Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Beatrice Gründler
![gruendler](/e/semiarab/arabistik/team/Professuren/Gruendler/gruendler.png?width=350)
Seminar für Semitistik und Arabistik
Arabic Studies
Academic advisor bachelor's program Arabic Studies; principal investigator "Kalīla and Dimna – AnonymClassic/ALC"
Room 1.2003
14195 Berlin
Office hours
Please mail to Professor Gruendler for individual appointments: beatrice.gruendler@fu-berlin.de
Professional career
Since 2014 |
Professor for Arabic language and literature, Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies, Freien Universität Berlin |
2012-2013 |
Senior Research Fellow, International and Area Studies, Macmillan Center, Yale University |
2010-2011 |
Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin |
2002-2014 |
Professor for Arabic language and literature, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University |
2003-2004 2006 2008 |
Visiting Scholar, Department of Near Eastern Literaures and Civilizations, Harvard University |
2002-2003 2004-2005 2006-2007 |
Fellow, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University |
1996-2002 |
Assistant Professor for Arabic literature, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University |
1995-1996 |
Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, Dartmouth College |
1995 |
Ph.D. (“with Distinction”), Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University |
1989 |
M.A. (“with Distinction”), Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University |
1987-1995 |
Studies at Harvard University |
1985-1987 |
Studies of Islamic Science (major), Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Semitics (minors), Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen |
1983-1985 |
Studies at Université des Sciences Humaines II, Strasbourg |
Academic administration
Since 2016 | Board member, Dahlem Humanities Center, Freie Universität Berlin |
Since 2015 |
Principal Investigator, Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies, Freie Universität Berlin |
Since 2014 | Principal Investigator, Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universität Berlin |
2011-2014 | Director of Undergraduate Studies, Modern Middle East Studies program, Yale University |
2013-2014 | Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University |
2011-2012 2009-2010 |
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University |
2009-2010 |
Executive Board, Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University |
2008-2009 | Advisory Board, Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University |
2006-2009 | Arabic Program Coordinator, Yale University |
2000-2002 1997-1999 |
Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University |
1998-2014 | Faculty advisor, Yale Arabic Colloquium (YAC), Yale University |
Awards and funding (including external funds)
2017 |
Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), project title “The Arabic Anonymous in a World Classic“, acronym “AnonymClassic“ (2,4 Mio.). |
2017 |
Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Preis of the German Research Council (DFG) (2,5 Mio.) |
2016-2019 |
The Poetics of Aristotle between Europe and Islam. A Multilingual Edition with Studies of the Cultural Contexts of the Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin Translations. Initiated and carried out jointly with Einstein Visiting Fellow Dimitri Gutas (Yale University) and located at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (448.000 Euro). [Link] |
2015-2016 |
Kalīla wa-Dimna/Wisdom encoded. E-Learning/E-Research Grant, Freie Universität Berlin. |
2012 2006 2002 |
Research grant, Macmillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University |
2006 2002 |
Faculty Research Grants (research of manuscripts in Iran), Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University |
2002 |
Paul Moore Memorial Grant for Instructional Innovation, Yale University |
2001 2000 |
Hilles Publication Grant, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University |
1999-2000 |
Morse Fellowship (Humanities) for junior professors, Yale University |
1994 |
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University |
1989 |
Scholarship, Hans-Krüger-Stiftung for Qur'anic studies at al-Azhar University, Kairo |
1988-1991 |
PhD scholarship, Harvard University |
1983-1988 |
Scholarship, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes |
Avisory boards, editorships, cooperation
Since 2018 | Member of the Expert Group of the Berlin University Alliance |
Since 2018 | Advisory Board, journal al-Abhath, American University of Beirut |
Since 2017 | Advisory Board, International Lexicon of Philological Terms (ILPhT) |
Since 2017 | Member of the Excellency Council of Freie Universität Berlin |
2016-2017 | President, American Oriental Society |
