Review of 'Writing the Twilight' by Nizar. F. Hermes. (original) (raw)

Nicola Carpentieri’s Writing the Twilight: The Arabic Poetics of Ageing in Medieval Sicily and al-Andalus is a beautifully written and expertly researched study that explores the nuanced poetic engagement with ageing, physical and mental waning, and personal and collective loss within the context of eleventh- and twelfth-century Arabic poetry from al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia) and Sicily, regions which, together with North Africa or the “mainland” Maghrib, formed what is known as the Islamic West (al-gharb al-Islāmī)...