Suzanne P. Stetkevych is Sultan Qaboos bin Said Professor of Arabic & Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, Executive Editor of the book series Brill Studies in Middle East Literatures and co-winner of the Shaikh Zayed Book Award for Cultural Personality of the Year 2019. She received her Ph.D. in 1981 in Classical Arabic Literature from the University of Chicago. She has published in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Journal of Semitic Studies and others.

• AcknowledgmentsNote on TranslationsPrefacePart One: Abū Tammām and the Arabic Critical TraditionIntroduction1. A Reformulation of Badīʿ 2. Al-Ṣūlī's Akhbār Abī Tammām3. Al-Āmidī's Muwāzanah4. Al-Jurjānī's Wasāṭah ConclusionPart Two: Panegyrist to the Caliphal CourtIntroduction5. Time's Beardless Youth: A Panegyric to the Caliph al-Maʾmūn 6. The Tragacanth's Fruit: A Panegyric to Abū Saʿid Thaghrī7. A Morsel in Destruction's Hand: A Panegyric to al-Muʿtaṣim on the Capture of Bābak al-Khurramī8. The Virgin whom the Hand of Fate Had Not Deflowered: The Panegyric to al-Muʿtaṣim on the Conquest of ʿAmmūriyah9. The Poet Sets His Brilliant Gems: The Panegyric to al-Muʿtaṣim on the Immolation of al-Afshīn ConclusionPart Three: Abū Tammām and the Arabic AnthologyIntroduction10. The Process of Collection: Hadīth and Poetry11. The Ḥamāsah as Literary Ijmāʿ12. Composition and Conception of the Ḥamāsah13. Bāb al-Ḥamāsah: Theme and Variations14. Metaphorical Relationships 15. Antithetical Relationships: Bāb al-HijāʾConclusionAppendixBibliographyIndex

"...a pioneering effort... This is a very important book and will be required reading for everyone interested in Abu Tammam and Abbasid poetry in general."International Journal of Middle East Studies, 25."...eine scharfsinnige und kenntnisreiche Studie, die unser Verständnis der Abbasidendichtung wesentlich fördert."Renate Jacobi, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften, 1993."...a mature work free from triviality and graced with a wealth of intelligent explanatory notes."J. Derek Latham, Journal of Semitic Studies, 1992."...stimulating and neatly produced monograph...original..."Geert Jan van Gelder, TLS, 1992."Il s'agit d'un ouvrage qui contient plusieurs idées intèressantes, des points de vue originaux, des formulations heureuses d'idées…"Lidia Bettini, Bulletin Critique des Annales Islamologiques, 1994."This book by Stetkevych is very stimulating and thought provoking."A. Schippers, Bibliotheca Orientalis, 1995."Suzanne Stetkevych's book is a landmark study and an outstanding scholarly achievement."Peter Heath †, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1996.