"... a major contribution to the history of pre-modern Arabic literature." - Hakan Özkan, in: Mamluk Studies Review, Vol. 21, 2018.

"... Adam Talib's monograph is a useful preliminary tool for experienced scholars and young researchers alike." - Luca Rizzo, Università Ca' Foscari, Venezia & Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, in: Quaderni di Studi Arabi 13 (2018)

"... his careful and thoughtful treatment of the subject of genre sets future research on the right path" - Lara Harb, Princeton University, in: Journal of Arabic Literature 50 (2019)

“The work under review is a relevant example of both these scholarly achievements and the persistence of biased narrowness, for it does not only venture into a still largely unexplored chronology, but also into the terra incognita of a hitherto overlooked genre: the short poems (maqāṭīʿ) conventionally called epigrams. […] The main objective of Talib’s ground-breaking study is to claim the maqāṭīʿ as a genre of their own. This is undoubtedly achieved, and this work will become a compulsory reference for researchers of Arabic literature. Despite its complexity, this will be also a very useful text for BA students, who can profit from Talib’s editions, translations and close reading of the poems. Scholars interested in postcolonial studies and comparative literature will find insightful discussions and enjoy Talib’s aporetic disquisitions.” - Ignacio Sánchez, University of Warwick in: Orientalistische Literaturzeitung Volume 115, Issue 4-5 (2020).