2017, 2016 | Invited Expert, Seminar “Application Procedures in Select International Academic Systems“, ProFil Professional Training for Women in Research and Teaching, supported by Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität, and Technische Universität Berlin (2/18/16 and 7/28/17) |
Since 2016 | Scientific Advisory Board, German Oriental Institute, Max Weber Foundation, Beirut |
Since 2016 | Advisory Board, journal Philological Encounters (vol. 1 appeared 2016) |
Since 2016 | Advisory Board, Edition Practices in Comparative and Historical Perspective, Anneliese-Maier Prize Research Project, Humboldt University |
Since 2016 | Steering Committee, The Global Philology Project. Supplement to the Project Clarin-D of Leipzig University (two-year preparation phase of a comprehensive proposal to the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)) |
Since 2016 | Scientific Board of the international conference The Eighth Century. Patterns of transition in economy and trade throughout the Late Antique, early medieval, and Islamicate Mediterranean, Freie Universität Berlin (planned 4.-7.10.17) |
2016 | Invited Expert, Seminar “Application Procedures in Select International Academic Systems“, ProFil Professional Training for Women in Research and Teaching, supported by Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität, and Technische Universität Berlin (2/18/16) |
Since 2015 | Scientific Advisory Board, Max Planck Instituts für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (MPIWG) |
Since 2015 | Advisory Editorial Board, series “Islamic History and Thought,” Gorgias Press |
2012 |
Collaboration with the Aliento-project, Universities of Paris (INALCO) and Nancy, Centre des Humanités |
2012 | Collaboration, Max Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (MPWIG), Berlin, project “Globalization of Science" |
Since 2012 |
Editorial Board, Ägyptische und Orientalische Papyri und Handschriften des Ägyptischen Museums und Papyrussammlung Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
Since 2012 | Editorial Board, Geschichte der Germanistik. Historische Zeitschrift für die Philologien, Göttingen |
2011-2014 | Executive Board and Chair, section Islamic Near East, American Oriental Society |
Since 2011 |
Member, Centre de Recherche Moyen-Orient Méditerranée (CERMOM), INALCO, Paris |
Since 2010 |
International Advisory Board, Library of Arabic Literature (LAL) of the NYU/Abu Dhabi Institute |
Since 2006 |
Editorial Board, series “Literaturen im Kontext: Arabisch – Persisch – Türkisch”, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden |
Scientific memberships
|
Conference organisation
March 2018 |
Documents and Manuscripts in the Arab-Islamic World, The Seventh International Society of Arabic Papyrology (ISAP) conference, co-organized with the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Humboldt Universität, Papyrus Collection of the Egyptian Museum, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. |
Nov. 2016 |
Why we (Should) Translate Science/Philosophy. International conference funded by the Einstein Foundation and hosted at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies. Co-organized with Einstein FellowDimtri Gutas, Yale University. |
July 2016 |
School of Abbasid Studies meeting, Leiden. Discussant ofpanel. |
May-June 2016 |
Organisation und Moderation der Vorlesungsreihe The Long Ninth Century in Arabic-Islamic Knowledge and Culture in der Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (26.4.16, 31.5.16, 28.6.16) [Link] |
June 2011 |
Workshop: Arabic Science. Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin. Organisation. |
April 2011 |
Colloquium: De Baghdad a Granada: Espejos de las Mil y una Noche, University of Granada and Fundaçion Euroárabe, Granada. Chair of a panel. |
April/ Nov. 2010 |
Conceptualizing Literary History: Foundations of Arabic Literature 7th to 17th Centuries, Yale University (1. Teil, April); Paris-VIII St. Denis/INALCO/Sorbonne (2. Teil, November).Organisation in collaboration with Julia Bray. |
Sept. 2010 |
Kalila wa-Dimna: The project of a critical edition, Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI) conference, Naples, Italy. Organisation and chair of a panel. |
Sept. 2010 |
Section Arabic Studies, 31st Meeting, Deutsche Morganländische Gesellschaft, Marburg; Co-Leiterin des viertägigen Workshops, Co-chair of the panel: Arabische Buchkultur und Handschriftenbibliotheken. |
März. 2010 |
Medieval Academy of America (MAA), New Haven.Organisation of a panel. |
Sept. 2008 |
Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), Leipzig. Chair of several panels. |
Sept. 2007 |
Section Arabic Studies, 30th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Freiburg. Co-chair of a four-day workshop. |
April 2007 |
Islamic Near East: al-Tawḥīdī, American Oriental Society conference, San Antonio. Chair of a panel. |
Sept. 2004 |
Literatur Forum, 29th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Halle. Co-chair of a four-day workshop. |
