatimah, the Prophet's daughter; The Prophet's intercession; The crossing of the Bridging Path; The second conversation with Ridwan; the entry into Paradise; Paradise (II); The conversation with "the Camel-herd" and Humayd ibn Thawr; The second conversation with Labid; A banquet in Paradise.

• The conversation with the two "Locusts"The conversation with Jiran al-Awd; The dance of the damsels; Beer, marinated peacock, and roast goose; The conversation with the two damsels; The tree of damsels; Between Paradise and Hell; The Paradise of the demons; The poetry of the demons; Abu Hadrash al-Khaytaur's heroic deeds; Animals in Paradise; In the furthest reaches of Paradise; a conversation with al-Hutayah; The conversation with al-Khansa; Hell; The conversation with Satan; The conversation with Bashshar ibn Burd; The conversation with Imru al-Qays; The conversation with Antarah.

• The conversation with AlqamahThe conversation with Amr ibn Kulthum; al-Harith ibn Hillizah; The conversation with Tarafah; The conversation with Aws ibn Hajar; The conversations with the Hudhali poets Abu Kabir and Sakhr al-Ghayy; The conversation with al-Akhtal; The conversation with Muhalhil; The conversation with the two poets called Muraqqish; The conversation with the two brigand poets, al-Shanfara and Taabbata Sharra; Return to Paradise; A meeting with Adam; The snakes of Paradise; The Sheikh's return to his paradisical damsel; In the Paradise of the rajaz poets; The joys of Paradise.

One of the most unusual books in classical Arabic literature, The Epistle of Forgiveness is the lengthy reply by the prolific Syrian poet and prose writer Abu l-?Ala? al-Ma?arri (d. 449 H/1057 AD), to a letter written by an obscure grammarian, Ibn al-Qarih. With biting irony, The Epistle of Forgiveness mocks Ibn al-Qarih's hypocrisy and sycophancy by imagining he has died and arrived with some difficulty in Heaven, where he meets famous poets and philologists from the past. He also glimpses Hell, and converses with the Devil and various heretics. Al-Ma?arri-a maverick, a vegan, and often branded a heretic himself-seems to mock popular ideas about the Hereafter. This book, the first of two volumes, includes Ibn al-Qarih's initial letter to al-Ma?arri, as well as the first half of The Epistle of Forgiveness. This translation is the first complete translation in any language and retains the many digressions, difficult passages, and convoluted grammatical discussions of the original typically omitted in other translations. It is accompanied by a comprehensive introduction and detailed annotation. Replete with erudite commentary, amusing anecdotes, and sardonic wit, The Epistle of Forgiveness is an imaginative tour-de-force by one of the most pre-eminent figures in classical Arabic literature.
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• Languages of leisure in the home, the coffeehouse, and the cinema
• Peddlers, traders, and the languages of commerce
• Clerks, translators, and the languages of bureaucracy
• Zion in Babel: the Yishuv in its Arabic-speaking context
• Hebrew education between East and West: foreign-language instruction in Zionist schools
• Conclusion: the persistence of Babel.

