The Matter of Araby in Medieval England is a 1977 book by Dorothee Metlitzki in which the author attempts to show the beginnings of the relationship between medieval England and the Arab world. It is considered to be the “definitive work on the intersection of Arabic and English culture in the Middle Ages”.
By studying patterns of translation, scholarship and scientific inquiries Metlitzki shows that the Arab world contributed several key elements to the English world, including ancient Greek texts which had been translated into Arabic, scientific discoveries such as the astrolabe and astronomical advances, as well as a host of other things such as rhyming poetry.
The book is divided into two parts: "Scientific and Philosophical Learning" and "The Literary Heritage".
Famous quotes containing the words matter, medieval and/or england:
“The people who resent me do so because I’m a woman, I’m young, and I’m a Bhutto. Well, the simple answer is, it doesn’t matter that I’m a woman, it doesn’t matter that I’m young, and it’s a matter of pride that I’m a Bhutto.”
—Benazir Bhutto (b. 1953)
“The Christos-image
is most difficult to disentangle
from its art-craft junk-shop
paint-and-plaster medieval jumble
of pain-worship and death-symbol.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“The instincts of merry England lingered on here with exceptional vitality, and the symbolic customs which tradition has attached to each season of the year were yet a reality on Egdon. Indeed, the impulses of all such outlandish hamlets are pagan still: in these spots homage to nature, self-adoration, frantic gaieties, fragments of Teutonic rites to divinities whose names are forgotten, seem in some way or other to have survived mediaeval doctrine.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)