A Theory of Reduplication: Eightfold Meters in Classical Persian Poetry

It is a known fact that classical Persian poets were partial to poetic meters composed of eight feet, known as muthamman. On this topic, however, two issues remain unsolved: How did the Persian poets devise these meters in the first place? Despite their flagrant predilection for eightfold meters, why did the Persians never use such meters as sarī? and qarīb in this form? This paper argues that the Persians, influenced by the structure of the Arabic eightfold base meters, crafted their muthamman meters after a specific process of reduplication. This theory also accounts for the lack of eightfold sarī? and qarīb meters, their structure being incompatible with the reduplication process.     

Lascivious Vines,Corrupted Virgins,and Crimes of Honor: Variations on the Wine Production Myth as Narrated in Early Persian Poetry

The Persian wine production myth centers on the relationship between a male vintner and his female vine and her daughters, the grapes. This myth, the earliest extant examples of which are found in qasīdas by the Samanid poets Rūdakī and Bashshār Marghazī and which was much developed by Manūchihrī and his contemporary Farrukhī, contains images of femininity, the mother–child bond, separation, violence, execution, and ultimate redemption. The grape harvest comes in the late summer and culminates in the Mihragān festival, a celebration focused on the grape and grape wine, at which poems containing versions of the wine production myth were recited. The present study maps the evolution of this myth over the span of a century through a close reading of eleven poems with specific reference to variations in narrative structure.     

The Economic Role of the State in the Classical Islamic Literature: The Views of Ibn Taimiyah

This paper explores the economic writings of Ibn Taimiyah, particularly his views on the economic role of the state. In so doing, it offers some explanations to the “great gap” puzzle posed by Schumpeter, and introduces the reader to a model of the medieval Arab and Islamic economic thoughts.     

物语的叙述与文化记忆——关于日本古典文学中琵琶"玄上"的故事

一个民族的文化记忆,相当一部分来自于该民族的故事叙述。对日本文学中有关"玄上琵琶"的记述,以及各种派生出来的分枝故事的梳理,有助于理解日本文学对外来文学、文化的受容方法,也有助于把握日本文学中的变容对文化记忆的干预。     

文学史上白话的地位和新文学中白话的走向——后五四时期提倡新文学者的内部论争

20世纪20年代初,文学研究会在上海的一些人曾有力地呼应了胡适提倡最力的整理国故,但双方在具体观念上又颇有歧异,这些歧异多与“白话”相关。文学研究会的严既澄指责胡适有“用白话的标准去估量旧韵文”的倾向,双方就此展开了论争,其核心议题即“什么是中国文学史的主流”。当白话文出现走向欧化的趋势而致时人抱怨看不懂时,文学研究会的同人多认为应该是读者转换思想以适应欧化的文风,也有人主张白话文同时向“欧化”和文言开放,而胡适明确表示不同意,认为只须向大众方向努力。