Through offering an ethnography of a group of educated, middle-class women who “had been attending weekly Qur’an and classical poetry classes for years” (xii), the volume shows that poetry and prayer are companions in the cultural history of Iran. It attempts to answer the question, “What does this companionship mean for forms of religio…[Read more]

Building on the author’s PhD thesis on “the British cultural and imaginative engagements with Persia in the nineteenth century” (vi), the volume charts “the diversity of perceptions associated with Persia in Victorian literary culture” (2). It focuses on poetry as the medium through which to survey the Victorian conception of Persia. It consists…[Read more]

De Moretussen wisten wat feesten was. Met hun tafels en buiken bourgondisch bol maakten ze er een waar schouwspel van. Ter gelegenheid van het huwelijk van Balthasar II Moretus (1615–1674) met de achttienjarige Anna Goos (1627–1691) kwamen de drukpersen zowaar tot leven! Onder impuls van de Antwerpse jezuïet Jacob de Cater droeg elke drukpers van…[Read more]

The Cairo Genizah is a repository of texts spanning more than a millennium of Jewish history, including thousands of Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic manuscripts now held in collections around the world. Among these are fragments from at least 25 separate Qur’an manuscripts in Arabic script, all of which lack any traces of Hebrew writing. Their…[Read more]

The Cairo Genizah is a repository of texts spanning more than a millennium of Jewish history, including thousands of Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic manuscripts now held in collections around the world. Among these are fragments from at least 25 separate Qur’an manuscripts in Arabic script, all of which lack any traces of Hebrew writing. Their…[Read more]

Gender roles in Shakespeare’s plays take on new meanings when they are embodied by Asian actors. Learning more about Asian approaches to performance not only enriches our worldview but also makes Asian cultures less abstract and Asian people more relatable as fellow human beings. Reflecting the idea that strength and empowerment can take many f…[Read more]

Heinsius jarig! Dat vieren we met wijn.

Daniel Heinsius (Heins – Δανιὴλ Εἱνσιάδης, 1580–1655) zag het levenslicht te Gent op 9 juni 1580, vandaag exact 441 jaar geleden. Omwille van hun protestantse geloof moesten zijn ouders echter al vroeg uitwijken naar Engeland; ze keerden na een tijdje terug naar de Lage Landen en vestigden zich in he…[Read more]