Literary Masterpieces of Muslim Spain (3 cr)
Guadalupe González Diéguez
JSTU-J 260 / NELC- N 260
MW 2:30-3:45 WH 008
GenEd A&H; GenEd WC; CASE A&H; CASE GCC; IW
This course offers an overview of the Golden Age of Arabic and Hebrew literature in the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule (al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. The course is divided in three main parts: the first one deals with the historical context in which this Golden Age took place; the second part focuses on the poetry of al-Andalus; and the third part focuses on the prose. We will read and analyze a wide range of texts, such as a treatise on love (Ibn Hazm); a philosophical story about a boy who is born in a deserted island by spontaneous generation, in a prefiguration of Robinson Crusoe (Ibn Tufayl); the picaresque adventures of the protagonists of the "maqama" literature (Al-Saraqusti, Alharizi); and poems that depict the lush nature of Andalusian gardens, and the wine parties and love affairs that took place in them, as well as poems on loftier topics, such as the religious longings of the soul. We will read works by Arabic poets such as Ibn Abd Rabbihi, Ibn Shuhayd, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Zaydun, Al-Mu¿tamid, and Hebrew poets such as Judah Halevi, Moses ibn Ezra, and Solomon ibn Gabirol. We will pay particular attention to the voice of Andalusi women-poets (such as princess Wallada, or the wife of Dunash ibn Labrat). All readings will be provided in English translation.
