The Diary in Islamic Historiography

Some Notes

Bibliographic Data

ID4495840
AuthorsGeorge Makdisi (corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume25
Issue2
Pages173
Publication date1986-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2505304
OpenAlexW2330176582
LanguageEN
Citations received16

In the Western world, the earliest extant diary is the anonymous French Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris de 1405 a 1449.1 The earliest extant diary in English is dated 1442.2 No previous diaries are known to exist. It is generally believed that diaries, the product of a heightened sense of individualism and self-awareness, had to wait for the Renaissance, after the close of the Middle Ages. The individualism of the Renaissance, in contrast to the communalism of the Middle Ages, is said to have been needed in order to produce the personal diary, as differentiated from the keeping of daily public records.3 In striking contrast to the West, Islam developed the diary very early in its history, earlier than has heretofore been known. And there is reason to believe that it antedates and is related to, three genres of historiographical literature: the annalistic, the biographical, and the combination of both in two separate sections under the same year. The following pages will therefore treat the diary and its relation to these other forms of historiography

Archaeology · Art · Historiography · Islam · Literature · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · History · Islamic Studies and History · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub