Bruce Fudge | Université de Genève (original) (raw)

Books by Bruce Fudge

From 1974 to 2018, William A. Graham was the Faculty Advisor to the Harvard Mountaineering Club. ... more From 1974 to 2018, William A. Graham was the Faculty Advisor to the Harvard Mountaineering Club. None of us, four of his forrner doctoral students, ever went climbing with him, but it is not difficult to imagine him scaling a formidable rock face: we know of the physical fiûress, the willingrress to attack a mountainous obstacle, whether literally or figuratively; the judicious attention to detail in finding and reaching each hand and foothold, while not losing sight of the summit, be

Ranging from Sumer to ISIS, this collection presents an historic and anthropological approach to ... more Ranging from Sumer to ISIS, this collection presents an historic and anthropological approach to the beard in Middle Eastern religious traditions. The twelve contributions, along with a general introduction, cover the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hittites), Judaism, and medieval to contemporary Islam. Since Antiquity the beard has been a symbol of masculine power, linked directly to ideologies of the male body. Whether the wearing of a beard is compulsory or prohibited, encouraged or mocked, it is a fundamental marker of identity and ideology, particularly in the Islamic world. The essays in Barbe et barbus are an elegant demonstration of the complexities inherent in the pilosity of the masculine visage.

Quote as: Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell H... more Quote as:
Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

[You'll find the Introduction and my two co-authored Chapters in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]

A theoretically rich, nuanced history of Islam and Islamic civilization with a unique sociological component. This major new reference work offers a complete historical and theoretically informed view of Islam as both a religion and a sociocultural force. It surveys and discusses the transformation of Muslim societies in different eras and various regions, providing a broad narrative of the historical development of Islamic civilization.
This text explores the complex and varied history of the religion and its traditions. It provides an in-depth study of the diverse ways through which the religious dimension at the core of Islamic traditions has led to a distinctive type of civilizational process in history. The book illuminates the ways in which various historical forces have converged and crystallized in institutional forms at a variety of levels, embracing social, religious, legal, political, cultural, and civic dimensions. Together, the team of internationally renowned scholars move from the genesis of a new social order in 7th-century Arabia, right up to the rise of revolutionary Islamist currents in the 20th century and the varied ways in which Islam has grown and continues to pervade daily life in the Middle East and beyond.
This book is essential reading for students and academics in a wide range of fields, including sociology, history, law, and political science. It will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the history of one of the world’s great religions.

A Hundred and One Nights Edited and Translated by Bruce Fudge Foreword by Robert Irwin ... more A Hundred and One Nights

Edited and Translated by Bruce Fudge
Foreword by Robert Irwin

Library of Arabic Literature
New York University Press, 2016

416 pages

Known to us only through North African manuscripts, and translated into English for the first time, A Hundred and One Nights is a marvelous example of the rich tradition of popular Arabic storytelling. Like its more famous sibling, the Thousand and One Nights, this collection opens with the frame story of Shahrazad, the gifted vizier’s daughter who recounts imaginative tales night after night in an effort to distract the murderous king from taking her life. A Hundred and One Nights features an almost entirely different set of stories, however, each one more thrilling, amusing, and disturbing than the last. In them, we encounter tales of epic warriors, buried treasures, disappearing brides, cannibal demon women, fatal shipwrecks, and clever ruses, where human strength and ingenuity play out against a backdrop of inexorable, inscrutable fate.

Although these tales draw on motifs and story elements that circulated across cultures, A Hundred and One Nights is distinctly rooted in Arabic literary culture and the Islamic tradition. It is also likely much older than Thousand and One Nights, drawing on Indian and Chinese antecedents. This careful edition and vibrant translation of A Hundred and One Nights promises to transport readers, new and veteran alike, into its fantastical realms of magic and wonder.

