Reader in Al-Jahiz

Thomas Hefter takes a new approach in interpreting some of al-Jāḥiẓ's "epistolary monographs." By focussing on the varying ways in which he wrote to the addressee, Hefter shows how al-Jāḥiẓ shaped his conversations on the page in order to guide (or manipulate) his actual readers and encourage them to engage with his complex materials --