The Life and Times of Abū Tammām by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣūlī preceded by al-Ṣūlī’s Epistle to Abū l-Layth Muzāḥim ibn Fātik

The Life and Times of Abū Tammām by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣūlī preceded by al-Ṣūlī’s Epistle to Abū l-Layth Muzāḥim ibn Fātik

Library of Arabic Literature. New York: New York University Press, 2015

The Life and Times of Abū Tammām of the courtier and scholar Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibnYaḥyā al-Şūlī (d. 333 or 336 H / 946 or 947 AD), translated here for the first time into English, offers a convincing plea for "modern poetry" and for Abū Tammām's importance as a poet against the attacks of his critics. At the same time, it draws a lively panorama of the literature business in Baghdad and Samara. Like the poet who defends it, the book is epoch-making: it represents a fundamental step in the development of Arabic poetics and opens a long series of works on innovation in poetry.