The work of the twelfth-century Shi’ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma’ al-bayan, is one of the most i... more The work of the twelfth-century Shi’ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma’ al-bayan, is one of the most important works of medieval commentary on the Qur’an, and is still in use today. This work is an in-depth case study of Islamic exegetical methods and an exploration of the nature of scriptural interpretation in Islam.

Drawing on a wide variety of sources including unpublished manuscripts, the author examines how exegesis serves to construct, maintain and defend the status of the Qur’an as scripture and to uphold certain ideological agendas, among them the notion of the literary and rhetorical supremacy of God’s revelation in Arabic. Focusing on the genre and process of Qur’anic exegesis itself, he treats Qur’an interpretation as part of a category of religious practice recognizable from the history and comparative study of religion.

Written in clear and accessible style, Qur’anic Hermeneutics makes Qur’anic exegesis intelligible to specialists in Islam as well as those interested in scripture and its interpretation in general. As such, it will be a valuable reference to scholars of Islamic studies, religion and scripture.

Papers by Bruce Fudge

Non sola scriptura: Essays on the Qur'an and Islam in honour of William A. Graham, ed. Bruce Fudge et al. (Routledge, 2022), 44-65, 2022

“Odysseus’ Scar” is the first chapter of Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Litera... more “Odysseus’ Scar” is the first chapter of Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946) by Erich Auerbach (1892-1957). In this chapter Auerbach delineates two narrative styles, the Homeric and the biblical, the latter based on the Hebrew scriptures and specifically the Book of Genesis, which he sees as fundamental for the subsequent development of European literature. The claim has been made that Auerbach’s essay enables us to “see features of the Bible that would be virtually impossible to detect did we not know the Odyssey.” What would the comparison do for the Qur’an?

“Odysseus’ Scar” enables us to perceive a “monotheist style” shared by the Qur’an and Hebrew Bible, and to note how in both texts, the literary features are inseparable from the theological message. To read the Qur’an in light of the rest of Auerbach’s Mimesis, however, takes us in a different direction, in which we notice how the Qur’an’s strong theocentrism is at odds with the tragic view of existence put forth by Christianity and Western literary culture in general.

According to a number of Hadith reports, Muslim men should wear beards. The exact nature of the ... more According to a number of Hadith reports, Muslim men should wear beards. The exact nature of the beard, as well as the reason for sporting one, may vary, but traditionally the beard has always been associated with piety amongst males. The tendency is especially strong among Salafi Muslims, who attempt to emulate the practices of the earliest generations of believers and who have produced many recent publications, readily available on line, on the necessity of the beard. The beard serves, according to the hadith, as a marker: it distinguishes, Muslim from non-Muslim, male from female, and more recently, “good” or “sincere” Muslim from “bad” Muslim. However, alongside the pro-beard discourse one finds any number of jokes or anecdotes stemming from a proverb that claims intelligence is inversely related to the length of one’s beard. In a pamphlet distributed in Mosul in 2015, the Islamic State (IS) implicitly acknowledged the anti-beard tendency by claiming that to mock the beard was a form of apostasy. An appendix contains a complete translation of the IS document.

Aeon, 2019

‘Nobody would have the balls today to write The Satanic Verses, let alone publish it,’ the writer... more ‘Nobody would have the balls today to write The Satanic Verses, let alone publish it,’ the writer Hanif Kureishi told a journalist in 2009. Salman Rushdie’s notorious novel, like Kureishi’s figure of speech, is indeed looking like a relic of a bygone time.
https://aeon.co/essays/can-there-ever-be-another-novel-like-the-satanic-verses

Study the Quran or The Study Quran?

This is a review article of two recent, complete translations of the Arabian Nights, in French b... more This is a review article of two recent, complete translations of the Arabian Nights, in French by André Miquel and Jamel Eddine Bencheikh (2005) and in English by Malcolm Lyons (2008).

