I luoghi della memoria nella produzione poetica di Maǧnūn Laylā e nei racconti del Libro dei canti di Abū l-Faraǧ al-Iṣfahānī (m. 356/967)

Abstract

This brief study aims to illustrate the significance that certain places, or sites of memory, acquire in the poems of the Dīwān of Mağnūn and in the aḫbār (anecdotes) of the article dedicated to the poet in the Kitāb al-aġānī by Abū l-Faraǧ al-Iṣfahānī (d. 967). The toponyms and places mentioned in this corpus are highly symbolic and intimately linked to the image of Laylā and the memory of a now lost past. They are sites of memory towards which the mad poet constantly aspires during his wandering in the desert. These sites of memory have the power to awaken the memory of the beloved and enable a connection with her. However, they are not "consoling" spaces but, on the contrary, places of renewed and ever-present pain. Among these spaces, a central role is attributed to the mountain, as a symbol of the immobility and the enduring nature of the memory of the beloved Laylā. This is in contrast to the other spaces mentioned in the story of Maǧnūn that are located outside of Laylā. These spaces, representing a transient and “inconsistent geography” (A. Miquel), lack the stability and lasting impact of the mountain but are characterized by their impermanence and inconsistency.