James T. Monroe

James T. Monroe is an American scholar. He is emeritus professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on Classical Arabic Literature and Hispano-Arabic Literature. His doctorate was from Harvard.

Bibliography

Books

*"Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship (Sixteenth Century to the Present)" (Leiden: E.J.Brill 1970).

A survey of mostly academic studies of Islam and the Arabs, which also reviews the national context of their literary origin in Spain, as the nature of these studies evolves over the course of several centuries. Such a survey is particularly resonant with subtleties because of the seven hundred year presence of Arabic speaking Muslim regimes in Spain, chiefly in the central and southern regions.

It is divided into three parts:

1. the Study of Arabic Grammar and Lexicography (covering scholarship of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Chapter I);

2. the Study of Political History in Al-Andalus (regarding nineteenth century scholarship, Chapters II to V); and,

3. the Study of the Cultural History of Al-Andalus (early and middle twentieth century scholarship, Chapters VI to X).

Among figures discussed: Francisco Javier Simonet (III); Francisco Codera y Zaidín (V); Julián Ribera y Tarragó (VI); Miguel Asin Palacios (VII); Emilio García Gómez and Angel González Palencia (VIII); Miguel de Unamuno, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, and Américo Castro (X).

*"The Shu'ubiyya in al-Andalus. The risala of Ibn Garcia and five refutations" (University of California Press 1970).

A translation with introduction and notes by Monroe. Concerns the literary reflections and polemics regarding an intra-Muslim ethnic conflict in medieval Spain ("al-Andalus"). Ibn Garcia (Ibn Gharsiya), perhaps of Basque lineage, wrote his essay during the 12th century, echoing the much earlier Shu'ubite movement within Iran.

*"Risalat al-tawabi' wa z-zawabi'. The treatise of familiar spirits and demons by Abu 'Amir ibn Shuhaid al-Ashja'i al-Andalusi" (University of California 1971).

A translation with introduction and notes by Monroe.

*"Hispano-Arabic Poetry. A student anthology" (University of California Press 1974, reprint Gorgias Press 2004).

Arabic and translation on facing pages, as compiled by Monroe, with introduction and commentary.

*"The art of Badi'u 'l-Zaman al-Hamadhani as picaresque narrative" (American University of Beirut c1983).

Al-Hamadhani (d.1008) of Hamadhan or Hamadan (Ecbatana of ancient Iran) is credited with inventing the literary genre of "maqamat" in which a wandering vagabond makes his living on the gifts his listeners give him following his extemporaneous displays of rhetoric, erudition, or verse, often done with a trickster's touch. Al-Hamadhani has become known by the title "Badi' az-Zaman" or "Badi'u 'l-Zaman", "wonder of the age". See below, Monroe's translation of "al-Maqamat al-luzumiyah".

*"Ten Hispano-Arabic Strophic Songs in the Modern Oral Tradition" co-authored with Benjamin M. Liu (University of California Press 1989).

The authors discuss the medieval genres of "muwashshahas" and "zajals" as they are currently sung in North Africa (the "Maghrib"). Because the music was not written, the oral performances are a crucial source. The Muslims in Spain ("Andalus") were closely and directly connected with those in the "Maghrib", who carried on the tradition after the "reconquista". The book contains transliterated texts and translations of the verses, about twenty pages of western musical notation, as well as translation from Arabic of a chapter on music from a medieval "Maghribi" encyclopedia. The mutual relation of the songs to European romance is also addressed.

*"Al-Maqamat al-luzumiyah, by Abu-l-Tahir Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Tamimi al-Saraqus'i ibn al-Astarkuwi" (Leiden: Brill 2002).

Translation with preliminary study by Monroe. Ibn al-Astarkuwi or al-Ashtarkuni (d.1134) here wrote in the genre "maqamat" (see above, Monroe's book on al-Hamadhani), comparable to later European picaresque novels (Spanish "picaro", "rascal").

elected articles

*"Oral Composition in Pre-Islamic Poetry" in "Journal of Arabic Literature," 3: 1-53 (1972).
*"Hispano-Arabic Poetry during the Caliphate of Cordoba" in "Arabic Poetry: Theory and Development" (Wiesbaden 1973) at 125-154, edited by G. E. von Grunebaum and Otto Harrassowitz.
*"Formulaic Diction and the Common Origins of Romance Lyric Traditions" in "Hispanic Review," 43: 341-350 (1975).
*"Which came first, the Zagal or the Muwass'a? Some evidence for the oral origin of Hispano-Arabic strophic poetry" in "Oral Tradition," vol.4, #1 & #2 (1989).