April 2001 |
Islamic Near East: Studies in Sources, American Oriental Society conference,Toronto. Chair of a panel. |
April 2001 |
Theoretical Approaches to Near Eastern Literatures/Interculturality and Intertextuality: The Emergence of Genres through Transcultural Interaction, 28th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Bamberg. Co-chair of a four-day workshop. |
April 1999 |
Literature and Rulership in Medieval Islam, Colloquiuman der Yale University, gefördertdurch das Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations und den Council on Middle East Studies (CMES). Organisation. |
Sept. 1998 |
Theoretical Approaches to Near Eastern Literatures, 27th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Bonn. Co-chair of a three-day workshop. |
Nov. 1993 |
Patterns of Persuasion: The Relationship to the Audience in Medieval Islamic Literature, Middle East Studies Association, Research Triangle Park, NC. Organisation. |
Academic evaluation
Referee for endowed chairs: University of Exeter (2016), Edinburgh University (2015); Georgetown University (2013), University of Oxford (2011), University of Cambridge (2012). Reviewer for promotions to tenured associate and full professorships for: World Cultures, Helsinki University (2016); Arabic Language and Literature, Haifa University (2014); Comparative Literature, Rutgers University (2011); History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2010); (W3) Arabic Studies, Marburg University (2007); Arabic Studies/Islamic Studies, Göttingen University (2007); Arabic Literature, American University of Beirut (2006); Comparative Literature, Cornell University (2005); History, Florida Atlantic University (2005); Islamic Studies, New York University (2004). Reviewer for assistant and associate professorships: Arabic Literature, University of Chicago (2017); Arabic Studies, University of Helsinki (2016); Arabic and Islamic Studies, Universität Münster (2016); Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis (2010); (W1) Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (2007, 2010). Referee for prizes, research projects, postdoctoral fellowships, Academy memberships: Caroline von Humboldt-Professorship and Prize (2017); Israel Science Foundation (2016); Dilthey Fellowship of the VolkswagenStiftung/Fritz Thyssen Stiftung (2017, 2016, 2010); Academy of Sciences of Saxony, Germany (2015); European Research Council (2017, 2015, 2013); American Academy of Berlin (2017, 2015); Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2015); Dahlem Research School (2015); Young Academy of the BBAW/Leopoldina (2015); Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (2014); Austrian Academy of Sciences (2017, 2014); German Research Foundation (DFG) incl. Leibniz Prize (2017, 2016, 2013, 2011); Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University (2012); Advanced Institute (Wissenschaftskolleg) of Berlin (since 2010); Gerda Henkel Stiftung (2011). Member of the expert group of the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) for the Excellence Initiative to promote science and research at German Universities. Evaluations of Freiburg University (2007), Freie Universität Berlin (2007, 2006), and Tübingen University (2006). Member of Candidate Selection Committees for: Center for Arabic Study Abroad Cairo Reviewer of book proposals for: Brill (since 2012); the Library of Arabic Literature, New York Abu Dhabi Institute (2012, 2011); Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (AKM) (2011); Scuola Normale, Pisa (2010); Syracuse University Press (2010); New York University Press (2010); Washington University Press (2007). Reviewer of articles for: Arabica (2016), Asiatische Studien (2014), British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2013), Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (2016, 2011), Cartography Journal (2011), Modern Language Studies (2010), Comparative Literature Studies (2010), Journal for Arabic Literature (since 2007), International Journal on Middle East Studies (IJMES) (2007). External Reviewer of academic programs for: Bamberg University, graduate cluster [Graduiertenkolleg] (2016); Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Department of Arabic Language and Literature (2014); Haifa University, Department of Arabic Language and Literature (2014); University of Notre Dame, Department of Classics and Arabic (2008). Outside Examiner for: Arabic program, University of Connecticut at Storrs (1999-2004). Reviewer of international conference proposals for: European Science Foundation (since 2008). |
Lectures and classes held by Professor Beatrice Gruendler may be found at the online curriculum Vorlesungsverzeichnis der Freien Universität Berlin. The link will show classes of the current semester, please additionally insert a date for looking at previous years.
