The literary legacy of the Ardalans
The literary legacy of the Ardalans

Summary/Abstract: Classical Gorani literature is believed to be the oldest Kurdish literary tradition which under the patronage of the Ardalans developed into a literary koine in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. However, despite its antiquity and significance in the history of Kurdish literature, it has remained largely under-studied. It is against this backdrop that I offer an overview of Gorani literature, its history of development, and main literary characteristics in this article. Through extensive text analysis I examine the classical Gorani poetry for its major genres and forms and predominant themes and images. I study Gorani oral and written literature and their interactions, and the role it played in Kurdish poetic modernisation in the twentieth century.

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