Arabian Satire (e-book) (used book) | ¿Medan al-Shwe¿ir | bookbook.eu

Description

This lively volume collects poems by Hmedan
al-Shwe?ir, who lived in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula shortly before
the hegemony of the Wahhabi movement in the early 18th
century. A master of satire known for his ribald humor, self-deprecation, and
invective verse (hija), Hmedan
was acerbic in his criticisms of society and its morals, voiced in in a poetic
idiom that is widely referred to as “Nabati,” here a mix of
Najdi vernacular and archaic vocabulary and images dating back to the
origins of Arabic poetry. In Arabian Satire, Hmedan
is mostly concerned with worldly matters, and addresses these in different
guises: as the patriarch at the helm of the family boat and its unruly crew; as
a picaresque anti-hero who revels in taking potshots at the established order,
its hypocrisy, and its moral failings; as a peasant who labors over his palm
trees, often to no avail and with no guarantee of success; and as a poet
recording in verse how he thinks things ought to be.

The poems in Arabian Satire, reveal
a plucky, headstrong, yet intensely socially committed figure—representative of
the traditional Najdi ethos—who
infuses his verse with proverbs, maxims, and words of wisdom expressed plainly
and conversationally. Hmedan is accordingly quoted by historians
of the Gulf region and in anthologies of popular sayings. This is the first
full translation of this remarkable poet.