From 1974 to 2018, William A. Graham was the Faculty Advisor to the Harvard Mountaineering Club. ... more From 1974 to 2018, William A. Graham was the Faculty Advisor to the Harvard Mountaineering Club. None of us, four of his forrner doctoral students, ever went climbing with him, but it is not difficult to imagine him scaling a formidable rock face: we know of the physical fiûress, the willingrress to attack a mountainous obstacle, whether literally or figuratively; the judicious attention to detail in finding and reaching each hand and foothold, while not losing sight of the summit, be

Ranging from Sumer to ISIS, this collection presents an historic and anthropological approach to ... more Ranging from Sumer to ISIS, this collection presents an historic and anthropological approach to the beard in Middle Eastern religious traditions. The twelve contributions, along with a general introduction, cover the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hittites), Judaism, and medieval to contemporary Islam. Since Antiquity the beard has been a symbol of masculine power, linked directly to ideologies of the male body. Whether the wearing of a beard is compulsory or prohibited, encouraged or mocked, it is a fundamental marker of identity and ideology, particularly in the Islamic world. The essays in Barbe et barbus are an elegant demonstration of the complexities inherent in the pilosity of the masculine visage.

Quote as: Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell H... more Quote as:
Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

[You'll find the Introduction and my two co-authored Chapters in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]

A theoretically rich, nuanced history of Islam and Islamic civilization with a unique sociological component. This major new reference work offers a complete historical and theoretically informed view of Islam as both a religion and a sociocultural force. It surveys and discusses the transformation of Muslim societies in different eras and various regions, providing a broad narrative of the historical development of Islamic civilization.
This text explores the complex and varied history of the religion and its traditions. It provides an in-depth study of the diverse ways through which the religious dimension at the core of Islamic traditions has led to a distinctive type of civilizational process in history. The book illuminates the ways in which various historical forces have converged and crystallized in institutional forms at a variety of levels, embracing social, religious, legal, political, cultural, and civic dimensions. Together, the team of internationally renowned scholars move from the genesis of a new social order in 7th-century Arabia, right up to the rise of revolutionary Islamist currents in the 20th century and the varied ways in which Islam has grown and continues to pervade daily life in the Middle East and beyond.
This book is essential reading for students and academics in a wide range of fields, including sociology, history, law, and political science. It will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the history of one of the world’s great religions.

A Hundred and One Nights Edited and Translated by Bruce Fudge Foreword by Robert Irwin ... more A Hundred and One Nights

Edited and Translated by Bruce Fudge
Foreword by Robert Irwin

Library of Arabic Literature
New York University Press, 2016

416 pages

Known to us only through North African manuscripts, and translated into English for the first time, A Hundred and One Nights is a marvelous example of the rich tradition of popular Arabic storytelling. Like its more famous sibling, the Thousand and One Nights, this collection opens with the frame story of Shahrazad, the gifted vizier’s daughter who recounts imaginative tales night after night in an effort to distract the murderous king from taking her life. A Hundred and One Nights features an almost entirely different set of stories, however, each one more thrilling, amusing, and disturbing than the last. In them, we encounter tales of epic warriors, buried treasures, disappearing brides, cannibal demon women, fatal shipwrecks, and clever ruses, where human strength and ingenuity play out against a backdrop of inexorable, inscrutable fate.

Although these tales draw on motifs and story elements that circulated across cultures, A Hundred and One Nights is distinctly rooted in Arabic literary culture and the Islamic tradition. It is also likely much older than Thousand and One Nights, drawing on Indian and Chinese antecedents. This careful edition and vibrant translation of A Hundred and One Nights promises to transport readers, new and veteran alike, into its fantastical realms of magic and wonder.

The work of the twelfth-century Shi’ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma’ al-bayan, is one of the most i... more The work of the twelfth-century Shi’ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma’ al-bayan, is one of the most important works of medieval commentary on the Qur’an, and is still in use today. This work is an in-depth case study of Islamic exegetical methods and an exploration of the nature of scriptural interpretation in Islam.

