History and Memory in the Abbasid Caliphate
Subtitle: Writing the Past in Medieval Arabic Literature
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2022
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9781788319232
Description: "Abu Bakr al-Suli was a noted polymath and table companion in the courts of three Abbasid caliphs. In addition to his work as observer of the court, he is perhaps best known for his poetry - which would have a long-lasting influence on Arabic literature - historiographical insight and skill as a chess player. Letizia Osti here provides the first full-length English-language study devoted to al-Suli. In so doing, she sheds light onto broader questions, such as: How did the Abbasid court make sense of the past? What was the importance of written culture? And book collecting? What does 'historiography' mean in a medieval Islamic context?"--