"The presence of variants within the textual tradition of Kalīla wa-Dimna highlights the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of semi-popular Arabic literature from the thirteenth the nineteenth century. Intriguingly, Kalīla wa-Dimna, despite its textual fluidity retains its distinct identity as a “book” and indeed the changes occurred through writing. Key to this process were the copyists who both preserve and transmit the text and kept constantly adapting it...."

B. Gruendler and Khouloud Khalfallah present at the Boulder meeting on "emerging book cultures"; organizers Marjorie Burge and Matthias L. Richter desribe the aims of the convention below. Click for online conference programme.

Emerging book cultures in Asia and the Middle East: Materiality, Paratexts, Practices

How do written texts come into being? Who writes them, and for whom? On what materials are they written, and using what kinds of tools? How are they composed, assembled, or bound? How does materiality of written texts relate to their forms and functions? How does textual practice vary across time and space? How do individual texts become incorporated into a larger whole? How does a text articulate its own identity? When can we call written texts a “book”?

This conference seeks to bring together scholars working on a variety of textual cultures in Asia and the Middle East to consider these questions and more through the lens of written texts as both artifacts and as practice. Specifically, we welcome papers that consider issues related to the materiality of writing: material, forms, formats, layouts; paratextual devices such as titles, commentary, punctuation, prefaces; textual communities; composite texts; collation and/or compilation practices; the relationship between the material context of a text and its interpretation/reception.

Contact for further information: Matthias Ludwig Richter <matthias.richter@colorado.edu>