No rarities of Al-Sharbini

Overview of the book "Nuadir Al-Sharbinī" The different topics addressed by the writings of Yusuf Al-Sharbinī — in poetry and prose — and their diverse styles and structures, and the openness of their meanings to various references and multiple interpretations, and their astonishing mixture of reality and imagination, and their smooth transition between seriousness and humor, and his linguistic efforts that may reach the limits of verbal absurdity, and their surpassing the speech of the mainstream and deviating from the familiar, and his boldness in discussing religious, sexual, and social issues — all of this has caused some scholars to be confused and perplexed, and has led them away from understanding the nature of these writings and recognizing their true classification. This makes us — on the other hand — acknowledge the uniqueness of this writer and the distinctiveness of his creative project. This is what this book attempts to clarify for the reader by reviewing the overall literary and creative output of Al-Sharbinī, and providing a scholarly investigation of his anecdotes written by hand in the late 11th Hijri century (17th century AD). In it, he presented — with an excessively sarcastic sensitivity and a sharp sense of humor — a lively social and cultural picture of marginalized groups that have long been avoided by writers and silenced by books. The goal — besides establishing the text of these anecdotes — was to restore them to their place in books of literature and history, and to dismantle the network of textual connections among them. All of this aimed to give a clear idea of Al-Sharbinī’s readings and the books that were widespread in his era, and thus the culture of that time.