Aus dem Leben eines jungen Balutschen: von ihm selbst erzählt . By Georg Buddruss (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Band XLVIII, 4.) pp. 87. Stuttgart, Kommissionsverlag Franz Steiner Wiesbaden GmbH for Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1989. DM 46.

Abstract

The Kashkul represents what M. G. S. Hodgson has termed "education as conservation", characteristic of Muslim culture from the thirteenth century onwards, the goal of which was both to transmit the cultural heritage of the past and to guide the educated man in the ideals of the good life, both worldly and spiritual. Adab literature is the chief vehicle of the paideia of the Muslim world, and anthologies such as the Kashkul reflect the varied aspects of this paideia. Professor Bosworth has succeeded in presenting a detailed picture of the elements historical, biographical, and literary involved in the making of a still valuable and entertaining work, and has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the elusive genre of the literary anthology.