description: This uniquely comprehensive anthology at last brings the astonishing grandeur and variety of classical Arabic literature to the Western audience.The distinguished Arabist Robert Irwin presents dazzling excerpts from works both renowned (The Qur’an, The Thousand and One Nights ) and esoteric (Ibn Wasshiya’s “Book of Poisons,” the dashing Byronic poetry of Imru’ al-Qays). Selections are accompanied by Irwin’s erudite commentaries, which illuminate the reader on the cultural and historical context of these works. Spanning the fifth to sixteenth centuries and societies from Afghanistan to Spain, this is a captivating and invaluable guide to one of the world’s great bodies of literature.“A joy to read.... This book is a journey through 11 centuries of a lost world, with a surprise on almost every page.”– Financial Times  “[A] treasure-house of a book.... Unequaled for scholarship and entertainment.” –The Independent (London)“Outstanding…. No other single-volume anthology provides such extensive coverage.”–Library Journal
language: English
title: Night and Horses and the Desert: An Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature
titlecomplete: Night and Horses and the Desert: An Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature
genres: Short Stories, Poetry, Anthologies, Nonfiction, Literature, Classics, Spain, Islam, History, Literary Criticism
ratings_count: 130
publisher: Allen Lane