Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq

Download Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 0815651791
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (156 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq by : Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi

Download or read book Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq written by Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He’s fond of anyone who throws a party; he’s always at a party in his dreams, for party-crashing’s blazoned on his heart . . . a prisoner to the path of fi ne cuisine. With this statement, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, a Muslim preacher and scholar, introduces The Art of Party-Crashing, a book that represents a sharp departure from the religious scholarship for which he is known. Compiled in the eleventh century, this collection of irreverent and playful anecdotes celebrates eating, drinking, and general merriment. Ribald jokes, flirtations, and wry observations of misbehaving Muslims acquaint readers with everyday life in medieval Iraq in a way that is both entertaining and edifying. Selove’s translation, accompanied by her whimsical drawings, introduces the delights and surprises of medieval Arabic humor to a new audience.

Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq

Download Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
ISBN 13 : 0815632983
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (156 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq by : Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi

Download or read book Selections from The Art of Party Crashing in Medieval Iraq written by Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He’s fond of anyone who throws a party; he’s always at a party in his dreams, for party-crashing’s blazoned on his heart . . . a prisoner to the path of fi ne cuisine. With this statement, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, a Muslim preacher and scholar, introduces The Art of Party-Crashing, a book that represents a sharp departure from the religious scholarship for which he is known. Compiled in the eleventh century, this collection of irreverent and playful anecdotes celebrates eating, drinking, and general merriment. Ribald jokes, flirtations, and wry observations of misbehaving Muslims acquaint readers with everyday life in medieval Iraq in a way that is both entertaining and edifying. Selove’s translation, accompanied by her whimsical drawings, introduces the delights and surprises of medieval Arabic humor to a new audience.

Hikayat Abi al-Qasim

Download Hikayat Abi al-Qasim PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
ISBN 13 : 1474402321
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (744 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hikayat Abi al-Qasim by : Selove Emily Selove

Download or read book Hikayat Abi al-Qasim written by Selove Emily Selove and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hikayat Abu al-Qasim, probably written in the 11th century by the otherwise unknown al-Azdi, tells the story of a gate-crasher from Baghdad named Abu al-Qasim, who shows up uninvited at a party in Isfahan. Dressed as a holy man and reciting religious poetry, he soon relaxes his demeanour, and, growing intoxicated on wine, insults the other dinner guests and their Iranian hometown. Widely hailed as a narrative unique in the history of Arabic literature, a ikA yah also reflects a much larger tradition of banquet texts. Painting a picture of a party-crasher who is at once a holy man and a rogue, he is a figure familiar to those who have studied the ancient cynic tradition or other portrayals of wise fools, tricksters and saints in literatures from the Mediterranean and beyond. This study therefore compares a ikA yah, a mysterious text surviving in a single manuscript, to other comical banquet texts and party-crashing characters, both from contemporary Arabic literature and from Ancient Greece and Rome.

Popeye and Curly

Download Popeye and Curly PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Silver Goat Media
ISBN 13 : 9781944296193
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (961 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Popeye and Curly by : Emily Selove

Download or read book Popeye and Curly written by Emily Selove and published by Silver Goat Media. This book was released on 2021-05-10 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enjoy one hundred and twenty scenes from the vibrant city of Abbasid Baghdad, starring book-loving author Popeye (Al-Jahiz) and winebibbing poet Curly (Abu Nuwas), along with their friends Coral (a singing girl) and the Caliph of one of the world's most influential empires in history. Each episode is derived from historical sources, and designed to entertain, educate, and amaze.

The Cult of Smart

Download The Cult of Smart PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : All Points Books
ISBN 13 : 1250200385
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Cult of Smart by : Fredrik deBoer

Download or read book The Cult of Smart written by Fredrik deBoer and published by All Points Books. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.

