Il discorso di al-Jahiz sui neri

The epistle by al-Jāḥiẓ entitled Kitāb fakhr al-sūdān 'alā al-bīḍān, which can be translated literally as "The book of the pride of blacks over whites" or, better, with "The praise of blacks", is a complex text, particularly important for examining the relations of Arabs with blacks in the 9th century. Adopting the reception perspective, i.e. that of the sender / recipient relationship, my intent, in this article, is to focus on the possible reasons for the drafting of the treatise, unexpressed by the author, and on the expressive modality used by al-Jāḥiẓ. Through the citation of events, stories and verses of poetry concerning blacks and their relations with Arabs, he generates a polysemic work capable of having repercussions on the individual and social unconscious of the recipients, not only of his time. These are formal aspects that have not received due attention, beyond the more comprehensive meaning of the epistle and its documentary value already highlighted by many scholars.