Looking Back at Al-Andalus: The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Literature

By Alexander E. Elinson

Looking Back at al-Andalus focuses on Arabic and Hebrew Literature that expresses the loss of al-Andalus from multiple vantage points. In doing so, this book examines the definition of al-Andalus' literary borders, the reconstruction of which navigates between traditional generic formulations and actual political, military and cultural challenges. By looking at a variety of genres, the book shows that literature aiming to recall and define al-Andalus expresses a series of symbolic literary objects more than a geographic and political entity fixed in a single time and place. Looking Back at al-Andalus offers a unique examination into the role of memory, language, and subjectivity in presenting a series of interpretations of what al-Andalus represented to different writers at different historical-cultural moments.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9004166807
• ISBN13: 9789004166806
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Brill
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 9.6"