Baghdad at the Centre of a World, 8th-13th Century

Download Baghdad at the Centre of a World, 8th-13th Century PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Theran Press
ISBN 13 : 9781944296155
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (961 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Baghdad at the Centre of a World, 8th-13th Century by : Emily Selove

Download or read book Baghdad at the Centre of a World, 8th-13th Century written by Emily Selove and published by Theran Press. This book was released on 2019-03 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The city of Baghdad during the 8th to 13th centuries CE was one of the most important centres of cultural production in human history. A melting pot of languages, religions, and ethnicities, it produced thinkers and artists whose impact on the sciences, literatures, and cultures of the world is still felt today. From cutting-edge medical discoveries to the creation of musical and literary styles that would transform the tastes of Europe-civilization would not look the same today without the influence of medieval Baghdad. This revolutionary new textbook offers chapters from an internationally respected team of scholars conducting groundbreaking research on the city. It provides teachers with reliable and engaging material with which to introduce the dynamic medieval city of Baghdad to their students. Baghdad at the Centre of a World features the following topics and contributors: Baghdad: The Metropolis - Jens Scheiner; Daily Life in Baghdad - Michael Cooperson; The Caliph - Hayrettin Yücesoy; An Introduction to Islam - Mustafa Baig; A Caliphal Inquisition - John Nawas; Non-Muslims in Baghdad and Beyond - Paul L. Heck; Slavery in the Ancient and Medieval World - Karen Moukheiber; Slave Soldiers in Baghdad - Hugh Kennedy; Enslaved and Free Women in the Royal Court - Maryam Alkandari; Some Women of Power Before the Abbasid Period - Maryam Alkandari; Knowledge and Learning in Baghdad - Sebastian Günther; Arabic Grammar and Grammarians in Baghdad - Monique Bernards; Medicine and Philosophy in Baghdad - Peter Adamson; Musical Performances in Baghdad - Dwight Reynolds; Women Musicians and Poets Before the Abbasid Period - Karen Moukheiber; Three Women Musicians and Poetesses of the Abbasid Period - Karen Moukheiber; Literature, Poetry, and Party-Crashing - Emily Selove; The Book of Kalila and Dimna: Talking Animal Stories and Advice for Rulers - István T. Kristó-Nagy; Baghdad and Europe - Alex Mallett

Talking to Strangers

Download Talking to Strangers PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316535621
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (165 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Talking to Strangers by : Malcolm Gladwell

Download or read book Talking to Strangers written by Malcolm Gladwell and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers and why they often go wrong—now with a new afterword by the author. A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Press How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to one another that isn’t true? Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland—throwing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times.

The Caliph's Splendor

Download The Caliph's Splendor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416567623
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (165 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Caliph's Splendor by : Benson Bobrick

Download or read book The Caliph's Splendor written by Benson Bobrick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-08-14 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the story of the celebrated late-eighth and early ninth-century caliph from "The Thousand and One Nights" against a backdrop of Baghdad's cosmopolitan culture and its complex influence on the Byzantine Empire and Frankish kingdom of Charlemagne.

The Abbasid Caliphate

Download The Abbasid Caliphate PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107183243
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Abbasid Caliphate by : Tayeb El-Hibri

Download or read book The Abbasid Caliphate written by Tayeb El-Hibri and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the Abbasid Caliphate from its foundation in 750 and golden age under Harun al-Rashid to the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, this study examines the Caliphate as an empire and an institution, and its imprint on the society and culture of classical Islamic civilization.

The Annotated Mona Lisa

Download The Annotated Mona Lisa PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780740768729
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (687 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Annotated Mona Lisa by : Carol Strickland

Download or read book The Annotated Mona Lisa written by Carol Strickland and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2007-10 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like music, art is a universal language. Although looking at works of art is a pleasurable enough experience, to appreciate them fully requires certain skills and knowledge." --Carol Strickland, from the introduction to The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern * This heavily illustrated crash course in art history is revised and updated. This second edition of Carol Strickland's The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern offers an illustrated tutorial of prehistoric to post-modern art from cave paintings to video art installations to digital and Internet media. * Featuring succinct page-length essays, instructive sidebars, and more than 300 photographs, The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern takes art history out of the realm of dreary textbooks, demystifies jargon and theory, and makes art accessible-even at a cursory reading. * From Stonehenge to the Guggenheim and from Holbein to Warhol, more than 25,000 years of art is distilled into five sections covering a little more than 200 pages.

