Macdonald - Brockelmann's History of Arabic Literature

7/23/2019 Macdonald - Brockelmann's History of Arabic Literature

1/6

"#$%& '()$*#% +(*,-*, (* './012 3$-- ,( 4*&(*- 5* ,6- 7($%8

/659 #$,5:%- 59 (*- (; *-#$%& ($?9 85@5,5A-8 #*8 B#8- ;$--%& #C#5%#D%- ,( -C-$&(*- 5*

,6- >($%8 D& './01E

F*(>* #9 ,6- "#$%& '()$*#% +(*,-*,2 ,659 9-, (; >($?9 5*:%)8- $-9-#$:6 #$,5:%-92 *->92 %-,,-$92 #*8 (,6-$

>$5,5*@9 G)D%596-8 5* B($- ,6#* H== (; ,6- (%8-9, %-#85*@ #:#8-B5: I()$*#%9E /6- >($?9 8#,- ;$(B ,6-

B58J9-C-*,--*,6 ,( ,6- -#$%& ,>-*,5-,6 :-*,)$5-9E

7- -*:()$#@- G-(G%- ,( $-#8 #*8 96#$- ,6- "#$%& '()$*#% +(*,-*, (G-*%& #*8 ,( ,-%% (,6-$9 ,6#, ,659

$-9()$:- -K59,9E L-(G%- B#& G(9, ,659 :(*,-*, (*%5*- ($ $-859,$5D),- 5* #*& >#& ;($ *(*J:(BB-$:5#%

G)$G(9-9E

1-#8 B($- #D(), "#$%& '()$*#% +(*,-*, #, 6,,GMNN#D(),EI9,($E($@NG#$,5:5G#,-JI9,($N5*85C58)#%9N-#$%&J

I()$*#%J:(*,-*,E

'./01 59 # 85@5,#% %5D$#$& (; #:#8-B5: I()$*#%92 D((?92 #*8 G$5B#$& 9()$:- (DI-:,9E './01 6-%G9 G-(G%-

859:(C-$2 )9-2 #*8 D)5%8 )G(* # >58- $#*@- (; :(*,-*, ,6$()@6 # G(>-$;)% $-9-#$:6 #*8 ,-#:65*@

G%#,;($B2 #*8 G$-9-$C-9 ,659 :(*,-*, ;($ ;),)$- @-*-$#,5(*9E './01 59 G#$, (; O/P4F42 # *(,J;($JG$(;5,($@#*5A#,5(* ,6#, #%9( 5*:%)8-9 O,6#?# .Q1 #*8 L($,5:(E 3($ B($- 5*;($B#,5(* #D(), './012 G%-#9-

:(*,#:, 9)GG($,RI9,($E($@E


2/6

Boos

NozIaEs

oos

NozIaEs

18585

of skill in

manipulating

onsonants.

This

will be realized

when

we

find: Only

so much

is certain

that Kengi

= Sungir

= Shumer

=

Girsu = Shirpurla. Whatwillphilologists hinkof thistransforma-

tion

? Whatcan we

not prove

f suchmethods

are

allowable On

p. 239

we

find a severe

arraignment

f

Winckler's most

careless

and illogical

argument

egarding

Dungi of Ur;

the conclusions

which

both

scholars

reachare due

in large

partto the

lack of

the necessary

data to

prove

their

premises.

The reproduction

f Thureau-Dangin's

reatment

f the

names

of the

months in RA.,

IV, 83,

84) s scarcely

elevanto the

theme.

The appendis, n

which

we find some

facsimiles,

ransliterations,

nd

translations

of the inscriptions

n

the E. A. H. collection,

s a welcome

though

small,

contribution

o cuneiform

iterature.

It

gives the book

onefeatureof valueto scholarsfamiliarwith the othermaterialof this

early

period. Though

argely

n the nature

of contract

r record

ablets,

they give

us historical

data of value,

both

in the old and

in the

new

Babylonian

periods. Several

of

the former date

from

the reigns of

Bur-Sin,

Ur-Ba'u,

nd Dungi.

