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Pastoralism and the ‘Wild Man’ in an Early Arabic Romance

Abstract This article analyzes the tragic mode in Majnūn Laylā, an Arabic romance from the late seventh and early eighth centuries ce, i.e. the Umayyad period. It argues that this romance constructs the tragic mode in terms of a thematics of social conflict between the old Bedouin order and the new Islamic ethos. This is accomplished through an examination of the two main polarities that characterize Majnūn Laylā, namely ‘pastoral’ versus ‘anti-pastoral’ and ‘domestic’ versus ‘wild’. A key claim is that the romance hero, Majnūn, is rendered as a ‘wild man’ who embodies the clash between the two opposing social orders, Bedouin and Islamic.