Lectures in winter 2018/19
- 14282 SEMINAR
Einführung in die wissenschaftliche Literatur der Semitistik und Arabistik (Beatrice Gründler; Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 16.10.2018)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
- 14285 VERTIEFUNGSSEMINAR
Klassiker der arabischen Literatur (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 16:00-18:00 (Erster Termin: 17.10.2018)
Ort: 2.2058 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
- 14294 COLLOQUIUM
Colloquium Kalila wa-Dimna (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 18.10.2018)
Ort: -1.2057 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in summer 2018
- 14281 Vorlesung
(V) Literatur und Quellen II B (Beatrice Gründler; Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 17.04.2018)
Ort: -1.2009 großer Hörsaal (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14289 Lektürekurs
Individuen in der klassischen arabischen Literatur (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 16:00-18:00 (Erster Termin: 18.04.2018)
Ort: 1.2052 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14298 Colloquium
Forschungskolloquium (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 19.04.2018)
Ort: -1.1062 Besprechungsraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in summer 2017
- 14282 Vorlesung
Literatur und Quellen II (Beatrice Gründler; Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 18.04.2017)
Ort: -1.2009 großer Hörsaal (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14283 Seminar
Kalila wa-Dimna - ein Fürstenspiegel in Fabelform (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 20.04.2017)
Ort: 1.2002 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14292 Lektürekurs
Arabische Geographie (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 16:00-18:00 (Erster Termin: 19.04.2017)
Ort: 1.2002 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in winter 2016/17
- 14285Seminar
Einführung in die wissenschaftliche Literatur der Semitistik und Arabistik (Beatrice Gründler; Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 18.10.2016)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14289Vertiefungsseminar
Klassiker der arabischen Literatur (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00, zusätzliche Termine siehe LV-Details (Erster Termin: 20.10.2016)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14290Seminar
Einführung in die klassische arabische Poetik (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 16:00-18:00 (Erster Termin: 19.10.2016)
Ort: 1.2052 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14302Colloquium
Colloquium für Abschlussarbeiten (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Di 18:00-20:00 (Erster Termin: 18.10.2016)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in summer 2016
- 14285Vorlesung
Literatur und Quellen II - Semitistik und Arabistik (Beatrice Gründler , Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 19.04.2016)
Ort: 2.2058/2.2059 Seminarraum - 14286Seminar
Tausendundeine Nacht (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 21.04.2016)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14300Colloquium
Colloquium für BA-, MA- und Magister-KandidatInnen und DoktorandInnen (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Di 18:00-20:00 (Erster Termin: 19.04.2016)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in winter 2015/16
- 14290Seminar
Klassiker der arabischen Literatur (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 15.10.2015)
Ort: 0.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14294Sprachkurs