Radau has used

prodigious

ndustry

and brought

together

a wast

amountof

material

all except the

E.

A. H. collection

alreadypub-

lished

in other works

and

has classified

t according

o the periods

o

which

he wouldattribute

t.

Thebookhas

its value

in that it is

a kind

or registerof early Babyloniantests. Scholarswill, of course,use

theirown judgment

egarding is

chronological

cheme.

One

thing is

apparent

throughout

the

work,viz., that

he, like

other Sumerian

adherents,

s having

increasing

difficulty

n explaining

he very

early

presence

nd

powerof the

Semites

n Babylonia.

It is not

surprisingf among

he

hundreds f

references

hereshould

be some errors.

We have noted

the following,

n addition

to

those

alreadynamed:

p.

15, second ine,

D4c.,

31, 3, shouldbe

RA., II,

p. 82;

ninthline

frombottom,

RA., III,

should

be IV; p. 16,

ninth line

from

bottom,70 should be 71; p. 27, l. 14, RA., IV, shouldbe III; p. 28,

l. 10, same

error;

p. 81, l. 4 from

bottom,F3

should

be F2; p 91,

l. 3

frombottom,

281 should

be

288; p. 191, . 11

from

bottom,should

read Cyl.

B, etc.

Then, Clereq,

e

Clereq, occurring

scores

of

times,

should

always be

de Clereq;

and De

Sarzec

should be

de

Sarzec while

titles

of bookswould

alwaysappear

moreconspicu-

ous and in

better

form if they

were printed

n italics.

The

author's

English

sometimes

uSers

from ack

of familiarity

with

our idioms.

T:EXE

JNIvERsITY

F(zEICAGO.

IRA

M.

PRICE.

BROCKELMANN'S

IISTORY

OF ARABIC

Ll'l

EXATURE.l

This is not a history

of

Arabic iterature,

ut

it is an excellent

con-

tribution

oward uch

a history.

Dr.Brockelmann

s a worthy uccessor

of

the lamented

Wustenfeld

andhas taken

up his

self-sacrificing

abors

1

GEXCHICETEERARABISC}IEN

ITTERATUR.on

(:arl Brockelmann.

I. Band.

Weimar:

Verlag

von Emit

Felber, 1898. wii+528

pp.

of skill in

manipulating

onsonants.

This

will be realized

when

we

find: Only

so much

is certain

that Kengi

= Sungir

= Shumer

=

Girsu = Shirpurla. Whatwillphilologists hinkof thistransforma-

tion

? Whatcan we

not prove

f suchmethods

are

allowable On

p. 239

we

find a severe

arraignment

f

Winckler's most

careless

and illogical

argument

egarding

Dungi of Ur;

the conclusions

which

both

scholars

reachare due

in large

partto the

lack of

the necessary

data to

prove

their

premises.

The reproduction

f Thureau-Dangin's

reatment

f the

names

of the

months in RA.,

IV, 83,

84) s scarcely

elevanto the

theme.

The appendis, n

which

we find some

facsimiles,

ransliterations,

nd

translations

of the inscriptions

n

the E. A. H. collection,

s a welcome

though

small,

contribution

o cuneiform

iterature.

It

gives the book

onefeatureof valueto scholarsfamiliarwith the othermaterialof this

early

period. Though

argely

n the nature

of contract

r record

ablets,

they give

us historical

data of value,

both

in the old and

in the

new

Babylonian

periods. Several

of

the former date

from

the reigns of

Bur-Sin,

Ur-Ba'u,

nd Dungi.

Radau has used

prodigious

ndustry

and brought

together

a wast

amountof

material

all except the

E.

A. H. collection

alreadypub-

lished

in other works

and

has classified

t according

o the periods

o

which

he wouldattribute

t.

Thebookhas

its value

in that it is

a kind

or registerof early Babyloniantests. Scholarswill, of course,use

theirown judgment

egarding is

chronological

cheme.

One

thing is

apparent

throughout

the

work,viz., that

he, like

other Sumerian

adherents,

s having

increasing

difficulty

n explaining

he very

early

presence

nd

powerof the

Semites

n Babylonia.

It is not

surprisingf among

he

hundreds f

references

hereshould

be some errors.

We have noted

the following,

n addition

to

those

alreadynamed:

p.

15, second ine,

D4c.,

31, 3, shouldbe

RA., II,

p. 82;

ninthline

frombottom,

RA., III,

should

be IV; p. 16,

ninth line

from

bottom,70 should be 71; p. 27, l. 14, RA., IV, shouldbe III; p. 28,

l. 10, same

error;

p. 81, l. 4 from

bottom,F3

should

be F2; p 91,

l. 3

frombottom,

281 should

be

288; p. 191, . 11

from

bottom,should

read Cyl.

B, etc.

Then, Clereq,

e

Clereq, occurring

scores

of

times,

should

always be

de Clereq;

and De

Sarzec

should be

de

Sarzec while

titles

of bookswould

alwaysappear

moreconspicu-

ous and in

better

form if they

were printed

n italics.

The

author's

English

sometimes

uSers

from ack

of familiarity

with

our idioms.

T:EXE

JNIvERsITY

F(zEICAGO.

IRA

M.

PRICE.

BROCKELMANN'S

IISTORY

OF ARABIC

Ll'l

EXATURE.l

This is not a history

of

Arabic iterature,

ut

it is an excellent

con-

tribution

oward uch

a history.

Dr.Brockelmann

s a worthy uccessor

of

the lamented

Wustenfeld

andhas taken

up his

self-sacrificing

abors

1

GEXCHICETEERARABISC}IEN

ITTERATUR.on

(:arl Brockelmann.

I. Band.

Weimar:

Verlag

von Emit

Felber, 1898. wii+528

pp.


3/6

186 HEBRAICA

with youthfulenergy. Thus he nearestparallel o this book s probably

Wustenfeld'sGeschichteschreiber;the diferences n plan arenot essen-

tial. The attemptswhichare made herearld here n the presentwork

at a historyof literature roper, onsistingof general ketchesof periods,

andsuggestions f influence, f development,ndof tendency, re ar oo

slight to merit much attention. They might well have been omitted,

and have somewhat he appearance f purple scraps saved from the

wreckage f the moreambitiousworkwhich he authorhad onceplanned.

This appliesaboveall to the few pages given to a characterizationf the

old poetry. What s said s trueand good-always excepted he remark,

on p. 15 that only a small partof that poetryexpresses he subjective

sensations f the poet,a most singularmisjudgment f what subjective

means- but this wasnot its place,as therewasno opportunityo develop

the subject adequately. Similarly, he little sketch of the origins of

Suflism is most able and interesting,but it is also most irritating.

Everythinghad to be put so shortlyas to be one-sided. The Karamat

of the $ufls, for example,may resemblethe wondersof the Indian

Yogls, but they resembleequally the wondersof European aints as

rehearsed n such a thesaurusas the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de

Voragine. The same may be said of all the other introductory ara-

graphsscattered hrough he book.

But, apart rom his, all the criticismwhichcan be broughtforward

is one of details; and that, from he natureof the case, maybe endless.

EveryArabistmust have dozens,and again dozens,of suggestions or

additionsand correctionswhich he would like to make. I shall give

later a few whichseemto me worthmention.

The plan of the book s simpleand excellent. The literarJrevelop-

merlt s divided rltoperiodsas follows: BookI, Arabic iterature roper

from the earliestbeginnings to the fall of the Umayyads: A. To the

appearanceof Iuhammad; B. Muhammadand his time; C. The

Umayyadperiod. BookII, Muslim iteraturen Arabic:A. The golden

periodunder he 'Abbasids,A. D.

