Culture of Letter-Writing in Pre-Modern Islamic Society

Download or read book Culture of Letter-Writing in Pre-Modern Islamic Society written by Adrian Gully and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-07 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Culture of Letter-Writing in Pre-Modern Islamic Society received an honourable mention from the British-Kuwait Friendship Society at BRISMES 2009Writing letters was an important component of intellectual life in the Middle Islamic period, telling us much about the cultural history of pre-modern Islamic society. This book offers a unique analysis of letter-writing, focusing on the notion of the power of the pen. The author looks at the wider context of epistolography, relating it to the power structures of Islamic society in that period. He also attempts to identify some of the similarities and differences between Muslim modes of letter-writing and those of western cultures.One of the strengths of this book is that it is based on a wide range of primary Arabic sources, thus reflecting the broader epistemological importance of letter-writing in Islamic society.