Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature

Rating:
Summary: Worth buying
Review: My first reaction to this book was highly negative, perhaps because I opened it with extremely high expectations. As I have spent more time with it, however, it becomes clearer and clearer that -- at the very least -- this book is better than nothing, and "nothing" is just about what we have written on this subject.

Moreover, the last article, "Intoxication and Immortality," by Suzanne Stetkeyvych, is absolutely fascinating, especially when read in conjunction with footnote number 85 to James Monroe's article, "Abu Bakr's Naughty Son." What was so fascinating?

The vast resonance of the term "saqi" in our own civilization, from the Assyrians onwards. I first came across this term while studying Arabic poetry, and learned that it meant "wine-bearer," and, more specifically, the handsome ephebe who poured out your wine for you.

Now, let's take the idea that wine = immortality (not such a new idea for Christians, where wine = the blood of Christ = immortal God!) and then add on the fact that the Assyrians called the "saqi" "rob shaqe" (lord of cupbearers). The term has cognates in all the Semitic languages including Hebrew and shows up in the Old Testament. So we have a very old idea here.

More excitingly, we have an "archetype." The archetype is a banquet, where a beautiful adolescent male hands out the wine of immortality, and implicit in this archetype is the possibility that the handsome young male also offers physical love.

Now, is this a powerful archetype, or not? It is the very image of the Greek symposium (as described by Plato and many others). It's right there in the myth of Zeus and Ganymede, where Ganymede offers "ambrosia" (immortality) to Zeus. It is such a powerful archetype that it made its way into the Koran, where Muhammad promised beauteous boys serving wine to his followers in Paradise. It is superabundant in Arabic poetry from virtually all eras, and it is a very visible theme of Persian poetry as well.

At any rate, I found this an extremely valuable idea, one which made my whole day. And ANY book which can do that for me is definitely worth owning!

Recommended!!

Rating:
Summary: Worth buying
Review: My first reaction to this book was highly negative, perhaps because I opened it with extremely high expectations. As I have spent more time with it, however, it becomes clearer and clearer that -- at the very least -- this book is better than nothing, and "nothing" is just about what we have written on this subject.

Moreover, the last article, "Intoxication and Immortality," by Suzanne Stetkeyvych, is absolutely fascinating, especially when read in conjunction with footnote number 85 to James Monroe's article, "Abu Bakr's Naughty Son." What was so fascinating?

The vast resonance of the term "saqi" in our own civilization, from the Assyrians onwards. I first came across this term while studying Arabic poetry, and learned that it meant "wine-bearer," and, more specifically, the handsome ephebe who poured out your wine for you.

Now, let's take the idea that wine = immortality (not such a new idea for Christians, where wine = the blood of Christ = immortal God!) and then add on the fact that the Assyrians called the "saqi" "rob shaqe" (lord of cupbearers). The term has cognates in all the Semitic languages including Hebrew and shows up in the Old Testament. So we have a very old idea here.

More excitingly, we have an "archetype." The archetype is a banquet, where a beautiful adolescent male hands out the wine of immortality, and implicit in this archetype is the possibility that the handsome young male also offers physical love.

Now, is this a powerful archetype, or not? It is the very image of the Greek symposium (as described by Plato and many others). It's right there in the myth of Zeus and Ganymede, where Ganymede offers "ambrosia" (immortality) to Zeus. It is such a powerful archetype that it made its way into the Koran, where Muhammad promised beauteous boys serving wine to his followers in Paradise. It is superabundant in Arabic poetry from virtually all eras, and it is a very visible theme of Persian poetry as well.

At any rate, I found this an extremely valuable idea, one which made my whole day. And ANY book which can do that for me is definitely worth owning!

Recommended!!

Rating:
Summary: very recommendable book
Review: This is a very interesting and readable book not only for westerners or exclusive monotheists but also for us Japanese. Although we know that in pre-modern muslim societies male-boy love was extremely popular as a common knowledge, we could find Arabic same sex relationship only sporadically in famous literal works e.g. Thousand and One Nights, Abu Nuwas' erotic poems, etc. And now we can read the topic as a whole in this book. If I may be allowed to hope more, I wish that the authors have included many historical episodes & anecdotes too. Of course I know no book is perfect. Then I 'd like to read Homoeroticism in classical Persian literature, and in classical Indian(Sanskrit & Prakrit) literature also.Probably Mr. Leonard Zwilling will offer us a good book on the latter.