750-ctrca 1000;

B. The silverperiod

to the destruction f Baghdad,A. D. 1258; C. Under the Mongolstill

the conquest f Egypt by the OttomanTurks n 1517; D. To the preseIlt

day. The volume which we now have estends to the destructionof

Baghdad. In the firstperiodby far the greatest tress ies uponpoetry;

each poet has

a

biographical nd descriptiveparagraph, ollowed by

bibliographical otes indicatingwhere further nformation n him and

his worksmay be found. Only those are consideredwhose poems, n

partat least, have comedown o us; and the principalmanuscripts re

referred o where there is no Europeanedition. This is the method

throughout he whole :Elistory, nd these bibliographical lues form

the real backbone f the bookand justify ts existence.

The second perioddeals with Muslim iteraturewritteIl n Arabic.

The distinctionmade s to the point and clearlydrawn; n time it may

help us to an escape rom the much muddle-headed urrent alk about

an Arabian hilosophy nd an Arabian cience n which the Arabshad


4/6

BOOE

NOTICES

187

little

or no

part.

Each

section 8

divided

into

eighteen

chapters,

nd

some

chapters

haveas

many

as

ten

subdivisionsa

n

part

of

subject,

but

mostlygeographical. Tt s unnecessary ereto state thesedivisions n

detail.

The

scheme s

generally

ood;

butthe

diffioulty f

telling

under

which

divisiona

particular

uthor

must

be

soughtis so

great

that

most

copious

ndices

will

be a

necessity.

It

was

a

characteristic

f

Arabic

writers o

claim

all

knowledge or

their

portion

and

to

write

de

omnz

scibfas; Dr.

Brockelmann

cknowledges

he

trouble

hat

this

has

made

for

him.

Thus, in

one

of

the

chapters

on

philosophy

(pp.

45S69),

philosophers

roper

faMsifcl),

logicians,and

scholastic

heologians re

hopelessly

mised

together.

Yet

the

distinction

between

kalcim

and

falsafa is

one

to be

ngidly

held;

manttQ

elonged

o

everyone.

I nowcome o somesuggestionson

pointsof

detail.

The

treatment

of the

whole

Jafr

and

Jamitcl

literature

s

very

inadequate. I

have

found

mere

references

o

it on

pp.

9A,

220,

note,

and

M4.

In

this

con-

nection

the

paper

by

Casanova

on

the

Skhwan

as-eafa

in

JA.

for

January-February,

898

called

for

notice.

A

relationship

s

there

estab-

lished

between he

Ikhwan,

these

pseudo-'Alid

ooks,

and the

Assassins.

See,

further,

my

Life of

al-Ghanali

n the

Journal of

the

American

Oriental

Society, Vol.

2a2S, p.

113

eq.

On

p. 76

a

reference

would

have

been

in

place

to

Torrey's

paper

on

al-'Abbas

b.

al-Ahnaf n

the

same

journal Vol. IVI, pp. 43

sqq. 0n p.

77 add to the editionsof Abu

Nuwas

that

printed

at

(Dairon

1898;

it

is

edited

by

Iskandar

Asaf

and

Mahmud

Wasif.

Pp.

179

and

520,

the

Risalat

ctzsh-Shafl't,

rintedat

Cairo

ll

1312, s

certainly

he

Risala

ft sul

al-qh.

It

is not

an

ordered

treatiseon

that

subject

of the

later

kind,

but is

exactly

such an

account

of

methods

of

reconciling

Qur'an,

Sunna,

Ijma',

and

Ijtihad,

and

of the

nature

of

'Ilm

and

AjZa,

that

Goldziher's

ccount n

Muh. St.,

Vol. II,

p.

83,

would

ead

us

to

expect.

P.

113, .

17, t

would

have

been

better o

read

TihAmaS

or

der

TihAma'

the

name n

Arabichas

no

article.

P. 195, he morecorrect ormof thename s Matarldl. On p. 156refer-

ence

should

have

beell

made o

the

edition,

printedat

Hyderabadn

four

partsand

more

than

1,400

pages

(A.

