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Ibn Bassām as a literary historian, a critic and a stylist : a study of al-Dhakhīra

This thesis attempts to study the celebrated literaryhistorical and critical work, al-TIhakhira of Ibn Bassam, from a number of aspects that have until now received either inadeQuate attention or no attention at all. It is divided into two parts, the first of which is concerned principally with the author and his work in their historical and critical context. There are six main sections in this part: The cultural background of the fourth and fifth centuries; Ibn Bassam's life; Ibn Bassam's education and literary career; The background to al-TIhakhira; Ibn Bassam's regional system and some of his critical attitudes; Ibn Bassam's literary criticism. The second part consists of an attempt to analyse, in different ways, a number of sample passages of Ibn Bassam's writing, in order to examine the techniQues underlying his artistic composition. It is not claimed that the means by which his effects were obtained were necessarily selfconscious; it seems, however, worthwhile to investigate any characteristics that can be identified and analysed, if we are to be able fully to evaluate and appreciate the literary Qualities of the best Arabic prose-writing. This part concludes with a summary of the characteristics of Ibn Bass~'s style that emerge from the detailed analyses. Finally, the names of all the liteOrary figures dealt with in al-Dhakhira are listed in an appendix.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:377152
Date January 1986
CreatorsBaker, Khalid Lafta
PublisherUniversity of Glasgow
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://theses.gla.ac.uk/3948/

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