Comedy, pornography, and social critique in the Romance of Ahmad Danif

Boaz Shoshan

doi:10.1163/157006496X00174

Comedy, pornography, and social critique in the Romance of Ahmad Danif

Boaz Shoshan

Department of Middle East Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	216-226
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Arabic Literature
Volume	27
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1163/157006496X00174
State	Published - 1 Dec 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies
Literature and Literary Theory

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@article{d624cd7d2f474894be354f56bcf1ce5b,

title = "Comedy, pornography, and social critique in the Romance of Ahmad Danif",

author = "Boaz Shoshan",

note = "Funding Information: * I am grateful to the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for a grant which made possible research for this article at Berlin's Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz in the summer of 1992. 1 For a detailed study of this work, see Chapter Two of my Popular Cairo (Cambridge, 1993). 2 See arts. {"}Dhii'l-Hirnrna{"} and {"}Battal,{"} EII (M. Canard); Udo Steinbach, Ddt al-Himma, kulturgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu einem arabischen Volksroman (Wiesbaden, 1972). {"}Delhema{"} is obviously a colloquial form. 3 See art. {"}'Antar, Romance,{"} EI' (R. Hartmann); art. {"}'Antar, Sirat,{"} EP (B. Heller); H.T. Norris, The Adventures of Antar (Warminster, 1980); P. Heath, {"}A Critical Review of Modern Scholarship on Sirat 'Antar Ibn Shadddd and the Popular Sira,{"} Journal of Arabic Literature 15 (1984), 19-44; idem, {"}Romance as Genre in 'The Thousand and One Nights,{"}' Journal of Arabic Literature, 18 (1987), 1-21, 19 (1988), 55-67; idem, {"}Lord and Parry, Sirat 'Antar, Lions,{"} Edebiydt, N.S. 2 (1988), 149-66; R. Kruk, {"}Warrior Women in Arabic Popular Romance: Qann>ja bint Muzahim and Other Valiant Ladies,{"} Journal of Arabic Literature 24 (1993), 213-30. 4 Ibn Kathir, al-Biddya wa'n-nihtya fi't-ta-rikh (Cairo, 1932), Vol. IX, 334. Muhammad Rajab an-Najjar, Uikryrt ash-shuttdr wa7-'ayydrin fi't-turdth al-'arabi (Kuwait, 1981), 103 n. 110, cites Ibn Kathir's Tafsir without detailed reference. 5 Sirat 'Ali az-Zaybaq al-Misri Ibn Hasan Ra's al-Ghill. Th. N{\"o}ldeke, {"}Zu den dgyptischen Marchen,{"} ZDMG 52 (1888), mentions an 1866 Beirut edition, where the alleged author is named as Ahmad b. 'Abdallah al-Misri. Carl Brockelmann,G eschichted er arabischen Litteratur (2nd. ed. Leiden, 1943-49) (GAL), Suppl. Vol. I, no. 616, lists two Cairo editions dated 1297 [1880] and 1304 [1886-87] respectively. For a 1302 [1884-85] edition see Faruq Khurshid, 'Adwa' 'ald s-sira ash-sha'biyya (Cairo, 1964), 107, 108. For further editions and a detailed summary, based on an undated Damascus edition, see Najjar, Hikaydt, 319-53, 378-79 n. 130. A Berlin version of the Danif story (We. 667 fols. 80a-123b; We. 668 fols. 2a-63a; see fur-",

year = "1996",

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doi = "10.1163/157006496X00174",

language = "English",

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journal = "Journal of Arabic Literature",

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N1 - Funding Information: * I am grateful to the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for a grant which made possible research for this article at Berlin's Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz in the summer of 1992. 1 For a detailed study of this work, see Chapter Two of my Popular Cairo (Cambridge, 1993). 2 See arts. "Dhii'l-Hirnrna" and "Battal," EII (M. Canard); Udo Steinbach, Ddt al-Himma, kulturgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu einem arabischen Volksroman (Wiesbaden, 1972). "Delhema" is obviously a colloquial form. 3 See art. "'Antar, Romance," EI' (R. Hartmann); art. "'Antar, Sirat," EP (B. Heller); H.T. Norris, The Adventures of Antar (Warminster, 1980); P. Heath, "A Critical Review of Modern Scholarship on Sirat 'Antar Ibn Shadddd and the Popular Sira," Journal of Arabic Literature 15 (1984), 19-44; idem, "Romance as Genre in 'The Thousand and One Nights,"' Journal of Arabic Literature, 18 (1987), 1-21, 19 (1988), 55-67; idem, "Lord and Parry, Sirat 'Antar, Lions," Edebiydt, N.S. 2 (1988), 149-66; R. Kruk, "Warrior Women in Arabic Popular Romance: Qann>ja bint Muzahim and Other Valiant Ladies," Journal of Arabic Literature 24 (1993), 213-30. 4 Ibn Kathir, al-Biddya wa'n-nihtya fi't-ta-rikh (Cairo, 1932), Vol. IX, 334. Muhammad Rajab an-Najjar, Uikryrt ash-shuttdr wa7-'ayydrin fi't-turdth al-'arabi (Kuwait, 1981), 103 n. 110, cites Ibn Kathir's Tafsir without detailed reference. 5 Sirat 'Ali az-Zaybaq al-Misri Ibn Hasan Ra's al-Ghill. Th. Nöldeke, "Zu den dgyptischen Marchen," ZDMG 52 (1888), mentions an 1866 Beirut edition, where the alleged author is named as Ahmad b. 'Abdallah al-Misri. Carl Brockelmann,G eschichted er arabischen Litteratur (2nd. ed. Leiden, 1943-49) (GAL), Suppl. Vol. I, no. 616, lists two Cairo editions dated 1297 [1880] and 1304 [1886-87] respectively. For a 1302 [1884-85] edition see Faruq Khurshid, 'Adwa' 'ald s-sira ash-sha'biyya (Cairo, 1964), 107, 108. For further editions and a detailed summary, based on an undated Damascus edition, see Najjar, Hikaydt, 319-53, 378-79 n. 130. A Berlin version of the Danif story (We. 667 fols. 80a-123b; We. 668 fols. 2a-63a; see fur-

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Comedy, pornography, and social critique in the Romance of Ahmad Danif

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