Li Guo
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)
FA-53688-08
Fellowships for University Teachers
Research Programs
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[Grant products][Prizes]
Totals:
$50,400 (approved)
$50,400 (awarded)
Grant period:
7/1/2008 – 6/30/2009
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Ibn Daniyal, A Medieval Muslim Entertainer and His World, 1248-1311
The aim of my research project is to trace the life and work of Ibn Daniyal (1248-1311), a Cairo based oculist, poet, playwright, court jester, and arguably one of the most controversial cultural figures of his time, and then use it as a vantage point from which to view popular culture of Egypt in the post-Mongol period. Ibn Daniyal is an ideal candidate for this line of inquiry, not only on account of his body of work, most famously his three shadow plays, but also in light of his larger-than-life "libertine" persona that has become legendary in collective memory and imagination. The final product of my reserch will be an interdisciplinary book--cultural history and literary study--on Ibn Daniyal and the literature of "rebel" in medieval Islam. The project will also produce the first full English translation of Ibn Daniyal's shadow plays, the only surviving pre-Ottoman Arabic theatrical texts.
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