Strozzi’s scores are generally more detailed in providing accidental signs than was the norm in her time, but their unwonted thoroughness complicates the handling of passages with unsigned notes that might appropriately be raised or lowered according to the context. Since Strozzi was so conscientious in supplying signs in situations where performers were most often left to be guided by rules of common practice, it seems possible that the omission of signs in some other passages might indicate a preference for uninflected pitches, rather than simple conformance with prevalent casualness of pitch notation. This essay examines passages in which modern performers and editors have frequently added accidentals according to modern performance practice norms, in many cases significantly affecting the way the music sounds, where Strozzi the (usually) detailed editor might have supplied accidentals had she wanted them.

Chapter Three provides a thorough exploration of the multifaceted experience of being Qizilbash within the Ottoman realm and the consequential implications of such an identity within the intricate Ottoman–Safavid geopolitical landscape. By scrutinizing a diverse array of Qizilbash texts, artifacts, and ceremonial practices, the chapter elucidates the complex processes entailed in shaping and perpetuating a collective sense of belonging. Additionally, this chapter seeks to integrate a discussion of the Ottoman state’s surveillance strategies into the analysis of Qizilbash subjecthood formation within the empire.

Neruda’s temperament was not theoretical, yet several “canonical” poems of his are infused with Marxist thinking. Although there is no evidence that Neruda read Marxist theory, in his thirties he assimilated its totalizing thought from party activism, from his second wife Delia, and from his friend, Spanish poet Rafael Alberti, each a lifelong communist. As an instance, Neruda’s poem “La United Fruit Co.” brings together four types of corporations, economic control of the state, the transportation of product, and subordination of labor. “The Strike” depicts the role of class conflict in the production process. “Cristóbal Miranda (shoveler-Tocopilla)” is one of fifteen portraits of industrial workers focusing on ordinary folk-history-from-below. “Los dictadores,” with its monster engendered by the wealthy autocrat in his palace, demonstrates the functioning of the dialectic in history. Neruda’s Marxism, though more intuitive than discursive, shapes these and other related poems of his.

Part III of the book looks at the beginnings and purposes of local history-writing. Chapter 7 makes a case for what made local history-writing a popular alternative to other forms of history-writing, particularly universal history but also some other forms as well. It briefly presents the rare occasions on which local histories from the early Islamic centuries say something specific about why they were inspired to compile their work. It then considers some arguments made by other modern historians, for example seeing local history-writing against the context of political fragmentation and ideas about local pride. The chapter then argues that the beginnings of local history-writing have to be understood against the context of emerging ideas about scholarly authority in the Islamic world, particularly the ideas pushed by scholars from Medina, most prominently Mālik b. Anas and his students, offering a historiographical justification for the distinctive authority of the scholars from that town.

Barbara Strozzi’s Sacri musicali affetti of 1655 is part of a vastly larger repertoire of Latin liturgical and nonliturgical sacred texts published and widely disseminated in seventeenth-century Italy. Her print fits within the category of non-liturgical texts, most often referred to as motets, sacri cantiones, or concerti ecclesiastici. Within this category there is a special subgroup of motets exclusively for solo voice and continuo (typically an organ, sometimes with the addition of other instruments), of which at least 163 other examples survive between 1608 and 1715. This subgroup is characterized by diverse aspects of general style, such as melodic typologies (arioso, aria, recitative, syllabic declamation, melismatic ornamentation, vocal virtuosity, ) and approaches to musical structure (ABA, AABB, ABB, strophic, through- composed, refrains, instrumental ritornelli, sectional shifts between duple and triple meters, changes of tempo, motivic patterns treated sequentially, sustained harmonic support of the vocal line or active bass lines in counterpoint with the vocal part, transposition of motives or longer passages, and tonal organization of segmented compositions. Examples of specific solo motet collections serve to highlight changes in style and structure from the first publication to Strozzi’s at mid century.

