|
Advanced search
Previous page
|
Title
Osiris Reborn: The Arabic Epic of Sirat Sayf Ibn Dhi Yazan and the Prophetic Königsnovelle |
Date
2024 |
Author(s)
Blatherwick, Helen |
Contributor(s)
Lothspeich, Pamela |
Abstract
This chapter explores the intertextual relationship between S@rat al-Malik Sayf ibn Dh@ Yazan (The Adventures of King Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan), a medieval Egyptian popular epic, and the 'Prophetic Königsnovelle' (Prophetic 'Kings novel'), an Egyptian 'discourse' dating to the Greco-Roman period. Through a comparative reading of two particular variants of Sörat Sayf and the Prophetic Königsnovelle, I argue that, just as the Prophetic Königsnovelle is a response to the cultural trauma inflicted by external threats and foreign rule in ancient Egyptian times, the story of the foundation of Egypt in both Sörat Sayf variants can be read as a veiled reworking of the history of the Arab conquest of Egypt in 639'642 CE. Furthermore, despite being separated by centuries, all three texts express the fears surrounding the loss of integrity of the socio-cultural unit through a shared conceptualization of kingship and power. The two Sayf variants branch out to follow quite different plots in their later stages, but the intertextual echoes of the Prophetic Königsnovelle that can be traced within them lend them subtextual thematic conformity, and indicate that the worldview expressed in the older Prophetic Königsnovelle lives on in this late-medieval epic. |
Subject(s)
PI Oriental languages and literatures; PN Literature (General) |
Publisher
Routledge |
Relation
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/41384/; 10.4324/9780429286698-17 |
Type of publication
Book Chapters; NonPeerReviewed |
Identifier
Blatherwick, Helen (2024) 'Osiris Reborn: The Arabic Epic of Sirat Sayf Ibn Dhi Yazan and the Prophetic Königsnovelle.' In: Lothspeich, Pamela, (ed.), The Epic World. London: Routledge, pp. 189-200. (The Routledge Worlds) |
Repository
London - SOAS, University of London
|
Added to C-A: 2024-02-26;09:44:17 |
© Connecting-Africa 2004-2024 | Last update: Saturday, July 6, 2024 |
Webmaster
|