Between Courtly Literature And Al Andaluz

Chrétien de Troyes uses repeated references to Spain throughout his romances; despite past suggestions that they contain Mozarabic and Islamic themes and motifs, these references have never been commented upon. The book will demonstrate that these allusions to Spain occur at key moments in the romances, and are often coupled with linguistic riddles which serve as roadmaps to the manner in which the romances are to be read. These references and riddles seem to support the idea that some of their themes and motifs in Chrétien's romances are of Andalusi origin. The book also analyzes Chrétien's notion of conjointure and shows it to be the intentional elaboration of a sort of Mischliteratur , which integrates Islamic and Jewish themes and motifs, as well as mystical alchemical symbolism, into the standard religious and literary canons of his time. The contrast afforded by Chrétien's use of irony, and his subtle integration of this matière d'Orient into the standard canon, constitutes a carefully veiled criticism of the social and moral conduct, as well as spiritual beliefs, of twelfth-century Christian society, the crusading mentality, chivalric mores, and even the notion of courtly love . The primary interest of the book lies in the fact that it will be the first to comment upon and analyze Chrétien's references to Spain and the rich matière d'Orient in his romances, while suggesting channels for its transmission, through scholars, merchants, and religious houses, from northern Spain to Champagne.

During the so-called "Age of Melancholy," many writers invoked both traditional and new conceptualizations of the disease in order to account for various types of social turbulence, ranging from discontent and factionalism to civil war. Writing about melancholy became a way to explore both the causes and preventions of political disorder, on both specific and abstract levels. Thus, at one and the same moment, a writer could write about melancholy to discuss specific and ongoing political crises and to explore more generally the principles which generate political conflicts in the first place. In the course of developing a traditional discourse of melancholy of its own, English writers appropriated representations of the disease - often ineffectively - in order to account for the political turbulence during the civil war and Interregnum periods.

This volume offers a reconstruction of the court culture of the taifa kings of al-Andalus (11th century A.D.), using both visual and textual evidence. A focus of particular attention is the court of the Banū Hūd at Zaragoza, and that dynasty's palace, the Aljafería. Principle written sources are not histories and chronicles, but the untranslated poetic anthologies of al-ḥimyarī and al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān. The first part of the book addresses taifa visual and literary languages, with especial emphasis on connections between the literary and visual aspects of taifa aesthetics. The sections on the Aljafería's ornamental program will be of particular interest, not only to historians of Islamic art, but to students of all visual traditions with strong non-figural components. In addition, Part One also proposes that taifa court culture has been considered as a culture of "courtly love," and this argument also forms the point of departure for Part Two. The second part of the study uses luxury objects of Islamic and Limousine production as a point of departure for a detailed comparison of the thematics of taifa poetry in classical Arabic on the themes of courtly love and pleasures with those of the better-known Provençal tradition.

SOCRATES is an international, multi-disciplinary, refereed and indexed scholarly journal. This journal appears quarterly in English. Disciplines Covered: English literature; Philosophy; Politics, Law and Governance/Public Administration. About this issue: This issue of Socrates has been divided into three sections. The first section is English Language & Literature. The paper authored by Mounir Sanhaji discusses the construction of ‘otherness’ in media discourse that is meant to legitimize and naturalize the reproduction of the ideology of opposition that widens the gap between the identification of “Self” and “Other”. The second section of this issue is Philosophy. The Paper authored by Nadia Maftouni has conceptualized “Scientart” and has discussed the interaction between the worlds of art and science. The Paper authored by Dabbagh Hossein has intended to propose a critical leap in Persian music which leads to the creation of three different paradigms in Persian music. The Paper authored by Hareesh Alikkal Gopalakrishnan and Upendra C sketches out the intractable nature of species through a historical account of the species problem. Through this paper, they have tried to decipher a ‘common thread’ that, perhaps, binds all our ideas of species together. The Paper authored by Tang Man-to aims at explaining the ambiguous meaning of forgetting in Meno, Phaedo, Theaetetus and Philebus. It concludes by drawing attention to Paul Ricoeur’s critical examination of Plato’s philosophy of forgetting that he fails to provide an effective resolution to the ordinary forgetting as an attack on the reliability of memory. The Paper authored by Viviana Yaccuzzi Polisena concluded that the Being cannot be localized, it is infinite and continuous; the Being bears the cosmic code. Therefore, existence basically shares the same cosmic information because everything was thought for its flutter to eternity. The Paper authored by Alexandros Schismenos illuminates the importance of time for philosophical thought and, more generally, for human social and psychical life, in the context of the ontology of Cornelius Castoriadis. Castoriadis, who asserted that “being is time – and not in the horizon of time”, correlated history to society and being to temporality within the social-historical stratum, the ontological plane created by human existence, where “existence is signification”. The Paper authored by Miquel Ricart is primarily in Spanish with it’s abstract in English and Spanish. This paper aims to interpret and comment on some of Fernando Vallejo's thoughts contained in his novel El Desbarrancadero. It says that the Colombian author's text includes deep reflections on essential issues of human existence and their fundamental circumstances. Throughout the pages of El Desbarrancadero, ideas about life are exposed in their most critical aspect, masterfully described by Vallejo. The third section of this issue is Political Science. The Paper authored by Manas Roy enquires into the challenges in front of the Government in India for the successful implementation of E-governance services. It also tends to find out the potential opportunities available.