The Conclusion reflects on the shifting role of Syrian intellectuals in the revolution, arguing that while they initially gained influence, their authority quickly declined due to state repression, public scrutiny, and strategic misalignments with their audiences. Intellectuals struggled to sustain political impact, as their discourses became disconnected from on-the-ground realities, particularly in navigating religiosity, extreme violence, and the absence of charismatic leadership. As the revolution stalled, many turned from mobilisation and critique to trauma work, constructing a Syrian Cause aimed at international audiences rather than shaping domestic political change. This shift was complicated by postcolonial anxieties about foreign intervention. The chapter also examines how exile fostered a paradigm shift – from a politics of being perceived to a politics of perceiving, where intellectuals repositioned themselves as global critics rather than local leaders. Ultimately, the chapter concludes that hopeless perseverance has become the defining ethos of Syrian intellectuals – persisting in narrating trauma and critiquing injustice, even as their political agency remains constrained.

This essay aims to reconstruct Strozzi’s ideal poetic library and to understand the impact that her literary choices had on her compositions. The poems she set come from a variety of traditions, from madrigals looking back to the late sixteenth century, to more contemporary styles, some of them quite irreverent. The poets named in her volumes include some of the leading figures rom the Venetian literary, theatrical, and academic spheres of the mid-seventeenth-century: authors of dramme per musica such as Giulio Strozzi, Aurelio Aureli, Pietro Paolo Bissari, and Giacinto Andrea Cicognini; noble amateurs such as Marc’Antonio Corraro, Nicola Beregan, and Pietro Dolfin; academics such as Gian Francesco Loredan; as well as several poets and librettists linked to the Roman singing world such as Sebastiano Baldini and Giovanni Pietro Monesio. Strozzi’s interpretation of metrical models and her stylistic originality shine through in the variety of forms she offers.

This chapter focuses on the influence of women in Neruda’s life and poetry. Starting from the poet’s assertion that his life is made up of all lives, and the unfortunate passage in his memoirs that the Chilean feminist movement interpreted as the sublimation of a rape, it analyzes Neruda’s poetic work and the accounts of Teresa Vásquez, Albertina Azócar, Laura Arrué, Josie Bliss, Marijke Antonieta Hagenaar Vogelzang, Delia del Carril, Matilde Urrutia, and Alicia Urrutia, who accompanied him at different times in his life, to demonstrate that women always had agency in Neruda’s work and life. They were more than muses. It also shows how Neruda dialogued with the poetic work of women poets who preceded him, as in the case of Alfonsina Storni.

Pablo Neruda is a fundamental author in twentieth-century Latin American literature. He is a poet who has been characterized by his commitment to the scope of love, and, at the same time, his political work makes him an intellectual of universal stature. Due to his love poetry, in the Arab world he has been associated with authors such as Nizâr Qabbânî and Mahmûd Darwîsh. This text tries to trace the dialogue that Pablo Neruda has established with the Arab world and how his topics have allowed us to respond symbolically to the issues of our time and the need of certain social and political situations.

Pablo Neruda’s Nobel lecture “To the Splendid City” was a summary of his poetic practice as well as a consummate presentation of his literary persona to the world stage. Although highly conscious of the political context of his utterance, and hugely laudatory of the recently elected socialist Allende administration, Neruda devoted most of his lecture to evoking the breadth and beauty of the Chilean landscape and the creativity and the imagination of the Chilean people. Evoking the panoramic and eulogistic register of Canto general, Neruda proffered a buoyant and empathetic vision of his homeland, even though some aspects of his approach might seem insufficiently critical to a twenty-first-century literary sensibility. Neruda used the platform of his lecture to give a convincing statement of his identity as a Latin American writer.

This chapter addresses the topic of legacy and its relevance in the work of Pablo Neruda. Thus, starting from the rescue of 2,000 refugees from the Spanish Civil War on the steamship Winnipeg, it explores the relationship of the Spanish language with death in poems from Residencia en la tierra, and its re-emergence in Canto general, exemplified in “Alturas de Macchu Picchu.” The essay argues that the writing of this poem implies the reconciliation of the Spanish language, which is marked by the violence of its imposition in the Americas, with its speakers. It also looks at the relationship between Nerudian poetry and César Vallejo, who, in España, aparte de mí este cáliz, saw in each letter of the imposed language the origin of punishment, thus making reconciliation impossible. Returning to the Winnipeg, the essay concludes that the legacy of Pablo Neruda’s work is immeasurable because it is a debt, that which our time has with his poetry.