Browning Upon Arabia

Hédi A. Jaouad is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Skidmore College, USA. He is also the author of Limitless Undying Love: The Ballad of John and Yoko & The Brownings (2015), The Brownings’ Shadow at Yaddo (2014), and Browningmania, America’s Love for Robert Browning (2016). He is the editor of Revue CELAAN, a journal dedicated to the promotion of North African literature and art.

• 1. Introduction: Browning Upon Arabia.- 2. Browning and the Arabesque.- 3. Abd-el-Kadr, or ‘The Found Leader’.- 4. Browning and Ancient Arabic Poetry.- 5. Muléykeh: A Sufi Parable.- 6. The Return of the Druses: Djabal, Betwixt and Between.- 7. Luria: The Second Coming of the Moor.- 8. A Moveable East: Rabbis, Sages, and Dervishes.- 9. Conclusion: An Incipient Arabism?

“Jaouad’s book will, however, prove a useful resource to students, scholars, and admirers of Browning’s poetry, and indeed to anyone interested in the manifold networks of cultural affiliation and response evidenced by Victorian literature. Its range of reference and scholarship will undoubtedly lead to the satisfaction of Jaouad’s desire to ‘excite further interest in Browning’s life-long fascination with Eastern religion, culture, and literature’ … .” (Joseph Hankinson, Modern Language Review, Vol. 115 (3), July, 2020)