Praising Damascus: City Panegyrics as a Literary Genre and a Concept of Urbanity
| Autor: | Masarwa, Alev |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
890 Literatures of other specific languages and language families
Städtelob Damaskus/Bagdad in der Dichtung Rangstreit Städteparodie mawāliyā Philosophy and theory ddc:890 city panegyrics Damascus praise in prose and poetry mufāḫara debate literature faḍāʾil al-mudun parody 800 Literature (Belles-lettres) and rhetoric Literatures of other specific languages and language families 801 Philosophy and theory Literature (Belles-lettres) and rhetoric ddc:801 ddc:800 |
| Popis: | Taking panegyric literature about Damascus as an example, this study discusses its literary elaboration and established motif traditions in relation to a wide range of textual representations of cities. The vast corpus of city panegyrics in prose and poetry gives testimony to the dynamics of urban life and urban consciousness, as it has also always been a source of civic pride and belonging. The vigorous form of aesthetic elaboration about cities was both persistent and open for contestation at the same time. A striking example, which attests to this contestation and the dynamics of city praise is a city-slam ('mufāḫara / munāẓara') between Baghdad and Damascus, written in ca. 16th century Syria. This study focuses on rhetorical elements and their inversion in the city praise rather than on the topographical history of Damascus or other featured cities. Exposing the aesthetic devices and analyzing their functions by inverting them according to the rules of poetic speech offers a convenient tool for a more adequate understanding of city panegyrics, and the cultural perception of cities. Panegyrics contain assertions relating both to praise and criticism. Hardly any literary city praise is a mere embellishment or a hymnody of the respective city, and hardly any form of dispraise is just a verbal outburst without offering a counterproposal. Praising Damascus: City Panegyrics as a Literary Genre and a Concept of Urbanity ..... 5 Organism ..... 12 City panegyrics in prose and poetry ...... 16 Common topoi of city panegyrics in poetry ..... 18 Damascus toponyms ..... 21 Damascus is sexy ..... 23 Damascus as a paradise ..... 25 'Good' and 'Bad City' contrast ..... 30 Modes of panegyric ..... 37 Praise and its inversion – critique and its inversion ..... 39 Motivations of the poet ..... 39 Label ranking ..... 43 Ranking in the Qurʾān and other textual sources ..... 45 Inverting rhetorical devices ..... 49 City-slam ..... 53 City-slam as a parody of the debate genre ..... 55 Plot composition ..... 59 Rhyme pattern and compositional features ..... 61 Conclusion ..... 69 Appendix ..... 73 Downfall of a minaret in the year 762/1361 ..... 75 Edition: Mufāḫarat ad-Dimašqī wa-l-Baġdādī ..... 76 Bibliography ..... 95 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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