Al-Basria Maqāmah: A Phenomenological and Interpretive Study Prof. Salamah Helil Al-Ghareeb

Prof. Salamah Helil Al-Ghareeb

Abstract

The paper investigates Al-Basria Maqāmat, an Arabic prosimetric literary genre, according to the phenomenology, hermeneutics and reception theory which contribute to immortalizing literary texts by opening them to multiple readings and interpretations.  The researcher advocates the interpretive reading which is based on inductive reasoning. Such an approach enables the critic to interpret the dreams and fantasies which might not have occurred to the mind of the Maqāmah writer. 

The paper seeks to find a reader or an addressee to reproduce the text and reinterpret the linguistic narratives  which Badi' al-Zamān al-Hamadāni proposed. The reader, the paper argues, should be able to explore the hero’s fancy and  telepathies, and to predict what s/he is thinking of. In this way, Maqāmah becomes a living blind text that is independent from readers’ social status or the time period they live in. Readers sometimes adopt the writer’s point of view. Yet, others may disagree with the writer. This is how interpretations immortalize literary texts.