In this exceptional volume, Abedlfattah Kilito argues that genre -- not authorship -- is at the heart of classic Arabic literature. Using simple yet lyrical language, he examines love poetry and panegyric, the Prophet's Hadith and the literary anecdote, as well as such recurring themes as memorization, plagiarism and forgery, and dream visions of the dead. Ultimately, he evokes these as an allegory for post-colonial Arab North Africa.

An elegant translation faithfully captures the author's poetic finesse and makes the book easily accessible to English-speaking readers. Warmly received by critics and anthropologists, this volume is a must for scholars, students, and devotees of Arab culture.

Abdelfattah Kilito, professor in the department of French at Muhammad V University in Rabat, Morocco, has published extensively on Arabic literature. He has been a visiting scholar at the Ecole des Hautcs Etudes en Science Sociales, the College de France, and Harvard University. In I 989 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Maroc.

Michael Cooperson teaches at the University of California at Los Angeles and is the author of Classic Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of al-Ma'mun.