Einführung in die klassischen arabischen Wörterbücher (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 12:00-14:00, zusätzliche Termine siehe LV-Details (Erster Termin: 14.10.2015)
Ort: 0.2051 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14295Übung
al-Dschahiz' Buch der Tiere (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 14:00-16:00, zusätzliche Termine siehe LV-Details (Erster Termin: 14.10.2015)
Ort: JK 26/101 (Habelschwerdter Allee 45) - 14301Verschiedenes
Colloquium für BA-, MA- und Magister-KandidatInnen und DoktorandInnen (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Di 18:00-20:00 (Erster Termin: 13.10.2015)
Ort: 1.2002 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14310Seminar
Einführung in die wissenschaftliche Literatur der Semitistik und Arabistik (Beatrice Gründler; Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 13.10.2015)
Ort: 1.2051 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in summer 2015
- 14284Sprachkurs
Arabische Philologie: Ibn Jinni Khasa`is (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 16:00-18:00 (Erster Termin: 15.04.2015)
Ort: 1.2058 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14286Verschiedenes
Colloquium für BA-, MA- und Magister-KandidatInnen und DoktorandInnen (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Di 18:00-20:00 (Erster Termin: 14.04.2015)
Ort: 1.2001 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14290Seminar
Die Maqamen (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 15.04.2015)
Ort: 1.2052 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14291Vorlesung
Literatur und Quellen II (Beatrice Gründler/Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 14.04.2015)
Ort: -1.2009 großer Hörsaal (Fabeckstr. 23-25) - 14299Seminar
Abbasidische Dichtung im gesellschaftlichen Kontext (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 16.04.2015)
Ort: 1.2051 Seminarraum (Fabeckstr. 23-25)
Lectures in winter 2014/15
- 14289Sprachkurs
Systematik der arabischen Grammatiktheorie: Ibn al-Sarraaj und al-Zajaajii (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Di 16:00-18:00 (Erster Termin: 14.10.2014)
Ort: 105 Kleiner Seminarraum (Altensteinstr. 34) - 14290Übung
Kalila wa Dimna (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 15.10.2014)
Ort: E002 Großer Seminarraum (Altensteinstr. 34) - 14291Seminar
Einführung in die wissenschaftliche Literatur der Semitistik und Arabistik (Beatrice Gründler, Shabo Talay)
Zeit: Di 14:00-16:00 (Erster Termin: 14.10.2014)
Ort: K 25/11 (Habelschwerdter Allee 45) - 14294Seminar
Klassiker der arabischen Literatur (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Do 12:00-14:00 (Erster Termin: 16.10.2014)
Ort: 214 SR III (Altensteinstr. 40) - 14301Verschiedenes
Colloquium für BA-, MA- und Magister-KandidatInnen und DoktorandInnen (Beatrice Gründler)
Zeit: Mi 18:00-20:00 (Erster Termin: 22.10.2014)
Ort: E002 Großer Seminarraum (Altensteinstr. 34)
In her first book, The Development of the Arabic Scripts (Atlanta, Georgia 1993), Beatrice Gruendler documented the Nabatean origin and the early Islamic forms of the Arabic script using dated texts. Articles on the Arabic script were published in the Encyclopedia of the Qur'an (2001a, 2004c, see detailed publication list) and the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics (2006c). A recent article on the diverse use of the Arabic consonant alphabet (abgad) in the course of Arabic language history was developed in collaboration with the School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe, published in The Shape of Script: How and Why Writing Systems Change (eds Houston, 2012c).