H.

1309?),

f

adh-Dhahabl's

adh-

kirs6t

al-huffaz.

On

p. 197,

at

the

head

of the

section

on

mysticism,

he

Nafahat of

Jaml

should

have

been

cited

and,

at

least,

the

Rwala of

al-Qushayri

nd

the

tabaqat

al-ksbrd of

ash-Sha'ranl.

It

may

be

worth

noticing that

the

(::airo

dition

of

the

last

appears

o be

incomplete;

t

springs

rom

Abu

'Abd

Allah

Mu}lammad

r-Rasibl,

whodied

in

367,

to

'Abd

al-Qadir

al-Jlll

(or

al-Jllanl),

who

died in

561.

On

p. 199

the

account

of

al-Hallaj

is very

inadequate,

onsidering

his historicalandreligious mportance.Ttmaybe

supplemented

with

the

following

refer-

ences:

Schreinern

ZDMS.,

Vol.

LII,

pp.

468

sqq.;

Pihrist,

pp. 190

qq.;

al-Mastudln

Tanbth,

p.

387;

al-Berunl n

Athar, p.

211

'Arib,

pp.

86

eqq.

Under

the

rubrics

astronomy,

strology,

mathematics

find no

mention

of

Masha'allah.

Ee may

not be

of

much

nterest o

a

German,

but he

has his

place in

English

literature;

for

C:haucer's

strolabe

is

really

a

translation,

hrough

Latin,

of a

book

by

him.

He

lived,

according


5/6

188

EEBRAICA

to Casiri, Vol. I, pp. 434 sq., under al-Mansur and al-Ma'mun; see,

further, the Bodleian Catalogue, indes, sub Mashaal la Fihrist, p. 273;

ZDMG., Vol. LIII, pp. 434 sqq., 600, and Vol. VIII, p. 380; Biographie

universelle? ub Macha Allah; Wustenfeld's igbersetzungenaxab. Werke

ins Lat., pp. 34 sq. Another most interesting figure,who has a bare notice

on p. 294, is Abu Hayyan at-Tawhldl. That he died in 400 sve do not

know; we know that he was alive in that year. He is mixed up perples-

ingly with the IAhwan s-safa and with $uflism of a pantheistic type.

See Ibn Khall. (de Slanes translation), Vol. I, p. 50; Vol. III, p. 264;

UKh. 3831; Wustenfeld, Geschichtsschr.,p. 54; Fihrist, Vol. II, p. 121;

Ahmad Zakl, Mawsutat al-'ulum (Bulaq, 1308), pp. 12, 72sqq.; ZDfflI[G.,

Vol. LII, p. 558; {Life of al-Ghazzall,''cited above, p. 113. Two of his

Risalas were printed at Constantinople, A. H. 1301. The wording

of p. 273, l. 4, suggests, what is of course absurd, that the question of

God's istiwa was first propounded by al-Ghazzall. P. 307, the ' Umda

of Ibn Rashlq has been printed at Tunis. P. 35D, he chapter of ath-

Thatlabl's Qisas containing the history of Job has been translated in

this JOURNAL,O1.SIV, PP.145-61. P. 389, the Waraqat of the Imam

al-haramayn was printed at Cairo in 1306, along with the sharh of

al-Mahalli and the super-commentaryof Ahmad b. Qasim al-'Ubadl;

Ibn Qasim explains that his work is estracted from his larger com-

mentary on the same two books. In the paragraph on Ibn Tumart

(pp.

4D0sqq.)

sufficient stress is not laid on the pantheistic nuance in

his views. Nor are the materials for his life cited with sufficient detail;

Ibn Athlr has a ';Life'' sub anno 514; see, too, the Qartas, pp. 110

and 116; Ibn Khald., Proleg., Vol. I, p. 53, in de Slane's translation.

