{"product_id":"2026200014944-secondhand-sobriety-and-mirth-a-selection-of-the-shorter-writings-of-al-jahiz","title":"Sobriety And Mirth: A Selection Of The Shorter Writings Of Al-Jahiz","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdition: First ed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew writers of the medieval Islamic world command the breadth, wit, and intellectual audacity of al-Jāḥiẓ, the ninth-century Arab polymath whose restless curiosity ranged across theology, zoology, rhetoric, and human folly with equal relish. Sobriety and Mirth presents a carefully curated selection of his shorter prose pieces — epistles, satirical sketches, and moral reflections — rendered into fluent English by Jim Colville and published as part of the prestigious Kegan Paul Arabia Library. These compact yet remarkable texts illuminate a civilization at its intellectual zenith, where wit and wisdom were considered inseparable companions, and where the boundaries between sacred learning and sharp comedy were gloriously blurred.\n\nAl-Jāḥiẓ wrote with a voice at once encyclopaedic and mischievous, and Colville's translation honours that dual register, preserving the author's legendary facility for irony and paradox. The shorter writings gathered here serve as a window into Abbasid Baghdad — its markets, its scholars, its eccentrics, and its arguments — offering a portrait of Islamic culture that is richly human and persistently surprising. For any reader who believes the classical Arabic literary tradition is merely solemn or austere, this collection delivers a decisive and delightful corrective.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203102646491,"sku":"2026200014944-SECONDHAND","price":300.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/969795d0-ce7b-43bf-89aa-48dc6f76c882.png?v=1788143726","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200014944-secondhand-sobriety-and-mirth-a-selection-of-the-shorter-writings-of-al-jahiz","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}