Summary

This text, a derivative of LITERATURES OF ASIA, AFRICA, AND LATIN AMERICA gathers together a broad selection of representative, AUTHORitative writings-spanning antiquity to the present. It combines extensive introductions, headnotes, and bibliographies with excellent literary translations of the best contemporary and classic writers. This is an anthology that students will want to take home with them and to read long after the course is completed. PICK A PENGUIN! We are delighted to offer select Penguin Putnam TITLEs at a substantial discount to our students when you request a special package of one or more Penguin TITLEs with any Prentice Hall text. Contact Your Prentice Hall sales representative for special ordering instructions.

Introduction.

SUMERIAN, AKKADIAN, AND EGYPTIAN LITERATURES.

The Pyramid Texts (funeral poems) (Egypt) (2464-2355 B.C.).
Enheduanna (poems) (Sumer) (c. 2300 B.C.).
from The Epic of Gilgamesh (epic poem) (Babylonia) (c. 2000 B.C.).
Adapa: The Man (myth) (Babylonia) (2nd millennium B.C.).
The Shipwrecked Sailor (story) (Egypt) (c. 2040-1650 B.C.).
Tale of the Doomed Prince (story) (Egypt) (c. 2040-1650 B.C.).
The Book of the Dead (spells) (Egypt) (c. 1500 B.C.).
Ancient Egyptian Love Poems (poems) (Egypt) (1554-1085 B.C.).

BIBLICAL LITERATURE: OLD TESTAMENT, NEW TESTAMENT, AND INTERTESTAMENT.

Introduction.
The Old Testament (11th century to 1st century B.C.) Israel.
Genesis.
Job.
Songs of David (Psalms).
Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher.
The Song of Songs.
Isaiah.
Daniel.
Jewish Apocrypha.

NEW TESTAMENT (55-100).

Matthew (gospel) (Israel or Syrian Antioch) (A.D. 80-110).
Mark (gospel) (Israel, Syria, Alexandria, or Rome?) (after A.D. 70).
Luke (gospel) (Place of composition unknown) (A.D. 80-85).
John (gospel) (Ephesus?) (between A.D. 80-120).
Paul (letter) (Tarsus/Jerusalem) (A.D. 5 to A.D. mid-60s).
Revelation (Ephesus or Patmos?) (apocalypse) (100?).

INTERTESTAMENT: JEWISH PSEUDOEPIGRAPHA, DEAD SEA SCROLLS, JEWISH-CHRISTIAN ODES, GNOSTIC SCRIPTURES (2nd CENTURY B.C. TO 3RD CENTURY A.D.)

The Book of Jubilees (Israel/Alexandria) (2nd century B.C.).
The Thanksgiving Psalms (Dead Sea Scrolls) (Israel) (1st century A.D.). Introduction to Gnosticism.
The Gospel of Thomas (prophecies, proverbs, and parables of Jesus) (Syria, Palestine, or Mesopotamia) (c. A.D. 200).
The Odes of Solomon (Syria?) (2nd century).
The Hymn of the Pearl (narrative poem) (Syria?) (2nd or 3rd century).
On the Origin of the World (Gnostic genesis) (Greek/Coptic Egypt) (3rd century).

NEOPLATONISM.

Plotinus (Neoplatonic philosophy) (Alexandria, Egypt) (205-270).

EARLY ARABIC LITERATURE.

Al-Khansa (poems) (Arabia) (575-646).
Muallaqat (The Suspended Odes) (Arabia) (6th-early 7th centuries).
The Quran (Arabia) (7th century).
Rabia the Mystic (poems and miracle story) (Iraq) (712-801).
Abu Nuwas (poem) (Persia/Baghdad) (b. between 747-762, d. between 813-815).
The Thousand and One Nights (tales) (Baghdad, Iraq) (c. 9th-14th centuries).
Usamah Ibn Munqidh (memoir) (Syria) (1095-1188).

POEMS OF ARAB ANDALUSIA.

Introduction (711-1492).
Ibn Shuhayd (Córdoba) (992-1034).
Ibn Hazm (Córdoba) (994-1064).
Solomon Ben Gabirol (Hebrew) (Máaga) (c.1021-1022-c.1055).
Ibn Ammar (Sevilla) (1030-1083).
Ibn Burd (Córdoba) (d. 1053).
Judah Halevi (Hebrew) (c. 1075-1141).
Abu l-Hasan Al-Hursi (Eastern Andalusia) (d. 1095).
Ibn Abi l-Haytham (uncertain period).
Ibn Iyad (Central Andalusia) (1083-1149).
Abu l-Hasan Ibn Al-Qabturnuh (Badajoz) (d. 1134).
Abu l-Qasim al-Manisi (Sevilla) (12th century).

PERSIAN LITERATURE.

