Making the Great Book of Songs: Compilation and the Author’s Craft in Abv I-Faraj Al-Isbahani’s Kitab al-aghani

This is the first systematic literary study of one of the masterpieces of classical Arabic literature, the fourth/tenth century Kit b al-agh n (The Book of Songs) by Ab I-Faraj al-Isbah n . Until now the twenty-four volume Book of Songs has been regarded as a rather chaotic but priceless mine of information about classical Arabic music, literature and culture. This book approaches it as a work of literature in its own right, with its own internal logic and coherence. The study also consistently integrates the musical component into the analysis and proposes a reading of the work in which individual anecdotes and poems are related to the wider context, enhancing their meaning.