This issue of SOCRATES has been divided into three sections. The first section of this issue is English Literature. The paper authored by Jasmine Fernandez, Dr C Upendra and Dr Amarjeet Nayak explore the medical thriller Coma through a grotesque lens. This study provides us with the idea that grotesquery is employed as a template to translate meanings and interpretations of medical thrillers. Through multiple responses as elicited by the grotesque, these thrillers engage with readers differently and hence produce varied responses. The second section of this issue is Philosophy. The first paper of this section has been authored by Ghasemali Kouchnani and Nadia Maftouni explores the Semiotics of Love in Suhrawardi’s Allegorical Philosophy. The paper concludes that the theme of Suhrawardi’s stories is mystical love and the wayfarer loves God. This love is to be spiritual emotion rather than passionate love simply because, on his way, the seeker must overcome his own inner and outer senses. These perceptions are symbolized by ten towers, ten graves, ten flyers, ten wardens, five chambers and five gates. These are the allegories of perceptions, i.e., the five internal and the five external senses could be seen in “Treatise on Towers”, “A Tale of Occidental Exile”, “The Simurgh’s Shrill Cry”, “The Red Intellect”, and “On the Reality of Love”. The second paper of this section has been authored by Alexandros Schismenos. The paper represents an opinion that, as a chimera, time-travel is non-feasible and impossible. To support his claim the author briefly outlines the origins of the time-travel concept and its epistemological and metaphysical/ontological conditions. If these conditions prove to be absurd, the logical impossibility of time-travel will have been demonstrated. The third section of this issue is Political science. The first paper of this section has been authored by Dr Michelle L Blakely and Dr Curtis R Blakely. This paper represents the first application of the Game theory to the field of penology, conceptualizing the relationship between prisons and prisoners as a “game” provides insight into the motivations, strategic behaviors and decision-making processes of its players. The second paper of this section has been authored by Rotimi Adeforiti which tends to identify the factors responsible for the crises of integration in the Nigeria federal system. The paper concludes that the foundations of federalism were laid by the British consciously or unconsciously for the existence of Nigeria. The country subscribed to federal system of government and had been practicing it. The problem facing Nigeria federal system today among others is no longer amalgamation of the country but the interest of various elite or elite ‘to be’ in the country. The third paper of this section has been authored by Gizachew Wondie Gifayehu which attempts to analyse the development and practice of citizenship and citizenship rights in Ethiopia. The fourth paper of this section has been authored by Prof. Inderjeet Singh Sodhi. This paper deals with the current status of water management in India and its emerging issues and challenges. The fifth paper of this section has been authored by Dr Prakash Chand Kandpal. This paper focuses on the development of sustainable cities, highlighting the actions and initiatives undertaken by the Government of Delhi to combat the menace of pollution in Delhi. The sixth paper of this section authored by Isha presents the concept of Public-Private Partnership and also evaluates its progress in school education in India. The paper concludes that the introduction of the PPP model in school education in India could help in the achievement of desired results as the payments are made by the government against the services delivered through the private sector. But there is a risk sharing between both government and private sector which is helpful for the delivery of public services in an efficient manner. However, PPP in the education sector has a long way to go as the schools approved under PPP model in some states of India like Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal are still not functioning. The seventh paper of this section has been authored by Sisay Assemrie Temesgen. This paper analyzes the moral acceptability of violent force and retaliation at the individual and community level, and in the arena of national and international politics.

This stimulating and graceful book explores Iberian Jewish attitudes toward cultural transition during the 12th and 13th centuries, when growing intolerance toward Jews in Islamic al-Andalus and the southward expansion of the Christian Reconquista led to the relocation of Jews from Islamic to Christian domains. By engaging literary topics such as imagery, structure, voice, landscape, and geography, Jonathan P. Decter traces attitudes toward transition that range from tenacious longing for the Islamic past to comfort in the Christian environment. Through comparison with Arabic and European vernacular literatures, Decter elucidates a medieval Hebrew poetics of estrangement and nostalgia, poetic responses to catastrophe, and the refraction of social issues in fictional narratives. Published with the generous support of the Koret Foundation.