On classical Arabic poetry, Gruendler wrote a monograph on the panegyric of Ibn al-Rūmī (896) and his iconography of literary patronage, Medieval Arabic Praise Poetry (London 2003, paperback 2010). This is followed by the Ode (qaṣīda), the aftermaths (mu'āraḍa) of Eastern Odes in Muslim Spain (2000c, 2008c), as well as the love poem (ghazal) as a genre and its independent motifs (2005b). Gruendler devoted a colloquium to the relationship between ruling and literature, which was published with Louise Marlow, Wellesley College under the title Writers and Rulers: Perspectives from Abbasid to Safavid Times (Wiesbaden, 2004). She is currently investigating literary short essays (akhbār), which illustrate the often practical use of poetry in the ninth century, as well as the prevailing cultural aesthetics and the role of philologists as poetry experts. Relevant articles deal with the search for a patron (2005c), legal (especially through apostles, tawqī'āt) and the financial impact of odes (2009a), their transformation in lecture and tradition (2007b), the controversy between secretaries and philologists on the abstract style of poetry (takhyīl) and the social tensions triggered by the loose urban love poem (2011a).
Gruendler understands the integration of literary theory into the study of pre-modern Near Eastern literatures as a permanent task of the subject, and has, from this point of view, directed the section Arabic Studies of the German Oriental Society (DOT) 2001-2010, with Verena Klemm, University of Leipzig. Understanding Near Eastern Literatures (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2000), formed the opening series of the book series Literaturen im Kontext: Arabisch – Persisch - Türkisch, Reichert Verlag, which is devoted to innovative approaches to Middle Eastern literatures.
Together with Julia Bray, Oxford University, Gruendler organized two conferences titled Conceptualising Literary History: Foundations of Arabic Literature to rethink the role of the Arabic as a cosmopolitan language avant la lettre and the classification of his literary genres. A first meeting in Yale, 16-18. April 2010 (see http://nelc.yale.edu/events/2010) was followed by a second at the Université de Paris VIII St. Denis / INALCO, 25-27. November 2010. The ideas debated there inspired the concept of an introduction to Arabic literature that Gruendler wrote together with Verena Klemm and Barbara Winckler, University of Münster for the volume Introduction to Islam, and which highlights the main development currents of this literature, which has been living for fourteen centuries (Eds. R. Brunner, 2014).
She contributed a study on the theory of love, using the example of the disease of the hearts (I'tilāl al-qulūb) of al-Kharā'iṭī (d. 938), to an interdisciplinary colloquium at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, entitled Martyrdom and Modernity: Visions of Death and Meaningful Suffering in Europe and the Middle East from Antiquity to Modernity (Hg. F. Pannewick, Wiesbaden, 2004). Love after death is the subject of a chapter in the volumne Love after Death (Hgg. Bernard Jussen and Ramie Targoff, 2014). Another project was an encyclopaedia of cultural terms, entitled Classical Arabic Humanities in Their Own Terms (Brill 2007), in honor of Wolfhart Heinrich, Harvard University (recently deceased).
As a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin 2010-2011 she started her research project Das islamische Zeitalter der Kommunikation. The flourishing book culture in the Middle East of the ninth century, supported by the introduction of the paper and the development of Arabic as a cosmopolitan language, caused profound transformations in knowledge, teaching, and publishing practices, and throughout the literary work, all of which had previously been oral. The project uses the richly preserved written sources (akhbār), which illustrate the contemporary reaction of poets, writers, critics and the public to the new written media (eg. notes, notebooks and books in rough draft and final version), and which document the differentiation between communication and the use of texts by different social strata and professional groups.
The court of the caliph, who ordered books, and independent booksellers were equally active in book making and authors had to deal with both. On the other hand, books were not necessarily intended to disseminate information, but could also limit and control their use. Other phenomena were the coexistence of spoken and written words, and the new professions of the writer and copyist, which made independence from patronage possible. An extract from the first chapter was published under the title Book Culture before Print: The Early History of Arabic Media (American University of Beirut), The Margaret Weyerhaeuser Jewett Chair of Arabic, Occasional Papers, 2012 for a lecture with Michael Marx, BBAWm on the subject , Papyrus, Parchment, Paper: Medial changes of Arabic book culture, see Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. The entire study will be published as The Arabic Book Revolution at Harvard University Press. An accompanying project is an online edition of all the books and book fragments of the ninth century, with an analysis of their layout and material data.