Drawing on a wide variety of sources including unpublished manuscripts, the author examines how exegesis serves to construct, maintain and defend the status of the Qur’an as scripture and to uphold certain ideological agendas, among them the notion of the literary and rhetorical supremacy of God’s revelation in Arabic. Focusing on the genre and process of Qur’anic exegesis itself, he treats Qur’an interpretation as part of a category of religious practice recognizable from the history and comparative study of religion.

Written in clear and accessible style, Qur’anic Hermeneutics makes Qur’anic exegesis intelligible to specialists in Islam as well as those interested in scripture and its interpretation in general. As such, it will be a valuable reference to scholars of Islamic studies, religion and scripture.

Non sola scriptura: Essays on the Qur'an and Islam in honour of William A. Graham, ed. Bruce Fudge et al. (Routledge, 2022), 44-65, 2022

“Odysseus’ Scar” is the first chapter of Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Litera... more “Odysseus’ Scar” is the first chapter of Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946) by Erich Auerbach (1892-1957). In this chapter Auerbach delineates two narrative styles, the Homeric and the biblical, the latter based on the Hebrew scriptures and specifically the Book of Genesis, which he sees as fundamental for the subsequent development of European literature. The claim has been made that Auerbach’s essay enables us to “see features of the Bible that would be virtually impossible to detect did we not know the Odyssey.” What would the comparison do for the Qur’an?

“Odysseus’ Scar” enables us to perceive a “monotheist style” shared by the Qur’an and Hebrew Bible, and to note how in both texts, the literary features are inseparable from the theological message. To read the Qur’an in light of the rest of Auerbach’s Mimesis, however, takes us in a different direction, in which we notice how the Qur’an’s strong theocentrism is at odds with the tragic view of existence put forth by Christianity and Western literary culture in general.

According to a number of Hadith reports, Muslim men should wear beards. The exact nature of the ... more According to a number of Hadith reports, Muslim men should wear beards. The exact nature of the beard, as well as the reason for sporting one, may vary, but traditionally the beard has always been associated with piety amongst males. The tendency is especially strong among Salafi Muslims, who attempt to emulate the practices of the earliest generations of believers and who have produced many recent publications, readily available on line, on the necessity of the beard. The beard serves, according to the hadith, as a marker: it distinguishes, Muslim from non-Muslim, male from female, and more recently, “good” or “sincere” Muslim from “bad” Muslim. However, alongside the pro-beard discourse one finds any number of jokes or anecdotes stemming from a proverb that claims intelligence is inversely related to the length of one’s beard. In a pamphlet distributed in Mosul in 2015, the Islamic State (IS) implicitly acknowledged the anti-beard tendency by claiming that to mock the beard was a form of apostasy. An appendix contains a complete translation of the IS document.

Aeon, 2019

‘Nobody would have the balls today to write The Satanic Verses, let alone publish it,’ the writer... more ‘Nobody would have the balls today to write The Satanic Verses, let alone publish it,’ the writer Hanif Kureishi told a journalist in 2009. Salman Rushdie’s notorious novel, like Kureishi’s figure of speech, is indeed looking like a relic of a bygone time.
https://aeon.co/essays/can-there-ever-be-another-novel-like-the-satanic-verses

Study the Quran or The Study Quran?

This is a review article of two recent, complete translations of the Arabian Nights, in French b... more This is a review article of two recent, complete translations of the Arabian Nights, in French by André Miquel and Jamel Eddine Bencheikh (2005) and in English by Malcolm Lyons (2008).

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/a-culture-of-ambiguity-thomas-bauer-book-review-bruce-fudge/

Marginalia Review, 2020

https://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/al-%e1%b8%a5ariris-fifty-tales-the-tongues-of-god-and-man/

but to be recognized and as such used by writers and consumers of Arabic texts of all different b... more but to be recognized and as such used by writers and consumers of Arabic texts of all different backgrounds, as they acquired papyrus sheets or scrolls or when they reused the protocol sheets for other writings.

International Conference May 5_7, 2022, Lausanne, Université de Lausanne