This book re-evaluates the literary history and landscape of third/ninth century Baghdad by demonstrating and emphasising the significance of the important transition from a predominantly oral-aural culture to an increasingly literate and writerly one.

Introduction 1. From Memory to Written Record 2. Being a Bookman in Baghdad 3. Navigating Partisan Shoals in Writerly Baghdad 4. Writerly Networks of Baghdad 5. Ibn Abi Tahir's Output and Writerly Culture 6. Ibn Abi Tahir's Poetry and Writerly Culture Conclusion: Revisiting Arabic Literary History

Shawkat M. Toorawa is Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature at Cornell University. He has co-authored Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition (University of California, 2001); co-edited Arabic Literary Culture, 500-925 (Gale, 2004); and translated Adonis's A Time between Ashes and Roses (Syracuse University Press, 2004).