The Waning Economies of Textual Theft

This chapter takes the conversation to Andalusia. Over time, an effort intended to highlight and boost the significant contributions of Andalusians to philosophy, science, and cultural and literary studies had grown into books, treatises, and compendiums. The effort was bound to minimize the presence of theft or its neighboring terms. Even their commentaries on the poetry of Abū Tammām, al-Buḥturī, and al-Mutanabbī tend to water down such issues, in line with a general cultural preference for discursive refinement and elegance. Nevertheless, Ibn Bassām – and despite his strong advocacy of Andalusian contributions – provides some terms in his rich compilation or treasury al-Dhakhīrah that center on akhdh , not only from poets of the Eastern flank, but also from other Andalusians. His treasury, al-Dhakhīrah , provides significant contributions to the study of poetry and culture in general, and his approach to thievery shows a departure from al-Ḥātimī and his like and an affinity with Ibn Rashīq. In poetic production, the muwashshaḥāt embedded verses from Eastern poets that explode the issue of thievery, inviting instead other elegant terms.