The Lives and Afterlives of Vis and Rāmin

This article is a review of the afterlife, or Nachleben, of the romance Vis and Rāmin, one of the first representatives of its genre in New Persian literature. In addition to providing readers with an extensive bibliography of sources and research concerning the poem, it also analyzes these materials to put forward two basic arguments: one, that moral or religious antipathy to the poem’s contents may not have played as great a role in its fortunes as did aesthetic taste; and two, that V&R proved to be a more widely circulated and durable work than is commonly supposed, but on the level of fragments, not the entire text. In light of these arguments, it is proposed that studies structured around the comparison of fragments—themes, ideas, ethics, and motifs, rather than whole texts—may offer more purchase in constructing models of analysis that situate V&R, and Persian literature more broadly, within a literary oikumene in which it connects and interacts with neighboring traditions.     

THE EFFECT OF SALTS ON THERMAL AND HYDRIC DILATATION OF POROUS BUILDING STONE*

Fifteen desalinated sandstone drill core samples from Umm Ishrin Sandstone Formation in Petra (Cambrian age) were used for this study. The samples were mineralogically analysed using X‐ray diffraction and their physical properties were also determined. Samples with similar physical properties and mineralogical composition were taken for further experimental work. After desalination, thermal and hydric dilatation coefficients were measured, then three types of salts (NaCl, KCl and Na₂SO₄·10H₂O), which have high solubility and consequently are the most dangerous to building stone (and are also detected in the sandstone monuments in Petra), were introduced into the samples and their contents were calculated. The results show that salt crystallization in the pores of building stones can increase their thermal dilatation and decrease their hydric dilatation to varying extents, depending on the nature of the salt. The average increase in the thermal dilatation coefficient per unit mass of salt is the lowest for the Na₂SO₄·10H₂O‐salted samples with a value of 5.3%, while the NaCl‐salted samples have the highest value with 7.8% per salt mass. The average percentage of the decrease of the hydric dilatation coefficient is 1061% for Na₂SO₄·10H₂O‐salted samples per mass of salt content; the NaCl‐salted samples have a value of 1510% per mass of salt content, and the KCl‐salted samples almost the same value. For the salt‐free samples, it was found that in climatic conditions with a high temperature range, the deterioration of sandstone due to temperature fluctuation is more effective than that caused by change in the moisture content, while samples with high salt content suffer more from hydric dilatation.     

Fracture mineralization and fluid flow evolution: an example from Ordovician–Devonian carbonates,southwestern Ontario,Canada

Petrography, geochemistry (stable and radiogenic isotopes), and fluid inclusion microthermometry of matrix dolomite, fracture‐filling calcite, and saddle dolomite in Ordovician to Devonian carbonates from southwestern Ontario, Canada, provide useful insights into fluid flow evolution during diagenesis. The calculated δ¹⁸O_fluid, ΣREE, and REE_SN patterns of matrix and saddle dolomite suggest diverse fluids were involved in dolomitization and/or recrystallization of dolomite. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of dolomite of each succession vary from values in the range of coeval seawater to values more radiogenic than corresponding seawater, which indicate diagenetic fluids were influenced by significant water/rock interaction. High salinities (22.4–26.3 wt. % NaCl + CaCl₂) of Silurian and Ordovician dolomite–hosted fluid inclusions indicate involvement of saline waters from dissolution of Silurian evaporites. High fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures (>100°C) in all samples from Devonian to Ordovician show temperatures higher than maximum burial (60–90°C) of their host strata and suggest involvement of hydrothermal fluids in precipitation and/or recrystallization of dolomite. A thermal anomaly over the mid‐continent rift during Devonian to Mississippian time likely was the source of excess heat in the basin. Thermal buoyancy resulting from this anomaly was the driving force for migration of hydrothermal fluids through regional aquifers from the center of the Michigan Basin toward its margin. The decreasing trend of homogenization temperatures from the basin center toward its margin further supports the interpreted migration of hydrothermal fluids from the basin center toward its margin. Hydrocarbon‐bearing fluid inclusions in late‐stage Devonian to Ordovician calcite cements with high homogenization temperatures (>80°C) and their ¹³C‐depleted values (approaching ?32‰ PDB) indicate the close relationship between hydrothermal fluids and hydrocarbon migration.     

Book reviews

ATTARD‐MARANINCHI, M.‐F., Le Panier, village corse à Marseille, Autrement, 1997, 157 pp., 89 F., ISSN 0336 5816

CAYROL, R., Médias et démocratie: la derive, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 115 pp., 75F., ISBN 2 7246 0710 4

CLERC, D., Dictionnaire des questions économiques et sociales, Editions de l'Atelier, 1997, 315 pp., 85F., ISBN 2 7082 3284 3

C?URÉ, S. et al. (eds), Marcel Cachin: Carnets 1906–1947: Volume IV 1935–47, CNRS, 1997, 1190 pp., no price indicated, ISBN 2 271 05124 X

COOPER, F., Decolonisation and African Society. The Labour Question in French and British Africa, Cambridge University Press, 1996, 677 pp., £55 hbk, ISBN 0 521 56251 1; £19.95 pbk, ISBN 0 521 56600 2

DEBRAY, R., Transmettre, Odile Jacob, 1997, 204 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 7381 0461 4

ELKABBACH, J.‐P., 29 mois et quelques jours, Grasset, 1997, 346 pp., 126F., ISBN 2 246 54341 X

ESTABLET, R., Comment peut‐on être Français? 90 ouvriers turcs racontent, Fayard, 1997, 242 pp., 100F, ISBN 2 213 59962 9

