Literatures of the Premodern Islamic World

Harvard FAS

This course investigates poetry and prose composed from the 7th to 18th centuries across contexts influenced by the Islamic tradition. Reading court poetry, love poems, belles lettres, mystical verse, national epics, and travel literature we will ask: What, if anything, makes literature “Islamic” or “Islamicate”, and what continuities in literary practice abided across the diverse cultural contexts in which Muslims composed? What were the criteria of eloquent and beautiful language in the…