Ferdowsi (epic poem) (Persia) (c. 940-1020).
Omar Khayyam (poems) (Persia) (c.1048- 1131).
Attar (Farid Ad-Din Attar) (poems) (Persia) (c.1120-1220).
Rumi (poems) (Persia/Turkey) (1207-1273).
Sadi (prose and poems) (Persia) (1184-1292).
Hafiz (poems) (Persia) (c. 1320-1390).

MODERN ARABIC, HEBREW, TURKISH, ALEXANDRIAN GREEK, AND PERSIAN LITERATURES.

Introduction.
Traditional Song (Algeria) (from uncertain period).
Constantine Cavafy (poems) (Alexandria/Egypt) (1863-1933).
S. Y. Agnon (story) (Israel) (1888-1970).
Nazim Hikmet (poem) (Turkey) (1902-1963).
Naguib Mahfouz (story) (Egypt) (1911-).
Mririda Nait Attik (poems) (Berber) (Morocco) (c.1919-).
Yashar Kemal (story) (Turkey) (1922-).
Nizar Qabbani (poems) (Syria) (1923-).
Yehuda Amichai (poems) (Israel) (1924-).
Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (poems) (Iraq) (1926-1964).
Yusuf Idris (story) (Egypt) (1927-1990).
Joyce Mansour (poems) (Egypt/England/France) (1928-1988).
Adunis (Ali Ahmed Said) (poems) (Syria/Lebanon) (1930-).
Dan Pagis (poems) (Israel) (1930-1986).
Nawal Al-Saadawi (story, memoir) (Egypt) (1931-).
Forugh Farrokhzad (poems) (Iran) (1935-1967).
Reza Baraheni (poem) (Iran) (1935-).
Dahlia Ravikovitch (poems) (Israel) (1936-).
Haydar Haydar (story) (Syria) (1936-).
Mohamed el-Bisatie (story) (Egypt) (1938-).
Amos Oz (story) (Israel) (1939-).
Mohammed Mrabet (story) (Morocco) (1940-).
Mahmud Darwish (poems) (Palestine/Lebanon) (1942-).
Hatif Janabi (poems) (Iraq/Poland) (1955-).
Khaled Mattawa (poems) (Libya) (1964-).

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Excerpts

Literatures of the Middle Easthas been designed to present teachers and students with a textbook representative of the finest works of this province of world literature, one that is amenable to many different teaching approaches. This book includes a wealth of materials, so as to give teachers choices that they can tailor to their own preferences, needs, and expertise. This capaciousness will allow students to read around in authors, periods, arid traditions that particularly excite them, supplementing assigned reading and providing an essential source book for their individual research. Teaching such a broad spectrum of texts may be challenging, and with this in mind we have supported the literary texts with a full apparatus: a general introduction, section introductions, and extensive headnotes. These supporting materials provide broad and specific contexts, placing literary texts within important cultural, linguistic, and historical movements. In addition, the headnotes include up-to-date bibliographies to guide students for further research. Translations have been selected primarily for their literary quality because we firmly believe that it is a disservice to students, professors, and authors to present a great work of literature in an English translation that does not read as literature. The depth and quality of these texts demand excellent translations, so that students and professors may encounter them in a form that preserves their artistic integrity and delight. The translators featured here are among the finest in their fields, and many are themselves prominent writers. They include Richard Burton, Ezra Pound, Chana -Bloch, Stephen Mitchell, Denys Johnson-Davies, Robert Pinsky, Robert Alter, Daniel Halpern, and Paul Bowles, among others. Our one rule has been to include no translation that is merely adequate. In a sense, then, this text is a showcase for the art of literary translation, and our hope has been to compile an anthology that students will want to take home with them and to read around in long after the course is completed. In addition to literary texts, Literatures of the Middle Eastincludes selections from religious and philosophical texts that have literary merit, such as the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic and other intertestamental scriptures, and the Qnran, as well as Sufi poems and teaching stories. These beautiful works also provide a cosmological and cultural context for literary texts. Extensive headnotes and introductions trace out religious movements and influence, giving students a broad overview of world religions, which have often inspired and been an essential part of world literatures. In dealing with many literatures written in many languages, a special problem is presented by the question of orthography. Generally speaking, we have chosen to use those transliteration systems that are best designed for the general, nonspecialist reader, for whom a more scholarly orthography would prove less informative. We would like to thank the scholars who have contributed to the project: Richard Serrano and Ariel Bloch for suggestions and comments on the selections. We would also like to thank Richard Serrano for helping us regularize and simplify the orthography for the Arabic sections, and especially to thank Ericka Embry, David Livingston, and Ayame Fukuda for their essential help in research, typing, organization, and in the thousand small tasts that a project like this entails. Ayame Fukuda provided essential research help and also co-wrote several introductions. We would also like to thank Carrie Brandon, who had the vision to see the need for this book to see light. We would also like to acknowledge the following reviewers: Ali Jimale Ahmed, Queens College; Peter Edmunds, Lansing (MI) Community College; Lydia Liv, University of California, Berkeley; Michael Palencia-Roth, University of Illinois;