Ibn Hamdis the Sicilian: Eulogist for a Falling Homeland

(Hardback)

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

ABD AL-JABBAR IBN HAMDIS (10551133) was a poet of the medieval Muslim Mediterranean world who survives as the best-known figure from four centuries of Arab-Islamic civilisation on the island of Sicily. Though he achieved fame and success in his time, he was forced to bear witness to sectarian strife among the Muslims of both Sicily and Spain, and the gradual success of the Christian reconquest. Today, his poetry provides us with a window on to the tumultuous times in which he lived, from his youth in Sicily to his professional formation in Seville, and finally to his return to north Africa where he witnessed and recorded the gradual decline of his beloved homeland under the Normans.

Reviews

An intriguing and original approach that brings together historical events and versesof the Siculo-Arab poet Ibn Hamdis. The authoroffers a wholehearted evocation of the life of a great human being and the difficult times of wars and political transitions he lived through.

-- Francesca Maria Corrao, Professor of Arabic Language and Culture, LUISS University Rome

Erudite and beautifully written Granara has charmingly translated Ibn Hamdiss poetry, which is distinguished by novel meanings, a profound lyrical sense of nostalgic longing, and audacious and memorable metaphors It is a must-read for students of Arabic culture, Mediterranean studies, and medievalists.

-- Maher Jarrar, Professor, American University of Beirut

Author Bio

William Granara is Professor of the Practice of Arabic on the Gordon Gray Endowment and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Harvard University. He was awarded a Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship for his monograph Narrating Muslim Sicily: War and Peace in the Medieval Mediterranean World.