The workshop explored some aspects of the transformation of rhetorical knowledge and literary practice in medieval and early modern Arabic literature. The workshop envisaged covering four main topics:
- The Place of Arabic between Qur'anic philology and the Science of Language
- The Arabic Translation of Aristotle's Rhetoric
- Cognitive Approaches to Arabic Metaphor
- Literary and Rhetorical Transformations in the Nineteenth-Century Levant
Renowned scholars of Arabic linguistics, rhetoric and aesthetics were invited to reflect through their own research on various aspects of the Arabic rhetorical tradition. They include: Abdessalem Mseddi (Tunisia), Abdelkebir Cherkaoui (Morocco), Abdelmajid Jahfa (Morocco) and Charbel Dagher (Lebanon).
The workshop is conceived within 'Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe', the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and organized in cooperation with the Institut für Arabistik und Semitistik of Freie Universität Berlin in relation to a planned project within the SFB 'Episteme und Transfer' at Freie Universität Berlin.
Speakers:
Abdessalem Mseddi (Tunisia). He is Professor of Arabic linguistics at the University of Manouba, Tunisia, and author of several important works including al-Takfīr al-lisānī fil-hadāra al-'arabiyya [Linguistic Thinking in Arab Culture] and al-Uslūb wal-uslūbiyya [Style and Stylistics]. Prof. Mseddi lectured on the place of Arabic in the disciplines of Qur'anic philology and Arabic linguistics.
Abdelkebir Cherkaoui (Morocco). He is Professor of Arabic at several Moroccan universities, where he has taught Arabic literary criticism and translation studies. His publications include Arabic translations of French literary criticism as well as two studies on the Arabic translational politics of the Greek and Persian epics. In this contribution Prof. Cherkaoui dealt with the Arabic translation of Aristotle's Rhetorica, and was giving particular emphasis on translational techniques and the problem of lexical and syntactic difference.
Abdelmajid Jahfa (Morocco). He is Professor of Arabic at the University of Hassan II, Casablanca, writer and director of the research group on the Moroccan short story "majmū'at al-bahth fil-qissa al-qasīra al-maghribiyya". He is the translator of George Lakoff's Metaphors We Live By and the author of several important works in literary criticism, including Madkhal ilā 'ilm al-dalāla al-hadith [An Introduction to Modern Semantics] and Sahwa al-nahar wa sihr al-layl [The Might of the Daytime and the Magic of the Night: Linguistic Studies in Masculinity]. In the workshop Prof. Jahfa proposed novel ways to examine Arabic metaphor on the basis of contemporary research in cognitive science and linguistics.
Charbel Dagher (Lebanon). He is Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Balamand, Lebanon. He has published extensively in literary criticism, history of art and Arab and orientalist concepts of aesthetics. He is also a poet and writer. His most recent publication, al-'arabiyya wal-tamaddun [Arabic and Civilization], is a study of the transformations of literary production and rhetorical notions in the nineteenth century Levant. During the workshop Prof. Dagher explored some aspects of these transformations.
Schedule:
Monday, 22 February
Prof. Abdessalem Mseddi
"The Place of Arabic between Qur'anic philology and the Science of Language"
10 am – 10.15 am
Welcoming word - Prof. Angelika Neuwirth
10.15 am – 10.30 am
Introduction to workshop - Nader Hammami & Islam Dayeh
10.30 am – 12.00
Lecture by Prof. Abdessalem Mseddi
Chair: Islam Dayeh
12.30 – 2 pm
Practical session I
3 pm – 4.30 pm
Practical session II
Tuesday, 23 February
Prof. Abdelkebir Cherkaoui
"The Arabic Translation of Aristotle's Rhetoric
10 am – 11.30 am
Lecture by Prof. Abdelkebir Cherkaoui
Chair: Prof. Angelika Neuwirth
12.00 – 1.30 pm
Practical session I
2.30 pm – 4 pm
Practical session II
Wednesday, 24 February
Prof. Abdelmajid Jahfa
"A Cognitive Approach to Arabic Metaphor"
10 am – 11.30 am
Lecture by Prof. Abdelmajid Jahfa
Chair: Islam Dayeh
12.00 – 1.30 pm
Practical session I
2.30 pm – 4 pm
Practical session II
Thursday, 25 February
Prof. Charbel Dagher
"From mujālasat al-ahbāb to mujālasat al-kitāb: Rhetorical Transformations in the Nineteenth Century Levant"
9 am – 10.30 am
Lecture by Prof. Charbel Dagher
Chair: Nader Hammami
11 am – 12:30
Practical session I
1.30 pm – 3 pm
Practical session II