#abu nuwas

[medievalistsnet]

New Medieval Books: A Demon Spirit: Arabic Hunting Poems

[queerasfact]

Happy bisexual awareness week!

In 8th century Iraq, Abu Nuwas wrote love poetry to both men and women. This wasn’t unusual - the idea that someone could be attracted to multiple genders was widely acknowledged at the time!

Check out our podcast to learn more!

[creamycarbonara2459]

Was reading yesterday and found this:

I die of love for him, perfect in every way,

Lost in the strains of wafting music.

My eyes are fixed upon his delightful body

And I do not wonder at his beauty.

His waist is a sapling, his face a moon,

And loveliness rolls off his rosy cheek

I die of love for you, but keep this secret:

The tie that binds us is an unbreakable rope.

How much time did your creation take, O angel?

So what! All I want is to sing your praises.

- Love in Bloom, Abu Nuwas

It's so destiel coded. I couldn't stop thinking about them!

[bambasbatenthusiat]

“…The bubbles in the glass, like scattered pearls…”

[hyade]

– The Khamriyyat of Abu Nuwas: Wine Poetry

[dwntoearth]

رَحَلْتَ بِلا وَدَاعٍ وَلَا كَلِمَةٍ

وَخَلَّفْتَ صَدَى غِيَابِكَ يَمْلَا أَيَّامِي

أكُثْثُ لَخَظَةً عَابِرَةً فِي عُمْرِك؟

بَيْنَمَا أَنْتَ خُلُودًا فِي عُمْرِي

You left me with no farewell, no final words-Just the echo of your absence filling my days.

Was I merely a passing moment in your life, While you became eternity in mine?

-Abu Nuwas (On A Love That Left Without Warning)

[robot-roadtrip-rants]

@krakoansam this needed its own post

i rearranged my bookshelf for this flex

A lot of these are primary sources (Baburnamah, Nihongi) or collections of primary sources (The Classic Slave Narrative, The Jew in the Modern World). Primary sources are an acquired taste, but once you acquire it, they're delicious. I can't tell you how delightful it is to read Babur I describe swooning over a boy when he was nineteen, or watch ibn Khaldun almost figure out the connection between sunshine and dark skin. And of course, there's no substitute if you're trying to understand the minds of the people back then. Reading the writings of 19th century European Jewish intellectuals in high school literally changed my life (hence why the textbook from that class, The Jew in the Modern World, is on my bookshelf). But it can also be very difficult. I only made it a few pages into Voices of Chernobyl before I had to put it down.

Also the comics:

I was kinda hesitant to include Nonnonba, but I think it earns its place as a primary source, just like When I Grow Up. It's very precious to me. There aren't many primary sources on pre-war Japan in English, and few of them focus on everyday, small town life. Even fewer are as accessible as Nonnonba.

A reoccurring problem with pre-war and especially pre-Meiji histories is that too many Anglo authors are fixated on ~the honorable samurai~ with their ~wonderful code of bushido~ AARRRGH SHUT THE FUCK UP. If I see "bushido" anywhere near a serious discussion of the aristocratic (kinda) warrior caste of Japan, then everything goes right in the trash! Nitobe Inazō coined the word in 1900 when he was trying to explain how Japanese people were civilized to racist white people. There were, in fact, various codes of ethics/military conduct that circulated through pre-Meiji Japan, just like in every other fucking civilization, and the word bushido does pop up occasionally due to how the Japanese language works. But there was no unified code, and the concept of proper warrior conduct changed over the centuries. The Book of Five Rings, written by a guy who lived through the tail end of the Warring States Era, reads very different from the Hagakure, written after about a century of peace.

Imperial Japan is extremely interesting and extremely fucked up. The guys who jerk off to that shit are vile. Studying WWII, regardless of the theater, is like digging through an endless ravine of shit. Every time you think you're done, you've excavated all the shit, you're completely inured to the stink and the filth, TA-DAH! There's another, even worse strata of shit beneath your feet. I'm probably going to piss people off with this statement, but reading about WWII, is how I learned to stop worrying and--well, not love, per se, but make my peace with The Bomb. Yes, I am bitterly aware of the sick irony of that. No, that does not change my mind. The Mexican standoff that The Bomb inflicts on the world is preferable to WWIII. We aren't civilized enough as a species keep the peace without that sword dangling over our heads. I'd like to believe that we will be someday, but that day will not come in my lifetime.

I should note that my collection is currently missing The Tale of the Heike, since my old copy fell apart. I've also been meaning to get my hands on a collection of Abu Nuwas's poetry because he's amazing. Everyone should read Abu Nuwas. You haven't lived til you've read one of the greatest poets of all time write about getting drunk and banging dudes.

(translation by A.Z. Foreman)

[aspho-dele]

Entre la vie et la mort

Voici un poème d’un mort,

écrit de la main d’un vivant,

qui, entre la vie et la mort,

a tant souffert des coups du sort

qu’il ne lui reste plus qu’un corps

presque invisible, mais présent.

Si tu voulais me reconnaître,

pas une lettre de ma lettre

il t’aiderait à me trouver.

Mais il suffirait que tu fasses

battre tes cils, pour me sauver

et que mon mal enfin s’efface.

Abū Nuwās, ("l’homme aux longs cheveux bouclés", de son vrai nom al-Ḥasan Ibn Hāni’ al-Ḥakamī, né entre 747 et 762 à Ahvaz - Iran - et décédé vers 815 à Bagdad )

Recueil : Le Vin, le Vent, la Vie.

Traducteur : Vincent-Mansour Monteil.