The promotion and vernacularization of Hebrew, traditionally a language of Jewish liturgy and study, was a central accomplishment of the Zionist movement in Palestine. Viewing twentieth-century history through the lens of language, author Liora Halperin questions the accepted scholarly narrative of a Zionist move away from multilingualism during the years following World War I, demonstrating how Jews in Palestine remained connected linguistically by both preference and necessity to a world outside the boundaries of the pro-Hebrew community even as it promoted Hebrew and achieved that language's dominance. The story of language encounters in Jewish Palestine is a fascinating tale of shifting power relationships, both locally and globally. Halperin's absorbing study explores how a young national community was compelled to modify the dictates of Hebrew exclusivity as it negotiated its relationships with its Jewish population, Palestinian Arabs, the British, and others outside the margins of the national project and ultimately came to terms with the limitations of its hegemony in an interconnected world.
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• Foreword ixA Note on the Text xxxiThe Dedication of This Elegantly Eloquent Book 6Author's Notice 8An Introduction by the Publisher of This Book 16Proem 20Raising a Storm 36A Bruising Fall and a Protecting Shawl 64Various Amusing Anecdotes 72Troubles and a Tambour 84A Priest and a Pursie, Dragging Pockets and Dry Grazing 92Food and Feeding Frenzies 108A Donkey that Brayed, a Journey Made, a Hope Delayed 116Bodega, Brethren, and Board 124Unseemly Conversations and Crooked Contestations 134Angering Women Who Dart Sideways Looks, and Clawslike Hooks 148That Which Is Long and Broad 162A Dish and an Itch 174A Maqamah, or, a Maqamah on "Chapter 13" 190A Sacrament 202The Priest's Tale 212The Priest's Tale Continued 222Snow 244Bad Luck 254Emotion and Motion 282The Difference between Market-men and Bag-men 312Notes 321Glossary 351Index 355About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute 366About the Typefaces 367About the Editor-Translator 368.
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Leg over Leg recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of `the Fariyaq, ' alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. The always edifying and often hilarious adventures of the Fariyaq, as he moves from his native Lebanon to Egypt, Malta, Tunis, England and France, provide the author with grist for wide-ranging discussions of the intellectual and social issues of his time, including the ignorance and corruption of the Lebanese religious and secular establishments, freedom of conscience, women's rights, sexual relationships between men and women, the manners and customs of Europeans and Middle Easterners, and the differences between contemporary European and Arabic literatures. Al-Shidyaq also celebrates the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language. Akin to Sterne and Rabelais in his satirical outlook and technical inventiveness, al-Shidyaq produced in Leg Over Leg a work that is unique and unclassifiable. It was initially widely condemned for its attacks on authority, its religious skepticism, and its "obscenity, " and later editions were often abridged. This is the first English translation of the work and reproduces the original Arabic text, published under the author's supervision in 1855.
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• Letter from the General Editor iiiVolume Two 1Contents of the Book 4
• Chapter 1: Rolling a Boulder 8
• Chapter 2: A Salutation and a Conversation 38
• Chapter 3: The Extraction of the Fariyaq from Alexandria, by Sail 62
• Chapter 4: A Throne to Gain Which Man Must Make Moan 84
• Chapter 5: A Description of Cairo 104
• Chapter 6: Nothing 114
• Chapter 7: A Description of Cairo 116
• Chapter 8: Notice that the Description of Cairo is Ended 122
• Chapter 9: That to Which I Have Alluded 134
• Chapter 10: A Doctor 142
• Chapter 11: The Fulfillment of What He Promised Us 150
• Chapter 12: Poems for Princes 160
• Chapter 13: A Maqamah to Make You Sit 174
• Chapter 14: An Explanation of the Obscure Words in the PrecedingMaqamah and Their Meanings 186
• Chapter 15: Right There! 292
• Chapter 16: Right Here! 294
• Chapter 17: Elegy for a Donkey 370
• Chapter 18: Various Forms of Sickness 382
• Chapter 19: The Circle of the Universe and the Center of This Book 390
• Chapter 20: Miracles and Supernatural Acts 400Notes 409Glossary 433Index 436About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute 444About the Typefaces 445About the Editor-Translator 446.
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Leg over Leg recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of `the Fariyaq, ' alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. The always edifying and often hilarious adventures of the Fariyaq, as he moves from his native Lebanon to Egypt, Malta, Tunis, England and France, provide the author with grist for wide-ranging discussions of the intellectual and social issues of his time, including the ignorance and corruption of the Lebanese religious and secular establishments, freedom of conscience, women's rights, sexual relationships between men and women, the manners and customs of Europeans and Middle Easterners, and the differences between contemporary European and Arabic literatures. Al-Shidyaq also celebrates the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language. Akin to Sterne and Rabelais in his satirical outlook and technical inventiveness, al-Shidyaq produced in Leg Over Leg a work that is unique and unclassifiable. It was initially widely condemned for its attacks on authority, its religious skepticism, and its "obscenity, " and later editions were often abridged. This is the first English translation of the work and reproduces the original Arabic text, published under the author's supervision in 1855.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• A Note on Transliteration Acknowledgments Introduction: Revolutionary Cinema and the Logic of Reform
• 1. When Love Entered Cinema: Mysticism and the Emerging Poetics of Reform
• 2. Screening Reform: Campaign Movies, Documentaries, and Urban Tehran
• 3. Video Democracies: Or, The Death of the Filmmaker
• 4. Who Killed the Tough Guy? Continuity and Rupture in the Filmfarsi Tradition
• 5. Film Archives and Online Videos: The Search for Reform in Post-Khatami Iran Conclusion: Iran's Cinema Museum and Political Unrest Notes Bibliography Filmography Index.
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It is nearly impossible to separate contemporary Iranian cinema from the Islamic revolution that transformed film production in the country in the late 1970s. As the aims of the revolution shifted and hardened once Khomeini took power and as an eight-year war with Iraq dragged on, Iranian filmmakers confronted new restrictions. In the 1990s, however, the Reformist Movement, led by Mohammad Khatami, and the film industry, developed an unlikely partnership that moved audiences away from revolutionary ideas and toward a discourse of reform. In Reform Cinema in Iran, Blake Atwood examines how new industrial and aesthetic practices created a distinct cultural and political style in Iranian film between 1989 and 2007. Atwood analyzes a range of popular, art, and documentary films. He provides new readings of internationally recognized films such as Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry (1997) and Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Time for Love (1990), as well as those by Rakhshan Bani, Masud Kiami, and other key Iranian directors. At the same time, he also considers how filmmakers and the film industry were affected by larger political and religious trends that took shape during Mohammad Khatami's presidency (1997-2005). Atwood analyzes political speeches, religious sermons, and newspaper editorials and pays close attention to technological developments, particularly the rise of video, to determine their role in democratizing filmmaking and realizing the goals of political reform. He concludes with a look at the legacy of reform cinema, including films produced under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose neoconservative discourse rejected the policies of reform that preceded him.
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• C; Philipp Final; bc.

