SOF/Heyman: Celebrating Recent Work by Muhsin al-Musawi

Event date: 
09/29/2021 - 6:15pm

Please join Book Culture and our friends at SOF/Heyman Center on Wednesday, September 29th at 6:15pm for a celebration of new work by Professor Muhsin al-Musawi including The Arabian Nights in Contemporary World Cultures.  Professor al-Musawi will be joined in conversation with David DamroschSarah R. bin TyeerMadeleine Dobie, and Hamid Dabashi.

This event will take place in-person at the Heyman Center and virtually over Zoom. We ask that everyone register via Zoom, even those who plan to attend in-person.

The Arabian Nights in Contemporary World Cultures
by: Muhsin al-Musawi

The stories in the Thousand and One Nights, or the Arabian Nights, are familiar to many of us: from the tales of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and his forty thieves, to the framing story of Scheherazade telling these stories to her homicidal husband, Shahrayar. This book offers a rich and wide-ranging analysis of the power of this collection of tales that penetrates so many cultures and appeals to such a variety of predilections and tastes. It also explores areas that were left untouched, like the decolonization of the Arabian Nights, and its archaeologies. Unique in its excavation into inroads of perception and reception, Muhsin J. al-Musawi's book unearths means of connection with common publics and learned societies. Al-Musawi shows, as never before, how the Arabian Nights has been translated, appropriated, and authenticated or abused over time, and how its reach is so expansive as to draw the attention of poets, painters, illustrators, translators, editors, musicians, political scientists like Leo Strauss, and novelists like Michel Butor, James Joyce and Marcel Proust amongst others. Making use of documentaries, films, paintings, novels and novellas, poetry, digital forums and political jargon, this book offers nuanced understanding of the perennial charm and power of this collection.Attendance and Registration Policy:


About the Author:

Muhsin al-Musawi is professor of classical and modern Arabic literature, comparative and cultural studies at Columbia University. A renowned scholar and literary critic, his teaching and research interests span several periods and genres. Professor al-Musawi is the author of thirty-nine books (including six novels) and over sixty scholarly articles.

About the Speakers:

David Damrosch is the Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. A past president of the American Comparative Literature Association, David Damrosch has written widely on comparative and world literature from antiquity to the present. His books include The Narrative Covenant: Transformations of Genre in the Growth of Biblical LiteratureWe Scholars: Changing the Culture of the University, among others.

Sarah R. bin Tyeer is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. Her recent publications include essays in the volumes: Qur’an and Adab: The Shaping of Classical Literary Tradition, The Beloved in Middle East Literature: The Culture of Love and Languishing, and The City in Premodern and Modern Arabic Literature.

Madeleine Dobie is Chair and Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of French at Columbia University. Her current book project, After Violence: Cultural Renewal in Contemporary is about literature, cinema and other forms of artistic expression in contemporary Algeria.

Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He has written 22 books, edited four, and contributed chapters to many more. He is also the author of over 100 essays, articles and book reviews on subjects ranging from Iranian Studies, medieval and modern Islam, and comparative literature to world cinema and the philosophy of art (trans-aesthetics).


Attendance at SOF/Heyman events will follow Columbia-issued guidelines as they continue to develop. Given the current recommendations, we plan to allow in-person attendance for Columbia affiliates who have conformed with the on-campus guidelines. For everyone else, we're planning to livestream this event, allowing for virtual attendance.

Please email disability@columbia.edu to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs. This event will be recorded. By being electronically present, you consent to the SOF/Heyman using such video for promotional purposes.

Event address: 
Heyman Center
2nd Floor Common Room
Columbia University
New York, NY 10025
Zoom
The Arabian Nights in Contemporary World Cultures: Global Commodification, Translation, and the Culture Industry By Muhsin J. Al-Musawi Cover Image
$39.99
ISBN: 9781108474856
Availability: On hand at one or more locations, see product page for details
Published: Cambridge University Press - August 26th, 2021