Literary Spectacles Of Sultanship

The so-called Mamluk sultans who ruled Egypt and Syria between the late thirteenth and early sixteenth centuries AD have often been portrayed as lacking in legitimacy due to their background as slave soldiers. Sultanic biographies written by chancery officials in the early period of the sultanate have been read as part of an effort of these sultans to legitimise their position on the throne. This book reconsiders the main corpus of six such biographies written by the historians Ibn ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir (d. 1293) and his nephew Shāfiʿ ibn ʿAlī (d. 1330) and argues that these were in fact far more complex texts. An understanding of their discourses of legitimisation needs to be embedded within a broader understanding of the multi-directional discourses operating across the texts. The study proposes to interpret these texts as "spectacles", in which authors emplotted the reign of a sultan in thoroughly literary and rhetorical fashion, making especially extensive use of textual forms prevalent in the chancery. In doing so the authors reimagined the format of the biography as a performative vehicle for displaying their literary credentials and helping them negotiate positions in the chancery and the wider courtly orbit.

Building upon previous volumes by the same editor, this book contains studies of nine of the most important writers of Arabic-language textual sources for the Crusades and the Frankish presence in the eastern Mediterranean in the period 1097-1291.

"Delving into personal letters, court documents, wills, correspondence with Sufi masters and the travel records of seafarers and traders, Faroqhi has identified a broad range of areas where individuals were able to create a flourishing and vibrant urban civilization, even while politically the Empire was beginning its relentless decline. By presenting a new vision of Ottoman cultural history, Subjects of the Sultan fills a huge gap and will fascinate not only historians of the Middle East but also social historians, students and discerning readers interested in history."--BOOK JACKET.

"The daughter of a wealthy, ambitious man, Rowena knew that her father longed to marry her to a title, preferably the Duke of Wenfield, whom she disliked and did not wish to marry herself. To avoid marriage, they hatched a plot. Posing as brother and sister, they would take a trip on a yacht with their likeminded friends and would help each other find the love of their dreams. Plans went awry on the Mediterranean, when Rowna was kidnapped by a Sultan, and was imprisoned in his harem. It seemed that they would be parted forever. How the Duke rescued her, and they found their true love, is all told in this exciting and romantic novel by Barbara Cartland."

What does it mean to consider philosophy as a species of not just literature but world literature? The authors in this collection explore philosophy through the lens of the "worlding" of literature--that is, how philosophy is connected and reconnected through global literary networks that cross borders, mix stories, and speak in translation and dialect. Historically, much of the world's most influential philosophy, from Plato's dialogues and Augustine's confessions to Nietzsche's aphorisms and Sartre's plays, was a form of literature--as well as, by extension, a form of world literature. Philosophy as World Literature offers a variety of accounts of how the worlding of literature problematizes the national categorizing of philosophy and brings new meanings and challenges to the discussion of intersections between philosophy and literature.

By studying the portrayal of the Turkic peoples and the Ottoman Turks in a wide range of Malay literary texts of the 14th–19th centuries, this book reveals how this theme informed the religious and political ideals and political mythology of Malay society.