Middle Eastern Lives: The Practice of Biography and Self-narrative

by Martin Kramer

Overview

A dialogue on the role of biography and the interpretation of self-narrative in the Middle East. The dearth of intimate source materials, the discrepancy between public and private personae of Muslim intellectuals and the sense of propriety challenge this genre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815625483
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	11/01/1991
Series:	Contemporary Issues in the Middle East Series
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Introduction	1
1. First-Person Narrative in the Middle East	20
2. Traditional Islamic Learning and Ideas of the Person in the Twentieth Century	35
3. Autobiography and Biography in the Middle East: A Please for Psychopolitical Studies	60
4. Biography and Psychohistory	89
5. A Response to Critics of a Psychobiography	97
6. History versus Biography	109
7. The Biographical Element in Political History	118
8. A Sampler of Biography and Self-Narrative	127
Notes	147
Contributors	159
Index	161

Editorial Reviews

Eight papers from a conference convened at Tel Aviv University in 1987 explore various approaches to biography and autobiography, addressing such concerns as how to write persuasively about a life, how to use self-narrative as evidence, critical response to psychobiology, and traditional Islamic ideas of the person in the 20th century. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews