Inside and Outside
Reflections on Containment and Transgression in "The Book of Misers" by al-Jāḥiẓ
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.10130Abstract
Beside the sophisticated arrangement of stories, anecdotes and observations about avarice and stinginess, The Book of Misers by ʿAmr b. Baḥr al-Jāḥiẓ (160-255/776-868 or 69) displays the mechanisms of an ongoing process of negotiating social interaction. The distribution of names and labels for undesirable behavior, the warning about sanctions and consequences, and the description of emotional involvement give rise to an image of a social discourse in which the main concern is the achievement of interpretative authority. To be considered generous or stingy seems to be a matter of aspirational inclusion or momentous exclusion. This paper traces how the text highlights the transgression of conventions and the costs of remaining within a given framework. By also pointing out the fears and anxieties involved, it will be asked what framing dynamics and emotion practices have in common and how they are related to each other. Close reading of the selected episodes reveals complex interdependencies of expectations, perceptions, definitions, and conceptualizations, resulting in a delicate web of permeable frames and shifting hierarchies.
Key words: emotion, fear, anxiety, adab, limitation, transgression, stinginess, avarice, generosity
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