The Image of Arab-Islamic society in literary news books: Al Isfahani’s Kitab Al Aghani

The book refutes the opinion that reduces literary work to the pleasurableness
and purely aesthetic functions, because literary news is related to historical
context. Indeed, through them one is apprised of a general social fabric in which
belief intermingles with the economy and all aspects of everyday life. For this
reason, social and behavioural features and the doctrinal and intellectual
backgrounds underpin any creative work. However, readings and interpretations
vary, and for this reason the author stressed the importance of being aware of the
conditions of interpretation and paying attention to the unsaid, and used in this
respect the expressions of “concealed meanings”, “invisible signs” and
“interpretation schools”, because truth, in his opinion, is “hidden in every text”.
In a nutshell, to the author’s mind, the texts of Al Isfahani’s Al Aghani provide
a panorama in which we can observe the way of life of Arab-Islamic society
including rites celebrating the good life, contrary to what others may promote.