Wonder in Classical Arabic Literary Theory

Sponsored by the University Seminar in Arabic Studies

Thursday, January 28

Time: 7:00 - 8:00pm 

Location: Faculty House

64 Morningside Drive, New York, NY 10027

Lara Harb

Assistant Professor of Classical Arabic Literature

Princeton University  

Lara Harb's research focuses on classical Arabic literary theory and more generally on pre-modern Arabic conceptions of the "literary."  She is currently writing her first book entitled Wonder in Classical Arabic Literary Theory, in which she argues that the ability to evoke wonder became the defining aspect of poetic evaluation for critics around the turn of the 11th century CE.  This, she shows, marks a shift in aesthetic judgment in the classical Arabic critical tradition that allows for the articulation of the aesthetics of the New Style of poetry that developed in the early Abbasid period. 

The talk will begin at 7:00 pm. If you would like to join us for dinner at 6:00 pm, please RSVP to the seminar's rapporteur Sahar Ishtiaque Ullah (su2156@columbia.edu) no later than Thursday, January 21, 2016. Please note that the cost of dinner is $25, payable by check made out to "Columbia University."

A listing of upcoming Seminars in Arabic Studies is available here

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