The Arabic Book
Johannes Pedersen (1883-1977), Professor of Semitic Philology at Copenhagen University, bequeathed his comprehensive library to the discipline of Semitic philology at Copenhagen University for the benefit of coming generations of scholars and students.
Pedersen himself studied Arabic and other Semitic languages and religions during the enterprising pioneering period of Arabic studies in Denmark, which started with the research undertaken by A.F. van Mehren (1822-1907), internationally known for his work on Arabic poetics and on Greek-Arabic cosmology.
His pupils Johannes Østrup and Rasmus O. Besthorn continued these lines of research.
While Østrup is remembered for his linguistic exploration of the Damascus dialect and his literary studies on the Thousand and One Night, Besthorn became an authority on medieval Arabic scientific texts. Together with the Classical philologist Johannes Heiberg, he edited al-Nairizi's Arabic commentary on Euclid´s Elements, and later on (with Bjørnbo and Suter) al-Khwarizmi's astronomical tables.
In contemporary time, the study of Arabic language and literature seems more called for than ever. As during the Middle Ages, new textual forms and ways of expression emerge in Arabic countries in a dynamic interaction between the energies of cultural encounters and local identities.
Inspired by the fresh approach and the dedication to language studies shown by the early Danish Arabists, we announce the establishment of this seminar for new research in Arabic language and literature, which is scheduled to convene once a year. The theme of the first seminar will be "Den arabiske bog" ("The Arabic Book"), relating it to the well known minor classic with this title written by Johannes Pedersen in 1944.
The seminar is organised as an activity within the “From Alexandria to Toledo” network, a joint project between several universities and libraries studying the dynamics of the transfer of Greek secular learning around the Mediterranean (see http://www.greekarabictransfer.com/).
Programme
Thursday, 8th of March
Place: KUA, 24.1.07
-
16:15-18 - Professor Dimitri Gutas, Yale University: Graeco-Arabic Studies. State of the Art and Future Prospects.
Friday - 9th of March
Place: KUA, 24.2.01
- 10:15 - Professor Remke Kruk, University of Leiden: Medieval Views on Environment and Natural Development.
- 10:45 Coffee
- 11:00 - Professor James Montgomery, Cambridge University: Al-Jāḥiẓ on Translations - Echoes of a Lost Majlis.
- 12:00 Lunch
- 13:15 - Docent Karin Almbladh, Uppsala University: The Authorship and Textual Tradition of “Maqāla fī manṭiq” Commonly Ascribed to Maimonides.
- 13:45 - Professor Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Helsinki University: Persian into Arabic: Translating the Book of Kings.
- 14:15 Coffee
- 14:30 - Professor Kerstin Eksell, University of Copenhagen: The scholarly discourse: Pragmatic comments on texts by Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn.
- 15:00 - Docent Irmeli Perho, The Royal Library in Copenhagen: The network of Ḥusayn and the circle of al-Kindi.
Hosts: Irmeli Perho and Kerstin Eksell
Further information may be obtained from Kerstin Eksell (eksell@hum.ku.dk).