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Marvels and ‘Aja’ib as Contact Points: Medieval Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Literature on Cultural Contact

Wipf, Briana Jill (2024) Marvels and ‘Aja’ib as Contact Points: Medieval Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Literature on Cultural Contact. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Medieval people were fascinated by marvels, or those things, beings, or phenomena that are primarily natural and yet unexplained. Medievalists studying western Europe have used those things classified as marvels to interrogate medieval views of power, theories of mind, and the natural world. Scholars of the Islamicate world have considered ‘ajā’ib (“marvel” in Arabic) literature through the lens of Islamic belief, philosophical debates, and reception of classical thought. Scholars of both traditions have discussed the ways marvels appear in travel literature and act to demarcate the known from the unknown. This dissertation engages with the existing scholarship on marvels and ‘ajā’ib from the perspective of the Global Middle Ages, considering how movements of people, ideas, and trade goods shaped participating cultures in profound and unexpected ways. Through four case studies, this dissertation, “Marvels and ‘Aja’ib as Contact Points: Medieval Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Literature on Cultural Contact,” argues that the marvel often functions as a figure for cultural contact in medieval writing; and by interpreting the marvel, we can better understand the text’s position regarding who or what is considered foreign. Chapter one traces the intellectual trajectory of medical theories of human generation as they reached England and found expression as a monstrous birth in the climax of the fourteenth-century romance The King of Tars. Chapter two offers a comparative reading of the vita of Christina the Astonishing and an Ashkenazic Jewish exemplum from Sefer ha-ma’asim that present as marvels embodied dead women as commentaries on proper piety. Chapter three studies the way self-described scholar and reformed charlatan al-Jawbarī’s exposé of con artists, Kash al-asrār and Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale employ similar rhetoric to argue against alchemy’s categorization as a marvel. Chapter four traces the adaptations made to the story of the mystical and marvelous City of Brass and its connection to the popular Alexander Romance cycle, as the economy of the Islamicate world incorporated sub-Saharan Africa. Taken together, the chapters of this dissertation offer a taxonomy of the medieval marvel in its role as a vessel holding the attitudes, anxieties, and hope involved in cultural contact.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Wipf, Briana Jillbjw77@pitt.edubjw77
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairJohnson, Hannahhrj4@pitt.eduhrj4
Committee MemberMcDermott, RyanRMcdermott@pitt.eduRMcdermott
Committee MemberWaldron, Jenniferjwaldron@pitt.edujwaldron
Committee MemberFozi, ShirinShirin.Fozi@metmuseum.org
Date: 27 August 2024
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 15 April 2024
Approval Date: 27 August 2024
Submission Date: 6 June 2024
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 324
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > English
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: Middle Ages, medieval, Global Middle Ages, marvels, 'aja'ib literature,
Date Deposited: 27 Aug 2024 14:19
Last Modified: 27 Aug 2024 14:19
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/46485

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