Petrarch condemned Arab literature without having read it

Evidence

Petrarch strove to write flawless Ciceronian Latin and, steeped in Latinity and Latin canons of what constituted good verse, he was confident in his condemnation of the literature of the Arabs and especially their poetry (though there is no evidence that he had actually bothered to read any). — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 108

Categorization

• CANDY: Petrarch criticized Arabic poetry while never actually reading any — a light, quotable scholarly irony.
• XREF: Mirrors the pattern in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — confident condemnation of a cultural other without firsthand knowledge.