In a story by Borges, a scholar is at a loss to translate terms relating to this practice despite unknowingly hearing abu-al Hasan describe forms of it found in Sin-I Kalal. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this practice, the subject of ambivalence or prejudice throughout basically all of human history according to a 1981 book by Jonas Barish.
ANSWER: theater [or drama, acting, theatricality, performance, or putting on plays; accept tragedy or comedy; accept The Anti-Theatricality Prejudice]
[10e] Averroës seems not to have understood the concept of performance while translating this text, writing that there are many fine tragedies in the Quran. This text introduced dramatic terms like “hamartia” and “catharsis.”
ANSWER: Poetics (by Aristotle)
[10m] Exceptions to the general lack of theater in the medieval Islamic world include puppetry and ta’zieh, which are Persian “condolence plays” that gruesomely reenact this historical event.
ANSWER: death of Husayn [or Battle of Karbala; accept any answer indicating the killing, martyrdom, or shaheed of Husayn ibn Ali]
<Henry Atkins, World Literature>