Betwixt and Between: The Graffiti Found in Adab al- Ġurabāʾ by al-Aṣfahānī

Abstract

Abū l-Faraǧ al-Aṣfahānī’s (d. ca. 974 AD) Kitāb adab al-ġurabāʾ (The Book of Strangers) is a collection of reports inscribed, engraved, and scratched by liminal figures, i.e. strangers, wayfarers, and exiles on walls, doors, and  canvases. The significance of this book, this article argues, lies not in the topic of estrangement en soi but in the  prosimetrum inscribed on surfaces, a phenomenon given little attention by literary scholars. The article sets out to explore the different shades of meaning of the term “ġarīb”. It argues that the “ġarīb” in al-Aṣfahānī’s book not only refers to strangers and their estrangement, but also to the ġarīb/adb (novel, foreign) effect they strive to create in their textual traces. This ġarīb/adb effect produced by these ġurabāʾis what constitutes the book’s uniqueness.