The Doctors' Dinner Party

Download The Doctors' Dinner Party PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479827487
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Doctors' Dinner Party by : Ibn Buṭlān

Download or read book The Doctors' Dinner Party written by Ibn Buṭlān and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2024-03-05 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A witty satire of the medical profession The Doctors’ Dinner Party is an eleventh-century satire in the form of a novella, set in a medical milieu. A young doctor from out of town is invited to dinner with a group of older medical men, whose conversation reveals their incompetence. Written by the accomplished physician Ibn Buṭlān, the work satirizes the hypocrisy of quack doctors while displaying Ibn Buṭlān’s own deep technical knowledge of medical practice, including surgery, blood-letting, and medicines. He also makes reference to the great thinkers and physicians of the ancient world, including Hippocrates, Galen, and Socrates. Combining literary parody with social satire, the book is richly textured and carefully organized: in addition to the use of the question-and-answer format associated with technical literature, it is replete with verse and subtexts that hint at the infatuation of the elderly practitioners with their young guest. The Doctors’ Dinner Party is an entertaining read in which the author skewers the pretensions of the physicians around the table.

Words that Tear the Flesh

Download Words that Tear the Flesh PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110562251
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (15 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Words that Tear the Flesh by : Stephen Alan Baragona

Download or read book Words that Tear the Flesh written by Stephen Alan Baragona and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2018-01-22 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rhetorical trope of irony is well-trod territory, with books and essays devoted to its use by a wide range of medieval and Renaissance writers, from the Beowulf-poet and Chaucer to Boccaccio and Shakespeare; however, the use of sarcasm, the "flesh tearing" form of irony, in the same literature has seldom been studied at length or in depth. Sarcasm is notoriously difficult to pick out in a written text, since it relies so much on tone of voice and context. This is the first book-length study of medieval and Renaissance sarcasm. Its fourteen essays treat instances in a range of genres, both sacred and secular, and of cultures from Anglo-Saxon to Arabic, where the combination of circumstance and word choice makes it absolutely clear that the speaker, whether a character or a narrator, is being sarcastic. Essays address, among other things, the clues writers give that sarcasm is at work, how it conforms to or deviates from contemporary rhetorical theories, what role it plays in building character or theme, and how sarcasm conforms to the Christian milieu of medieval Europe, and beyond to medieval Arabic literature. The collection thus illuminates a half-hidden but surprisingly common early literary technique for modern readers.

David and Goliath

Download David and Goliath PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316204382
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (162 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis David and Goliath by : Malcolm Gladwell

Download or read book David and Goliath written by Malcolm Gladwell and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia. Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won. Or should he have? In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwellchallenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks. Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland's Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms—all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity. In the tradition of Gladwell's previous bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw—David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.

The Abbasid Caliphate

Download The Abbasid Caliphate PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316872254
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (168 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Abbasid Caliphate by : Tayeb El-Hibri

Download or read book The Abbasid Caliphate written by Tayeb El-Hibri and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) has long been recognized as the formative period of Islamic civilization with its various achievements in the areas of science, literature, and culture. This history of the Abbasid Caliphate from its foundation in 750 and golden age under Harun al-Rashid to the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 examines the Caliphate as an empire and institution, and probes its influence over Islamic culture and society. Ranging widely to survey the entire five-century history of the Abbasid dynasty, Tayeb El-Hibri examines the resilience of the Caliphate as an institution, as a focal point of religious definitions, and as a source of legitimacy to various contemporary Islamic monarchies. The study revisits ideas of 'golden age' and 'decline' with a new reading, tries to separate Abbasid history from the myths of the Arabian Nights, and shows how the legacy of the caliphs continues to resonate in the modern world in direct and indirect ways.