On al-Ghazzall (pp. 419-526) I would refer to my Life already

alluded to; it is, I believe, much more full and trustworthy than that

by Gosche, who had not access to the necessary sources, and who has

frequently led Dr. Brockelmann astray. The biography in Ibn Khal-

likan is almost worthless. It may be said generally that Ibn Khallikan

is of little value as a critical historian. His interests were not those

of a student, but of a dilettante in literature. On the form of the rwisba

Ghazzall I trust to be able to enter at length elsewhere. Here I will

only say that as-Sam'am, though he knew the spelling with one z, did

not approveof it, for he could find no trace of a villvge Ghazala; see the

Sayyid Murtad. 's introduction to his commentaryon the Ibya, Vol. I,

p. 18. Further, the passage in Ibn Khallikan on which Dr. Brockel-

mann apparently relies is an addition in the autograph manuscript and

has apparently been inserted in the wrong place. Next, the Sirr al-

'alamayn has been lithographed at Bombay, but, in its present form at

least, cannot be by al-Ghazzall. At the beginning al-Ghazzall is made

to say. And the first who transcribed it [the Sirr] and read it with me

in the Nizamlya Madrasa secretly in the second period after my return

from journeying was a man from the land of al-Maghrib who was called

Muhammad bn Tumarth (sic) of the people of Salamlya and by means

of it I perceived in him the signs of royal power.' Nest, the Tatrtf


6/6

BOOB NOTICESOOB NOTICES

18989

al-ahya of Ibn 'Aydarus is printed on the margin of the Sayyid Mur-

tadA'scommentary edition of Cairo, 1311),Vol. I, pp. 1 40, and the

Imla

of al-Ghazzall on pp. 41-252. The text of the

Imla is

in great disorder.

Finally, the book edited by Malter cannot possibly be by al-Ghazzall;

the contents and arrangement are enough. On Abu Hafs an-Nasaf

(pp. 427

sq.)

there is a paper with a translation of his

'Aqtda

in this

JOURNAL,TO1.II, PP. 73sqq., and ATol.XIII, pp. 140sq. On p. , No.

112, r. al-ghauth is explained as though Ghauth at-atzarn were the name

of a particular mystic; it is rather the title of a high official in the Suf

hierarchy, like Qutb. On p. 4U1 there is another curious mistake. On

l. 18 awliya is explained as {'the friends of the Prophet; it is, of course,

the friends of God. On Ibn Sllla (pp.

4U2-8)

we can now add Carra de

Vaus's Avicenne and his curiously pessimistic or agnostic poem on the

nafs

in

JA., 9

Vol. XIV, pp. 157 sq. On p. 460 it would have been

worth while to draw attention to the many translations of Ibn Tufayl's

Hay b. Yaqzan; it is one of the few Arabic books that have secured an

absolutely independent footing in European literature. On Averroes

(pp. 461sq.) reference should have been made to Tzitze de Boer's Wider-

spruche der Philosophie, a very valuable contribution to our knowledge

of a man who is an intellectual puzzle because he chose to be one. No. 15,

on p. 462, Kitab falsafat al-qadz al-fadil (so rightly), printed at Cairo n

1313, is simply a reprint of the tractates published by M. J. Milller in

1859. This is shown by the text, which contains Milller's conjectural

emendations, even where they are unnecessary. Finally in the article on

Idrlsl, the geographer, no notice is taken of the Roman edition of 1592,

the Paris translation of 1619,Jaubert's translation of 1836,or the estracts

by Dozy-de Goeje, Amari-Schiaparelli, nd Gildemeister. The reference

which Dr. Brockelmann makes to a Swedish pamphlet will help a com-

paratively small number of his readers.

It is obvious that such annotation as this might proceed indefinitely;

but that possibility does not detract in the least from the value of the

book. The subject is such that absolute completeness and accuracy are

unattainable. We have here, it is true, no history in any exact sense,

but we have a thesaurus, a KeF,X7Atovs ast, of Arabic literary biography

and bibliography. Every Arabist must be grateful to Dr. Brockelmann

for his self-denying and patient labors. I only regret that the space

allotted to me has not permitted me to treat his book at greater length.

