The Racecourse of Literature

Šamsaddīn an-Nawāǧī (788–859/1386–1455) was an outstanding poet and a successful author of anthologies. As many authors of the Mamluk period he has been largely neglected by scholarship. An-Nawāǧī’s oeuvre includes treatises on grammar and prosody, an extensive and widely received Dīwān, and numerous thematic anthologies. An-Nawāǧī’s life and creative production is characterized by the agonal self-representation typical for the milieu of the learned men and by their eagerness to receive favors, gain reputation, and to outrun each other in the quest for originality and literary achievements. The present volume brings together contributions by specialists in the field of Mamluk literature on the life and writings of an-Nawāǧī and some of his contemporaries.