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9781108748292

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'Lara Harb has reconstructed the development of literary theory in Arabic with unfailing lucidity, precision and a wealth of fascinating detail. Even as her book offers an illuminating account of such questions as poetic reasoning, the varieties of literary figures, and the status of the Qur'an in Arabic culture, it advances the new and stimulating thesis, arguing that wonder, in Arabic poetics, becomes implicitly and explicitly 'the defining aesthetic experience of poetic language'.' Daniel Heller-Roazen, Princeton University, New Jersey 'A comprehensive work of classical Arabic philology and a beautifully written study of the art of literary criticism. Lara Harb shows how a millennium of scholarship in Arabic explained the wonder that readers feel as they journey through images in poetry: emotional experience catalyzed by formal innovation.' Alexander Key, Stanford University, California 'An insightful analysis of the aesthetics of muhdath or 'modern' Arabic poetry ... It chronicles a paradigm shift in literary criticism of the 10th-11th centuries, from a focus on the accuracy or truth of artistic representation to a focus on the poet's ability to manipulate language and to create wonder. A truly fundamental contribution to Arabic literary studies.' Devin Stewart, Emory University, Atlanta 'Harb explores the evolution of the aesthetic theory of Arabic poetry in the middle Abbasid era. She demonstrates a shift from poetry valued for its 'naturalness' and 'truthfulness,' dating from pre-Islamic Arab times, to poetry esteemed for its 'eloquence' and ability to engender feelings of 'wonder' and 'discovery.' Harb argues that this new paradigm turns the notion of poetic beauty on its head ... Finally, Harb offers this aesthetic as potentially relevant to the study of other literatures.' M. F. McClure, Choice

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Lara Harb is an Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University where she specializes in classical Arabic literary theory, and Arabic conceptions of the 'literary'. She is the author of articles in journals including Journal of American Oriental Society and Middle Eastern Literatures. Her Ph.D. was awarded the S. A. Bonebakker Prize for the best thesis in Classical Arabic Literature in 2014.

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