Oral Poetry and Narratives from Central Arabia, Volume 1 Poetry of ad-Dindan: A Bedouin Bard in Southern Najd. An Edition with Translation and Introduction

This work presents the complete collection of oral poetry by ad-Dindan, a bedouin poet of the Duwasir tribe in southern Najd, transcribed and translated on the basis of taped recordings. The text is representative of a poetic tradition which has remained remarkably close to the desert poetry of the early classical age. An extensive glossary, including detailed cross-references to the classical Arabic vocabulary, completes the edition. The introduction describes Dindan’s somewhat anomalous position in local society as a result of his stubborn attachment to nomadism, his fierce artistic temper and his unreconstructed bedouin ethos. It also discusses the composition of oral poetry, the diwan ‘s themes and its place in the Najdi tradition, the impact of literacy on the poet’s oral work and the prosodic and linguistic features of the text.