HSSB 4020
What did pre-modern authors writing in Arabic have to say about their own literary history? Many things, as it turns out, most of them non-linear. In this respect, their accounts differ from the rise-and-fall story later promulgated by European scholars––a story which has now become the dominant one even in the Arab world. What's next? One way forward, Michael Cooperson (Professor, Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, UCLA) proposes, is to draw on non-linear approaches, both pre-modern and modern. A new literary history of Arabic should grant equal weight to all periods and regions; foreground reception, especially translation, as a critical part of the story; and embrace avowedly pedagogical elements such as commentary, digression, and above all, visual explanation.