Episode 7: Misguided Bias—How Revisionism May Have Distorted the History of Arabic Literature, with Adam Talib

Revisionism, a form of literary criticism, is an integral part of scholarly research, and revisionists often find themselves challenging the orthodox views held by scholars before their time. In Arabo-Islamic writing, modern scholars often tend to neglect traditional scholarly commentary, such as from the Mamlūk and Ottoman periods—two critical periods in the history of Arabic literature.

Dr Adam Talib, from Durham University, UK, explores these issues in his study titled “Al-Ṣafadī, His Critics, and the Drag of Philological Time”, published in Brill’s Phenomenogical Encounters. He focuses on the work and commentary of Al-Ṣafadī, a Turkic author, to show how modern scholarly agendas may have influenced the chronological plane of Arabic literature.

Guest: Dr Adam Talib
Host: Emily Tamkin