In another study, Gruendler treated parallels between Aristotle's aphorism and verses by the poet al-Mutanabbī (d. 965) (2012a). In collaboration with Hatem Alzahrani (M.A. Yale 2014), she prepares a bilingual collection of his proverbial verses to make this probably most famous poet of Arabic language accessible to a broader audience.
The concept of the homeland (waṭan, awṭān) and its alternatives is at the center of a contribution to the volume Visions and Representations of the Homeland in Modern Poetry and Prose (Eds. S. Günther and S. Milich, 2014). Gruendler is currently planning a collective critical edition of the classic Arabic mirror, Kalīla wa-Dimna, in collaboration with Louise Marlow, Wellesley College, and Istvan Kristo-Nagy, University of Exeter. In a contribution to the volume Énoncés sapientiels et littérature exemplaire: une intertextualité complexe (Eds. Bornes Varol and M. Ortola, Nancy 2013), she discussed the state of research and the particular problem of such a divergent and text translated in so many languages. She takes part in the newly founded bilingual series The Library of Arabic Literature at the New York University of Abu Dhabi, for which she prepared a new edition and first translation of the Akhbār Abī Tammām of Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī (946) under the title The Life and Times Of Abū Tammām (to be published in 2015).
Current research projects
The Arab Anonymous in a World Classic (AnonymClassic). ERC Advanced Grant research project. Investigation of a transcultural and transreligious work, Kalīla and Dimna (Arabic version ca. 757 C.E.) which was translated into ca. forty languages in Europe, the Near East, South and Southeast Asia from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. A handbook for rulers and courtiers, its didactic content is conveyed in animal fables, reaching both courtly and popular audiences. Nearly two hundred versions of the work exist, and its translations were fundamental in the genesis of European literatures and political thought. The multilingual trajectory and complex Arabic textual history is addressed by a computer-aided approach. This project develops a synoptic critical digital edition for its Arabic versions, analyzing their variants (which include substantial anonymous rewriting) and their underlying motivations. This will show the role of Arabic as a cultural bridge and a crossroads of world literature. |
Kalīla and Dimna: Wisdom coded. E-Learning / E-Research project supported by Freie Universität Berlin and the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS). This fabulous mirror for princes of the 8th century A.D. (based on Sanskrit sources via a non-preserved Middle-Persian version) is an important pioneer of Machiavelli's Il Principe. Nevertheless, it has so far received the attention of mediavists, who are exploring its later translations in about 50 languages up to La Fontaine's models. There is no scientific edition of the Arabic text, which served as a basis for all European translations. Major variants in text make a traditional critical edition impossible. Instead, a selection of the most representative copies of the various manuscript families (80 manuscripts are identified so far) is arranged electronically, commenting on the chapters, and identifying sociohistorical motivations for the metamorphosis of the text. |
The Arabic Book Revolution. (Book under contract at Harvard University Press). |
Online Bibliothek der frühesten arabischen Bücher aus dem 9, Jh. A.D. |
The “Arabization” of Aristotles Poetics. Investigation of the use of Arabic poetry in Ibn Rushd’s Commentary. |
‘Whom Enemies Loved’: Verses of al-Mutanabbī (d. 965) that became proverbs. |
-
In preparation
The Arab Anonymous in a World Classic: Textual history and Agency in Kalīla and Dimna, Study based on the synoptic critical digital edition of the work’s Arabic manuscripts in the process (see grants).
“Abbasid Literature,” in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE.
“The ‘Arabization’ of Aristotle’s Poetics. Investigation of the use of Arabic poetry in Ibn Rushd’s Commentary.” Part of a multilingual critical edition of Aristotle’s Poetics.
‘Whom His Enemies Loved’: Verses of al-Mutanabbī (d. 965) That Became Proverbial. Book project in collaboration with Hatem Al-Zahrani.