A pre-modern anthologist at work: the case of Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Waṭwāṭ (d. 718/1318)

The essay explores the authorial voice in Ghurar al-khaṣāʾiṣ al-wāḍiha wa-ʿurar al-naqāʾiḍ al-fāḍiḥa, a literary anthology written by Jamāl al-Dīn al-Waṭwāṭ (d. 718/1318). In this text, the presence of the author seems to be much more present than in other works of the same genre, both in the prologue and throughout the whole text. Explicit linguistic signs like the authorial interventions within the text and the expression of the writer's personal opinions, references to autobiographical events and to his own condition, or in the choice of themes apt to parallelize his personal situation are all investigated as manifestations of the authorial voice.