Bio

Hilary Kilpatrick obtained her DPhil from Oxford with a thesis on the Egyptian novel. She has taught at universities in the UK, the Netherlands, the USA and Switzerland and is now an independent scholar working in Lausanne. Her interests have shifted over the years first to classical Arabic literature and more recently to Arabic literature of the Ottoman period. She held a Humboldt-Stiftung Fellowship in 1975-76 and a research grant from the Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique in 1989-90 and 1991-1993.


Research project

Hilary Kilpatrick's present project at the OIB focusses on the poetic œuvre of Nīqūlāwus al-Ṣā’igh (1692-1756). The Dīwān of this important literary and ecclesiastical personality of the first half of the 18th century was printed in Beirut some six times between 1859 and 1910. But the manuscripts of the Dīwān also contain annexes which have never been studied. Of the around 80 manuscripts of the Dīwān examined, 63 contain riddles, 57 contain an urjūza on mental prayer, 23 have a letter in prose and verse to Mkrtich al-Kasīḥ and 21 have chronograms.  They throw light on the preferences of copyists as well as on the editors' reception of al-Ṣā’igh's œuvre. The chronograms add to knowledge of al-Ṣā’igh's connexions with friends and the authorities, the urjūza and the letter are witnesses to his spirituality, while the riddles illustrate his pleasure in wordplay. The publishing and study of these annexes will be a valuable contribution to knowledge of the poet's work and more generally the cultural context of Bilad al-Sham in the period.