Authors as Readers in the Mamlūk Period and Beyond
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abstract
Authors read and they use their readings within their writing process. Scrutinizing authors’ readings provides information on their tastes, working subjects at a given period, methodology, and scholarly milieu. It also brings a lot to intellectual history, highlighting the texts and manuscripts circulating in a certain context. Eight contributions investigating the readings of as many authors, from different points of view, are gathered here. The studied authors are mainly from pre-modern Islam – al-Qādī al-Fāḍil, Ibn Taymiyya, al-Ṣafadī, al-Subkī, al-Maqrīzī – with three exceptions: an incursion into the Ottoman 19th century – Esʿad Efendi –, a detour by the French court of Charles V – Evrart de Conty –, and a preface about Greek Antiquity – Philodème de Gadara.
History of reading • Ornate prose style • Paratext in manuscripts • Collecting • Consultation notes • Public reading • Book loans • Ǧumhūr al-ṣaḥāba • Mamlūk period • Intellectual history • Ottoman scholars’ reading practices • Scholars’ networks • Bilingualism • Literary tastes • Interrelation of writing and reading • Mamlūk scholars • Ownership statements • Scholars’ library • Source methodology • Way of reading texts • Active and responsive reading • Quoting • Medieval translation • Individual reading practices • Autograph • Ideal of affective relationship • Ottoman Mecmūʿa • Books circulation • Taǧ al-Dīn al-Subkī • Readings • Ottoman reading culture • Ottoman book history • Conceptual framework of response • Isnād • Companions • Authors’ methodology • Authorship • Correspondence • Ašʿarī • Critical reading • Pluri-maḏhab referencing • Book production • Autograph manuscripts • al-Ṣafadī • Arabic manuscripts • Libraries • Medieval commentary • Ṣaḥḥāflarşeyḫizāde Esʿad Efendi • Mutakallimūn • Commentaries • Copying • ʿAhd Ardašīr • Methodology • Paratextual marks • al-Maqrīzī • Book circulation • Intellectual independence • Mistakes • Marginalia • Ǧamʿ al-ǧawāmiʿ • Library