Contrariness in Classical Arabic Literature

The entertaining and informative Arabic anthology by al-Thaʿālibī (d. 1038), Beautifying the Ugly and Uglifying the Beautiful, offers poems and prose with contrary or paradoxical statements, thematically arranged. The book contains a new edition and a richly annotated English translation.

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In his Beautifying the Ugly and Uglifying the Beautiful (Taḥsīn al-qabīḥ wa-taqbīḥ al-ḥasan) the prolific anthologist al-Thaʿālibī (d. 429/1038) offers a thematically arranged selection of Arabic poems and prose anecdotes or sayings with contrary or paradoxical purport, such as praise of miserliness, boredom, sickness, and death, or condemnation of generosity, intelligence, youth, and music. The book is both entertaining and informative, giving insight in premodern Arab and Islamic culture. It contains a new edition of the Arabic text and a complete English translation (the first in any language) with extensive annotation, preceded by an introduction with the necessary background of the genre.