The creation of a modern Arabic print language and the secular interpretation of Arab history were among the greatest achievements of the Nahda, the Arab cultural revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The language became an instrument as well as a symbol for the construction of national identity. In contrast to the traditional perception of Arab history as intrinsically part of Islamic history, the Nahda introduced a new vision of Arab history predating and outlasting Islamic civilization. Jurji Zaidan was one of the leading thinkers of the Arab Nahda. Through his historical novels, his widely read journal al-Hilal, which is still published today, and his scholarly works, he forged a new cultural Arab identity. In this book, Philipp shows how Zaidan popularized the idea of society that was based on science and reason, and invoked its accessibility to all who aspired to progress and modernity. In the first section, Philipp traces the arc of Zaidan's career, placing his writings within the political and cultural contexts of the day and analysing his impact on the emerging Arab nationalist movement. The second part consists of a wide selection of Zaidan's articles and book excerpts translated into English. These pieces cover such fields as religion and science, society and ethics, and nationalism. With the addition of a comprehensive bibliography, this volume will be recognized as the authoritative source on Zaidan, as well as an essential contribution to the study of Arabic cultural history.
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• Academic writing and writing about lives : an introduction
• Modernity, sexuality, and popular culture : Iran's social agony
• Iranian women and public space in the seventies : Shahrzad, a woman of her time
• Seduction, sin, and salvation : spurious sexuality in dance and film
• Shahrzad as a writer : the question of literary modernity
• Social change in Iran and the transforming lives of women artists
• Ideology, sexuality, and sexual agency : an afterword.

For more than a century Iran[']s social, political, and cultural history has been defined by a struggle toward or away from modernity. In this book Talatoff makes a compelling argument that, despite revolutionary upheaval, the ideals of modernity remain remote due to the absence of a modern notion of sexuality. He illustrates his assertion through the life of Shahrzad, a celebrated stage and screen actress, dancer, journalist, and published poet who eventually became imprisoned and later homeless in the streets of Tehran. Tracing her career along with other pre-revolutionary women artists, Talatoff explores the relationship between gender, sexuality, media, and modernity in Iran. --Book Jacket.