São Paulo – Classical Arab narrative will be the topic of a mini-course taught by professor Mamede Mustafa Jarouche at the Social Service of Commerce (Sesc) this week. From February 17 to 19, Jarouche will read and analyze classical books from Arabic literature at the Social Service of Commerce’s Research and Formation Center, in São Paulo.
Books will include Kalila e Dimna, written by Ibn Almuqaffac in the 8th century, whose plotlines explore notions of political theory. Also to be looked into is the Book of One Thousand and One Nights , written from the 9th century, whose author is unknown.
The best-known Arabic book ever, the book tells the story of Queen Scheherazade. She marries King Shahryar, who was cheated on by his first wife, after which he decides to sleep with a different woman each night and kill her the following morning. Scheherazade consummates her marriage with the King. In order to survive, she tells him a new story every time the sun sets, but always leaves the ending for the following night. This way, the King always keeps her alive another day.
The book was first translated from Arabic into Portuguese by Jarouche himself and published in four volumes from 2005 through 2012. One of the book’s tales, “The seven viziers,” will also be discussed. “During the course, I will give an overview of classical Arabic storytelling through these books,” Jarouche told ANBA this Thursday (11).
Jarouche adds that Arabic literature is “narrative-based par excellence,” and this characteristic will be explained to students in the course. “The act of narrating, in Arabic texts, is structural. It is a way of organizing discourse, of conveying the image to the reader’s mind. That is a systematic (style) in Arabic literature,” said Jarouche, a professor at the Oriental Languages Departmenet of the School of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo (FFLCH-USP).
Course “Classical Arab narrative”
February 17 to 19, 2016, 3pm to 5pm
BRL 18 to BRL 60
Additional information: https://centrodepesquisaeformacao.sescsp.org.br/atividade/a-narrativa-arabe-classica (in Portuguese)
Enrolment: http://seminario.cfinternet.sescsp.org.br/index.cfm?cgs_codigo=2380 (in Portuguese)
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum