Margaret Larkin. Al-Mutanabbī: Voice of the Abbasid Poetic Ideal

Authors : Serdar Cihan GÜLEÇ

Pages : 210-213

Doi:10.33931/dergiabant.1259866

View : 49 | Download : 147

Publication Date : 2023-05-31

Article Type : Other Papers

Abstract :This book review presents Margaret Larkin’s work, Al-Mutanabbī: Voice of the Abbasid Poetic Ideal. The work is a belles-lettres critique of a literary genre, the poetry of Al-Mutanabbī, which discusses the function of poetry in the Abbasid ideal. Larkin\`s interpretation of history, particularly medieval Islamic history, reveals the significance of contextualizing poetic activity in the 10th century Islamic court authority, as it is a disseminated media power and has an iconoclastic impact in the community, centralizing institutionalized power and supremacy. The author discusses several aspects of the poetic material in relation to the poet\`s life story, plight, and identity crisis, but also indicates its derivation from the political substructure, i.e., the Abbasid ideal. The political ideal is not a monolithic project; it requires an aesthetic vision and an attractive public image. According to Larkin\`s discernment, in achieving an Islamic empire discourse, the mobility of state power is grounded on the factor of charisma, the realm of which is poetry in the medieval Arab world. Larkin fills a scholarly gap in current literary studies.
Keywords : Arap Dili ve Belagati, Klasik Arap Şiiri, Söylem Analizi, Edebiyat Geleneği, Edebiyat Tenkidi