Prof. Dr. Ulrich Marzolph, project partner of the Kalīla and Dimna research project, discusses his research on popular Arabic fables:

In premodern Arabic literature, fables occur essentially in two distinct areas. The majority of documented fables, encompassing a total of about 160 items, are cited in authored or elite literature. The best-known examples for this type of fable include Kalīla wa-Dimna, Ibn Ẓafar’s Sulwān al-mutāʿ, Ibn ʿArabshāh’s Fākihat al-khulafā, and the fables in The Thousand and One Nights. In a second, “popular” strand of tradition that is relatively clearly separated from these works, there exists a corpus of about 120 items of Arabic fables that are either quoted in the specific context of an oral communication or cited as single items or small clusters of items in various genres of literature, in addition to adab-literature mainly including historical and biographical literature. It is the latter strand of tradition that is my concern.

The main questions guiding my considerations are the following: How can one identify the “popular” fables in the vast body of Arabic written texts? What features do the “popular” fables share, i.e. how can the texts be identified as fables? To which extent does the available textual material permit a definition of the fable according to the criteria that might have been regarded as relevant in indigenous, i.e. premodern Arabic Muslim culture?

Rather than providing clear-cut answers to the above questions, my considerations intend to serve as an offer for discussion as based on the available textual material.

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The Kalīla and Dimna research colloquium promotes a number of international guest speakers in alternation with close reading sessions on manuscript editing and presentations of the team’s research topics. Discussion of methodological approaches and digital humanities issues are at the center of attention.

The session of the workshop (Thurs, 12-14 hrs) is offered as a hybrid event, the 2nd part (14-16 hrs) will be held in person only.

For registration and materials, please mail to: oualid.el.khattabi@fu-berlin.de