Tales of Abu Tammam

About this book

Between the rubble of history and the echoes of rhymes that have not stilled for a thousand years, Abu Tammam appears; the poet who was no mere weaver of words, but an earthquake that shook the pillars of the traditional Arabic ode and opened the gates of modernity in an age of militarism and conquests. In his book "Tales of Abu Tammam," the great literary historian Abu Bakr Al-Suli offers us no mere narration of a life story, but opens a magical window onto a golden age where literature mingled with politics, and genius with bitter human struggles. Al-Suli takes us on a mysterious journey to explore Habib ibn Aws Al-Taie; that young man coming from the village of Jasim to occupy Baghdad with his words, and to become the fill of the era's hearing and sight. The book is no dry documentation, but a thrilling literary battle, in which Al-Suli surveys how people divided around their poet between a lover seeing him "the most inspired of people" and a critic accusing him of obscurity and complexity. Between the pages, you will touch the warmth of literary friendships, and the heat of rivalries revolving in.