Kevin Blankinship د.كيڤن
@AmericanMaghreb
Arabic prof @BYU Editing @ Journal of Arabic Literature (@degruyter_brill) Words @NewLinesMag @ForeignPolicy @LAReviewofBooks. إذا سمعت أدباً فاكتبه ولو في حائط
🎧 Thanks to @AbbasidHistory for the platform and to you all for listening.
We’ve put the episodes on Classical Arabic poets with @AmericanMaghreb in one playlist on our Soundcloud. In 6 hours (or so) of listening, you have achieved almost the equivalent of an undergraduate year of seminars. on.soundcloud.com/8hAghKaTM3hNYr…
Excellent new study by Geert Jan van Gelder of a fragment from the “Afghan Geniza”, containing two verses plus commentary from the famous “Ode in B" by Dhū l-Rummah (d. 117/735-6). Part of the @invisible_east program @UniofOxford directed by @ArezouAzad invisibleeast.web.ox.ac.uk/article/docume…
JOB POST 👇👇
JOB OPPORTUNITY Departmental Lecturer in Classical Arabic Literature, University of Oxford, from January 2026 to June 2027, to cover for Professor Tahera Qutbuddin, who will be on research leave. Deadline to apply is August 14 my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecruit…
Distracted during prayer 👀🤲 I pray, but when I think of her, I forget if I prayed two rakʿahs this morning, or eight. Dhū l-Rummah (d. 117/735), Dīwān, ed. Abū Ṣāliḥ, 2:1309; ed. Ṭarād, 451, meter: ṭawīl.
Mood
"That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time" (John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"). Stay weird, people, stay weird.
From Princeton PhD to Salt Lake City bus driver. An important corrective to the voices telling you that your worth comes from "resume values" instead of "eulogy values," i.e., the character traits people remember and value about you after you're gone. youtube.com/shorts/vh2h0Sl…
Arabic saying of the day: "more contagious than yawning" (aʿdā min al-thuʾabāʾ). Quoted in many medieval Arabic sources, e.g., al-Jāḥiẓ, Ḥayawān, ed. Hārūn, 2:140.
"Instead of smirking at religion, some of our most important philosophers, novelists, and public intellectuals are now reassessing their contempt for it. They are wondering if they might have missed something," writes @petersavodnik for @TheFP. thefp.com/p/how-intellec…
It's as though I had killed the fates’ kinfolk, for they delve after me everywhere, whether in harsh or easy ground, seeking their vengeance on me. Al-Maʿarrī, al-Fuṣūl wa-l-ghāyāt, ed. Zanātī, 105
I reviewed "Fate the Hunter: Early Arabic Hunting Poems," ed. and trans. James Montgomery (@LibraryArabLit @NYUpress, 2023), for Speculum, the journal of the Medieval Academy of America. Enjoy and thanks for reading! academia.edu/130204654/Revi…