New Andalusi literature
From time to time it is worth re-acquainting oneself with new literatures in a field and since publishing on al-Andalus has been so vibrant in the past twenty or so years I decided to have a look at a fw new works published in the period 200-07 which I had not previously studied. I tried to flick through them with your essays in mind, wondering for which essays they may prove to be useful resources.
1.Jason Webster, Andalus: Unlocking the Secrets of Moorish Spain (London: Doubleday, 2004)
I really disliked Webster’s book Duende: A Journey in Search of Flamenco but I was quite charmed by some of this text, which is part travelogue, part popular history. Its premise is slightly silly, in that he goes off in search of Spain’s hidden Islamic heritage, which is not really that hidden as there’s a massive academic literature on the subject, but Webster writes powerfully on the connections between north African migrant culture in contemporary Spain and al-Andalus. Overall, a book recommended for those who are writing about the Andalusi legacy, especially in Spain, and for those who want an interesting, easy read about al-Andalus.
2. Cynthia Robinson, In Praise of Song: The Making of Courtly Culture in al-Andalus and Provence, 1005-1134 A.D. (Leiden: Brill, 2002)
Recommended for those with an interest in the cultural fertility of the Ta’ifa period, those who want to look at connections between literary and artistic cultures, and those interested in the development of European courtly love poetry and Andalusi antecedents, especially on the connections between cultures on both sides of the Pyrenees.
3. Gil Anidjar, “Our Place in Al-Andalus”: Kabbalah, Philosophy, Literature in Arab Jewish Letters (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002)
Recommended for those with a stomach for tough theory who have an interest in Jewish Andalusi writing and, in particular, anyone concerned with Maimonides, Ibn al-Astarkūwī and mystical texts such as the Zohar.
4. Janina M. Safran, The Second Umayyad Caliphate: The Articulation of Caliphal Legitimacy in al-Andalus (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000)
A vital text for those working on the Umayyads as it represents the first book-length treatment of the vital political theme of Umayyad ‘overstretch’ in the C10 claiming, or reclaiming, of the caliphal title. The book explores this caliphal ideology through architecture, literature, political and historical texts.
5. Ann Christys, Christians in al-Andalus (711-1000) (Richmond: Curzon, 2002)
A clearly-written book, strong on analysing primary and secondary sources, which will prove useful for those looking at religious minorities and potentially for those looking at cosmopolitanism. Sample subjects include: The martyrs of Eulogius, Orosius, Recemund and Sara the Goth! It’s very good on the complexities of relationship between Christians and Muslims and the culture they made together.
6. Pietra M. Sijpesteijn, Lennart Sundelin, Sofia Torallas Tovar, Amalia Zomeno (eds), From al-Andalus to Khurasan: Documents from the Medieval Islamic World (Leiden: Brill, 2007)
Recommended for those who want to look at rather dry-seeming documentary evidence relating to property, water and building in the Nasrid period (which can offer many interesting clues as to the character of Nasrid society), or who want a clear idea of Arabic source evidence from that period.
7. Christophe Picard, Le Portugal musulman (VIIIe – XIIIe siècle): L’Occident d’al-Andalus sous domination islamique (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 2000)
Recommended for those who read French and want to know more about Islamic Portugal., those interested in the Andalusi periphery, urban history or the relationship between the marine culture of Portuguese Islam and scientific innovation.
