The Imagination Unbound: Al-Adab al-‘Aja‘ibi and the Literature of the Fantastic in the Arabic Tradition

Contrary to common perception, the fantastic in literature was not a modern European invention. Rather, the fantastic is present in Arabic narrative dating to the ninth century. The ‘imagination unbound’ can even be traced back to pre-Islamic mythical traditions.Early Arab writers such as Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri and Manamat al-Wahrani used subversion, wit and sarcasm to critique social and political aspects of their world by mixing the real with the imaginary, the ordinary with the extraordinary, and the natural with the supernatural.The Imagination Unbound contains Arabic and English introductions, and the orignial Arabic text of al-Adab al-‘Aja’ibi with commentary by the author.