FAURÉ, C. (ed.), Encyclopédic politique et historique des femmes, PUF, 1997, 885 pp., 498F., ISBN 213 048 316X

FILLIEULE, O., Stratégies de la rue, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 435 pp., 265F., ISBN 2 7246 0707 4

GAFAITI, H., Les Femmes dans le roman algérien: histoire, discours et texte, L'Harmattan, 1996, 350 pp., 180F., ISBN 2 384 4039 8

GEISSER, V., Ethnicité républicaine. Les élites d'origine maghrébine dans le système politique français, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 261 pp., 149F., ISBN 2 7246 0732 5

GRANGE, J., La Philosophie d'Auguste Comte, PUF, 1996, 447 pp., 198F., ISBN 2 1304 7277X

HAUT CONSEIL DE LA FRANCOPHONIE, Etat de la Francophonie dans le monde: données 1995–1996 et 5 études inédites, La Documentation française, 1997, 629 pp., 150F., ISBN 2 11 003683 4

INSEE, La France et ses régions: Edition 1997, INSEE, 1997, 226 pp., 89F., ISBN 2 11 066 505 X

KALYVAS, S., The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe, Cornell University Press, 1996, 300 pp., £15.95, ISBN 0 8014 3241 3

KNIGHT, D., Barthes and Utopia. Space, Travel, Writing, Clarendon Press, 1997, 287 pp., £35, ISBN 0 19 81 5889 0

KOFMAN, S., Rue Ordener, Rue Labat, University of Nebraska Press, 1996, 85 pp., £11, ISBN 0 8032 7780 6

LEVY, S. (ed.), Surrealism: Surrealist Visuality, Keele University Press, 1996, 173 pp., £35, ISBN 1 8533 1 170 7

LLOYD, M. and THACKER, A. (eds), The Impact of Michel Foucault on the Social Sciences and Humanities, Macmillan, 1997, 186 pp., £42.50 hbk, ISBN 0 333 63126; £15.99 pbk, ISBN 0 333 68432 X

LYNCH, F. M. B. France, and the International Economy, Routledge, 1997, 227pp., £45, ISBN 0 415 142 199

MINISTERE DE LA JUSTICE, Les archives contemporaines de l'administration centrale. Guide de recherches, La Documentation française, 1997, 312 pp., 300F., ISBN 2 11090 299 X

MUXEL, A., Individu et mémoire familiale, Nathan, 1996, 226 pp., 139F., ISBN 2 09 190420 1

NEBOIT‐GUILHOT, R. and DAVY L. (eds), Les Français dans leur environnement, Nathan, 1996, 382 pp., 199F., ISBN 2 09 190369 8

REYNOLDS, S., France between the Wars: Gender and Politics, Routledge, 1996, 280 pp., £16.99, ISBN 0 415 12737 8

RITCHIE, A.C., Media French. A Guide to Contemporary French Idiom, with English Translations, University of Wales Press, 1997, 268 pp., £20, ISBN 0 7083 1399 X

RONCAYOLO, M., Les grammaires d'une ville. Essai sur la genèse des structures urbaines à Marseille, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1996, 508 pp., 380F., ISBN 2 7132 1195 6

ROUGELET, P.R.G., La machine à scandales, Albin Michel, 1997, 261 pp., 98F., ISBN 2 226 09274 9

SHERINGHAM, M. (ed.), Parisian Fields, Reaktion Books, 1996, 200 pp., £12.95, ISBN 0 948462 85 X

SHLAPENTOKH, D., The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life, 1865–1905, Praeger, 1996, 202 pp., £46.50, ISBN 0 275 95573 7

The French Revolution and the Russian Anti‐Democratic Tradition. A, Case, of False Consciousness, Transaction Publishers, 1997, 324 pp., £20.95, ISBN 1 56000 244 1

TERRIER, D., Les deux âges de la proto‐industrie: les tis‐serands du Cambrésis et du Saint‐Qucntinois, 1730–1880, Editions de I'EHESS, 1996, 311 pp., 150F., ISBN 2 7132 1203 0

TOPPIA, J.‐M., Function politique et délit d'ingérence, L'Aube, 1996, 381 pp., no price indicated ISBN 2 87678 270 7

TREMOIS, C.‐M., Les Enfants de la liberté. Le jeune cinéma français des années 90, Seuil, 1997, 282 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 02 032309 5

TUCK, P., The French Wolf and the Siamese Lamb. The French Threat to Siamese Independence, 1858–1907, White Lotus, distributed by Liverpool University Press, 1995 434 pp., £24.95, ISBN 1 879155 44 3

VANDERVORT, B., Victor Griffuelhes and French Syndicalism, 1895–1922, Louisiana State University Press, 1996, 278 pp., $50, ISBN 0 8071 2045 6     

TECHNOLOGY AND PROVENANCE OF A COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC COPPER‐BASED OBJECTS AS FOUND BY CHEMICAL AND LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS*

Chemical and lead isotope analyses were utilized to determine the composition, technology and origin of a collection of Islamic copper‐based objects found in Jordan. The atomic absorption spectrometry results show that the objects were made of different types of copper‐base alloys that contain various amounts of zinc, tin and lead. The use of brass, highly leaded brass and quaternary alloys of Cu‐Zn‐Sn‐Pb in the manufacture of everyday, household objects strongly points to Islamic traditions. The lead isotope compositions of the objects match very well that of the copper ore mined from the Dolomite‐Limestone‐Shale unit of the Arabah copper mines.