The performing arts in medieval Islam
Subtitle: shadow play and popular poetry in Ibn Daniyal's Mamluk Cairo
By: Li Guo
Contributors: Ibn Dānīyāl, Muḥammad, 1249 or 50-1310 or 11
Series: Islamic history and civilization studies and texts -- v. 93
Publisher: Brill
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Leiden; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9789004210455
Subjects: Performing arts; Arabic poetry; History and criticism; Criticism and interpretation; Shadow shows; History
Description: "This is a study of the life and work of Ibn Dāniyāl (d. 1310), a Cairo-based eye doctor, poet, playwright, court jester, and arguably one of the most controversial cultural figures of his time. Drawing on medieval Arabic sources, many still in manuscript and some used for the first time, the author further contextualizes Ibn Dāniyāl’s work with respect to poetry production and popular culture in the Islamic Near East in the post-Mongol period. The book also presents the first full English translation of “The Phantom,” one of Ibn Dāniyāl’s three shadow plays, the only surviving pre-Ottoman Arabic theatrical texts"--P. [4] of cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Life as a play. Eye doctor and street buffoon; title: Court panegyrist and jester; title: Satirist and shadow playwright; title: Legacy and controversy. The making of the Arabic shadow play; title: The ornament of the poetry; title: The many faces of a performer; title: The play. The phantom: a shadow play.