This volume presents a series of detailed studies dealing with forms and functions of narration in different literary contexts. The ambiguous nature of narration under the premises of conventionally undeclared fictionality is a common concern of these contributions. For the discussion of the basic concepts and perceptions of fiction and imagination a variety of methodological approaches are applied. Different fields of literature have been examined: historiography, a wide range of adab-literature, exegesis and Quran, the Arab philologists´ story-telling and popular Arabic narratives. Among the contributors who write mainly in English, partly in German and French may be named: Abdallah Cheikh-Mousa, Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Andras Hamori, Wolfhart Heinrichs, Renate Jacobi, Angelika Neuwirth, Ewald Wagner. Elements of Fictional Literature Susanne Enderwitz: Fiction in Arabic autobiography Renate Jacobi: Das Fiktive und das Imaginäre in der klassischen arabischen Dichtung Stefan Leder: Conventions of fictional narration in learned literature Story-telling in adab Literature and Theory Andras Hamori: Tinkering with the text: Two variously related stories in the Faraj Bacd al-Shidda Julia Ashtiany Bray: Figures in a landscape: The inhabitants of the Silver Village Hilary Kilpatrick: The "genuine" Ashcab. The relativity of fact and fiction in early adab texts Ulrich Marzolph: "Focusees" of jocular fiction in classical Arabic literature Joseph Sadan: Death of a princess: Episodes of the Barmakid legend in its late evolution Mohsen Zakeri: Arabic reports on the fall of Hatra to the Sasanids. History or legend? Ibrahim Geries: L'adab et le genre narratif fictif Abdallah Cheikh-Moussa : Réalité et fiction dans Le livre des avares d'al-Gahiz Lakhdar Souami : Fictionnel et non-fictionnel dans l'oeuvre de Gahiz Thomas Herzog: La Sirat Baybars: Non-fictionalité prétendue d'un texte fictionnel Philologists' Narrative Art Ewald Wagner: Die Ahbar Abi Nuwas in den Diwanen Wolfhart Heinrichs: Al-Sharqi b. al-Qutami and his etiologies of proverbs Kathrin Müller: Die Sprache des indischen Teufels. Anekdoten zwischen sprachlicher Realität und Fiktion Narration in the Quran, Tafsir and Hadith Jane Dammen McAuliffe: Assessing the Israiliyyat: An exegetical conundrum Raif Georges Khoury: Geschichte oder Fiktion. Zur erzählerischen Gattung der ältesten Bücher über Arabien Angelika Neuwirth: Quranic literary structure revisited: Sãrat al-Rahman between mythic account and decodation of myth Wim Raven: The biography of the Prophet and its scriptural basis Sebastian Günther: Fictional narration and imagination within an authoritative framework. Towards a new understanding of Hadith Facts and Fiction Albrecht Noth: Fiktion als historische Quelle Lawrence I. Conrad: Umar at Sargh: the evolution of an Umayad tradition on flight from the plagueweiterlesen