出版社：Middle East Documentation Center (MEDOC), University of Chicago
摘要：Readers interested in Arabic history have waited a long time for a history of Arabic literature during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods that would provide an outline, both comprehensive and concise, of this much-neglected field. Finally, a volume of the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature has appeared that promises to fill the gap. All too soon, however, the reader interested in Mamluk and Ottoman literature will realize that the wait is not over. Whereas some of the articles are of high quality (others are of much lower quality), the volume as a whole does not give an overall impression of the period in question, because its concept is marred by a highly Eurocentric approach. First of all, it treats Mamluk and Ottoman literature under the heading “post-classical.” Second, it is divided into the categories poetry-prose-drama; and third, poetry and prose are each subdivided according to a characterization as elite or popular. In the following, I will address these three major points as they relate to the book in general without treating each article individually. In a last section I will deal especially with Salma Jayyusi’s opening article on Mamluk poetry. As is often the case with reviews, aspects that discomfited and even angered the reviewer are dealt with in more detail than those that satisfied him. Therefore I found it more useful to focus on the problematic points of the book than to praise individual authors for their new insights, of which there are many. Further, I will focus on the topics especially relevant to the present journal and treat articles on the Ottoman period rather briefly.