101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition

Download 101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 0814347754
Total Pages : 705 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (143 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis 101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition by : Ulrich Marzolph

Download or read book 101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition written by Ulrich Marzolph and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 705 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the methodological backdrop of historical and comparative folk narrative research, 101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition surveys the history, dissemination, and characteristics of over one hundred narratives transmitted to Western tradition from or by the Middle Eastern Muslim literatures (i.e., authored written works in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish). For a tale to be included, Ulrich Marzolph considered two criteria: that the tale originates from or at least was transmitted by a Middle Eastern source, and that it was recorded from a Western narrator’s oral performance in the course of the nineteenth or twentieth century. The rationale behind these restrictive definitions is predicated on Marzolph’s main concern with the long-lasting effect that some of the "Oriental" narratives exercised in Western popular tradition—those tales that have withstood the test of time. Marzolph focuses on the originally "Oriental" tales that became part and parcel of modern Western oral tradition. Since antiquity, the "Orient" constitutes the quintessential Other vis-à-vis the European cultures. While delineation against this Other served to define and reassure the Self, the "Orient" also constituted a constant source of fascination, attraction, and inspiration. Through oral retellings, numerous tales from Muslim tradition became an integral part of European oral and written tradition in the form of learned treatises, medieval sermons, late medieval fabliaux, early modern chapbooks, contemporary magazines, and more. In present times, when national narcissisms often acquire the status of strongholds delineating the Us against the Other, it is imperative to distinguish, document, visualize, and discuss the extent to which the West is not only indebted to the Muslim world but also shares common features with Muslim narrative tradition. 101 Middle Eastern Tales and Their Impact on Western Oral Tradition is an important contribution to this debate and a vital work for scholars, students, and readers of folklore and fairy tales.

Tenth of December

Download Tenth of December PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1408837358
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (88 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Tenth of December by : George Saunders

Download or read book Tenth of December written by George Saunders and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-01-03 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prize-winning, New York Times bestselling short story collection from the internationally bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo 'The best book you'll read this year' New York Times 'Dazzlingly surreal stories about a failing America' Sunday Times WINNER OF THE 2014 FOLIO PRIZE AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2013 George Saunders's most wryly hilarious and disturbing collection yet, Tenth of December illuminates human experience and explores figures lost in a labyrinth of troubling preoccupations. A family member recollects a backyard pole dressed for all occasions; Jeff faces horrifying ultimatums and the prospect of Darkenfloxx(TM) in some unusual drug trials; and Al Roosten hides his own internal monologue behind a winning smile that he hopes will make him popular. With dark visions of the future riffing against ghosts of the past and the ever-settling present, this collection sings with astonishing charm and intensity.

Laugh like an Egyptian

Download Laugh like an Egyptian PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 311072541X
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Laugh like an Egyptian by : Cristina Dozio

Download or read book Laugh like an Egyptian written by Cristina Dozio and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-09-20 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Egyptians are known among the Arabs as awlād al-nukta, Sons of the Jokes, for their ability to laugh in face of adversity. This creative weapon has been directed against socio-political targets both in times of oppression and popular upheaval, such as the 2011 Tahrir Revolution. This book looks at the literary expression of Egyptian humour in the novels of Muḥammad Mustajāb, Khayrī Shalabī, and Ḥamdī Abū Julayyil, three writers who revive the comic tradition to innovate the language of contemporary fiction. Their modern tricksters, wise fools, and antiheroes play with the stereotypical traits attached to the ordinary Egyptians, while laughing at the universal contradictions of life. This ability to combine local and global culture, literary traditions and popular references, makes them a stimulating read in an intercultural perspective. Combining humour studies and literary criticism, this book examines language play and narrative creativity to understand which strategies craft Egyptian literary humour. In doing so, it sheds light on the contribution of humour to literary innovations of Egyptian fiction since the late Seventies, while adding new writers to those who are considered the masters of humour in the Arab novel.