DUNCAN. MACDONALD.

HARTFORD,CONN.

TH:E MOEAMMEDAN ORIENT.1

These may be regarded as the first numbers of a kind of supplement

to the Ortentalische Litteratur-Zeitung, which is to consist of notes

and articles by Professor Hartmann dealing with the movements of

1 DER ISLAMISCS:E RIENT. Berichte und Forschungen. Von Martin Hartmann. Heft

I, II, III. Berlin: Wolf Pewer Verlag, 1889, 1900. 40 and 102 pp.

al-ahya of Ibn 'Aydarus is printed on the margin of the Sayyid Mur-

tadA'scommentary edition of Cairo, 1311),Vol. I, pp. 1 40, and the

Imla

of al-Ghazzall on pp. 41-252. The text of the

Imla is

in great disorder.

Finally, the book edited by Malter cannot possibly be by al-Ghazzall;

the contents and arrangement are enough. On Abu Hafs an-Nasaf

(pp. 427

sq.)

there is a paper with a translation of his

'Aqtda

in this

JOURNAL,TO1.II, PP. 73sqq., and ATol.XIII, pp. 140sq. On p. , No.

112, r. al-ghauth is explained as though Ghauth at-atzarn were the name

of a particular mystic; it is rather the title of a high official in the Suf

hierarchy, like Qutb. On p. 4U1 there is another curious mistake. On

l. 18 awliya is explained as {'the friends of the Prophet; it is, of course,

the friends of God. On Ibn Sllla (pp.

4U2-8)

we can now add Carra de

Vaus's Avicenne and his curiously pessimistic or agnostic poem on the

nafs

in

JA., 9

Vol. XIV, pp. 157 sq. On p. 460 it would have been

worth while to draw attention to the many translations of Ibn Tufayl's

Hay b. Yaqzan; it is one of the few Arabic books that have secured an

absolutely independent footing in European literature. On Averroes

(pp. 461sq.) reference should have been made to Tzitze de Boer's Wider-

spruche der Philosophie, a very valuable contribution to our knowledge

of a man who is an intellectual puzzle because he chose to be one. No. 15,

on p. 462, Kitab falsafat al-qadz al-fadil (so rightly), printed at Cairo n

1313, is simply a reprint of the tractates published by M. J. Milller in

1859. This is shown by the text, which contains Milller's conjectural

emendations, even where they are unnecessary. Finally in the article on

Idrlsl, the geographer, no notice is taken of the Roman edition of 1592,

the Paris translation of 1619,Jaubert's translation of 1836,or the estracts

by Dozy-de Goeje, Amari-Schiaparelli, nd Gildemeister. The reference

which Dr. Brockelmann makes to a Swedish pamphlet will help a com-

paratively small number of his readers.

It is obvious that such annotation as this might proceed indefinitely;

but that possibility does not detract in the least from the value of the

book. The subject is such that absolute completeness and accuracy are

unattainable. We have here, it is true, no history in any exact sense,

but we have a thesaurus, a KeF,X7Atovs ast, of Arabic literary biography

and bibliography. Every Arabist must be grateful to Dr. Brockelmann

for his self-denying and patient labors. I only regret that the space

allotted to me has not permitted me to treat his book at greater length.

DUNCAN. MACDONALD.

HARTFORD,CONN.

TH:E MOEAMMEDAN ORIENT.1

These may be regarded as the first numbers of a kind of supplement

to the Ortentalische Litteratur-Zeitung, which is to consist of notes

and articles by Professor Hartmann dealing with the movements of

1 DER ISLAMISCS:E RIENT. Berichte und Forschungen. Von Martin Hartmann. Heft

I, II, III. Berlin: Wolf Pewer Verlag, 1889, 1900. 40 and 102 pp.

Macdonald - Brockelmann's History of Arabic Literature

Documents

Transcript of Macdonald - Brockelmann's History of Arabic Literature