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Maq¿m¿t Ab¿ Zayd al-Sar¿j¿ is a scholarly, Arabic-only edition of the celebrated work by al-¿ar¿r¿, which is also available in English translation from the Library of Arabic Literature as
Impostures. Al-¿ar¿r¿'s text consists of fifty stories about the adventures of the itinerant con man and master of persuasion Ab¿ Zayd al-Sar¿j¿, as told by the equally itinerant and often gullible narrator al-¿¿rith ibn H¿mmam. Al-¿ar¿r¿ was a virtuoso writer of the rhymed prose narrative genre known as the
maq¿mah, which would continue as a popular literary form into the twentieth century.
An Arabic edition with an Arabic foreword and English scholarly apparatus.
About the author
al-¿ar¿r¿ (Author) Al-¿ar¿r¿ (d. 516/1122) was a poet, scholar, and government official from Basra, Iraq. He is celebrated for his virtuosity in producing rhymed prose narratives, the
Maq¿m¿t.
Michael Cooperson (Editor) Michael Cooperson is Professor of Arabic in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA. His translations include
The Life of Ibn ¿anbal by Ibn al-Jawz¿ for the Library of Arabic Literature, and
The Author and His Doubles by the eminent Moroccan literary critic Abdelfattah Kilito.
Abdelfattah Kilito (Foreword by) Abdelfattah Kilito is the author of several acclaimed studies of Arabic literature, including
Arabs and the Art of Storytelling and a study of the
maq¿m¿t genre. He is the recipient of the Great Moroccan Award, the Al Owais Award for Criticism and Literature Studies, and a Prix from the Académie Française.
