The Arabian Epic: Volume 1, Introduction
Heroic and Oral Story-telling

The hero cycles of Arabic belong to the literary tradition of The Arabian Nights and can be seen as the popular epics of their civilisation. This first volume introduces the background to the cycles.

M. C. Lyons (Author)

9780521017381, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 June 2005

200 pages
24.4 x 16.9 x 1.2 cm, 0.327 kg

The hero cycles of Arabic belong to the literary tradition of The Arabian Nights and can be seen as the popular epics of their civilisation. The Arabian epic covers eleven of the main representatives of this genre. Each of these has been developed through the processes of accretive oral story-telling by means of an accumulation of narrative and folklore motifs, many of which belong to what can be seen as a universal tradition. The work is published in three volumes. The first volume introduces the background and the dimensions in which the cycles are set, while the second volume analyses their contents and the literary formulae used in their construction, as well as listing analogues found in other literatures. The epitomes surveyed in the final volume provide non-Arabists with a more immediate insight into the contents of the cycles, drawing attention to their narrative colouring and texture.

Preface
Introduction to volume one
Part I. Dimensions: Time and space
Racial groups
Social organisation, authority and the individual
Women, love and marriage
Background of beliefs
Part II. Narrative Settings: War
The sea
Common: uncommon
Part III. Structure
Part IV. Narrative Agents: Minor characters
Princes
Heroes
The monstrous regiment
The Man of Wiles
Villains
Conclusion
Select bibliography
Abbreviations used in indices
Index of names
Index of places.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]