Medieval and Modern Philologies

Authors as Readers in the Mamlūk Period and Beyond

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open access | peer reviewed

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.

Keywords Mamlūk scholars • Ǧumhūr al-ṣaḥāba • Ašʿarī • Methodology • Intellectual independence • Ornate prose style • Ottoman book history • Copying • Paratext in manuscripts • Mistakes • Consultation notes • Public reading • Autograph manuscripts • Autograph • Isnād • Books circulation • Ṣaḥḥāflarşeyḫizāde Esʿad Efendi • Readings • Medieval translation • Ottoman scholars’ reading practices • Taǧ al-Dīn al-Subkī • Paratextual marks • Quoting • Authors’ methodology • al-Maqrīzī • Arabic manuscripts • Bilingualism • Individual reading practices • Ownership statements • Medieval commentary • Source methodology • Libraries • Mamlūk period • Intellectual history • Interrelation of writing and reading • Active and responsive reading • Commentaries • Pluri-maḏhab referencing • Ideal of affective relationship • History of reading • Marginalia • Mutakallimūn • Scholars’ networks • al-Ṣafadī • Ottoman reading culture • Literary tastes • Ottoman Mecmūʿa • Collecting • Authorship • Ǧamʿ al-ǧawāmiʿ • Critical reading • Book production • Correspondence • Way of reading texts • Conceptual framework of response • Companions • Book loans • Book circulation • Library • Scholars’ library • ʿAhd Ardašīr

Thema codes GTB • NHTB • 3KL • 1QFA

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-560-5 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-560-5 | ISBN (PRINT) 978-88-6969-561-2 | Number of pages 326 | Dimensions 16x23cm | Published March 8, 2022 | Language fr, en

Copyright © 2022 Élise Franssen. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.