DOCSLIB.ORG

HUMOUR in RUMI's GHAZALS Jalâl-Od-Din Rumi (1207-1273/4 AD

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
HUMOUR in RUMI's GHAZALS Jalâl-Od-Din Rumi (1207-1273/4 AD HUMOUR IN RUMI’S GHAZALS agar ‘aql-e xalâyeq-râ hama bar ham-degar bandi na-yâbad serr-e lo†f-e mâ magar ân jân ke be-g(o)zidam (R. 1424/8) Jalâl-od-din Rumi (1207-1273/4 AD) is generally regarded as the most outstanding representative of Persian Sufism and his texts are stud- ied predominantly for the sake of their serious though enigmatically worded ‘mystical message’. Consequently, the less solemn layers of his poetry, i.e., the innumerable puns, wordplays and jokes displayed in it, are usually treated as mere embellishments of no particular importance. “Yet, Rumi had also a good sense of humour…” admits Professor Annemarie Schimmel in her monograph1 which thoroughly discusses the whole oeuvre of this 13th century Persian poet. This paper intends to peruse various categories of the obvious humorous devices applied by Rumi in his ghazals collected in the Divân-e Sams-e Tabriz(i)2 in order to show that the playfulness of these poems is one of their non-negligi- ble traits and forms a part of the poet’s communicative strategy. To put it simply, this author’s view is that the chief purpose of Rumi’s poetry was to involve his readers in a linguistic game which tests their intelli- gence and ingenuity by means of verbal and semantic riddles and/or ambiguities and awards the successful ‘decipherers’ of them with the feeling of amused satisfaction. According to the analysis of various forms of humour proposed by Arthur Koestler3, the common pattern underlying all laughter-provoking phenomena is the so-called ‘bisociation’, i.e., ‘the perceiving of a situa- tion in two self-consistent but mutually incompatible frames of reference or associative contexts’ which provokes a ‘delightful mental jolt of a sudden leap from one plane or associative context to another’. While the existence of two simultaneous frames of reference (e.g., two different meanings of a homonym) is a necessary condition, it is not a sufficient one unless this ‘bisociative’ structure is used as a means of expression of 1 A. SCHIMMEL, The Triumphal Sun. A Study of the Works of Jalâloddin Rumi, London / The Hague 1978, p. 56. 2 B. FORUZANFARR, Kolliyât-e Divân-e Sams-e Tabrizi, Tehrân 1363 s/1985. 3 A. KOESTLER, Humour and Wit, in: The New Encylopædia Britannica, (Macropædia 9), 15th ed., Chicago/London etc. 1976, p. 5-11. 84 W. SKALMOWSKI aggressivity towards the object of amusement (when, e.g., in a joke based on a homonym one of its two meanings is derisive of its referent). What Koestler calls the ‘emotional dynamics’ of laughter presupposes a certain level of tension in the observer(s) due to respect, awe or appre- hension which gets suddenly released by realization that the cause of these feelings merits them less than it had appeared before. Thus, a wit- ticism or an amusing situation consists of a sudden degradation of the object of attention occuring in such circumstances that the observer does not feel any sympathy for the victim — otherwise the effect would be pathetic rather than comic. This exclusion of sympathy can be achieved in various ways, starting with making the degradation relatively harm- less (e.g., in friendly teasing) and ending with such an exaggeration of brutality that it overshoots the target and reveals itself as unrealistic (e.g., in a caricature or satire). Extended between these two extremes is a wide spectrum of humour of varying subtlety and ingenuity which defies strict categorization, but which can always be reduced to the basic ingredients of this perceptional mood: the two simultaneous associative contexts and an intention to humiliate. By its very nature the subject of this paper belongs to the category of verbal humour which Koestler subdivides into three general types: (1) pun, (2) comic verse and (3) satire and allegory. In the following several examples from Rumi’s ghazals will be quoted in order to demonstrate that all these three types are easily discernible in them. This presentation is neither exhaustive (the bulk of the material is too great for it) nor fully systematic (the elusiveness of the very notion of “witticism” makes this impossible in a short article), but it seems sufficient for substantiating this author’s claim that the humorous element deliberately introduced into these texts by the poet is an important trait deserving attention in its own right. The three types of verbal humour proposed by Koestler are used in their large sense in this paper. Thus the notion of ‘pun’ is extended onto all kinds of ambiguous and/or unusual single free forms — both seman- tic and grammatical — whose comic intent is to temporarily mislead or mistify the reader in order to demonstrate his/her intellectual inferiority vis à vis the text’s author. The most primitive kind of this type of humour is the verbal pun sensu stricto, i.e., a real or an ad hoc created homonym combining two disparate ideas superficially united by the same phonetic form. It is one of the most popular rhetorical devices of Persian poets and its extensive use in Rumi’s work is as it were natural. HUMOUR IN RUMI’S GHAZALS 85 Thus only one instance of such a verbal joke is quoted here (Ex. 1) for the sake of completeness. [1] R. 884/13-15 goftam to kisti goft morâd-e goftam man kistam goft morâd-e hama morâd mofta‘elon fâ‘elât rafta bodam maÌv soda pis-e Âât del be-soxon az Òefât con oftâd dâd del o ‘aql o jân mafxar-e az madad-e in se dâd yâft tabriziyân zamâna sedâd ‘I said: “Who are you?”; he said: “The aim [lit. desire(d object)] of everybody”; — I said: “Who am I?”; he said: “The ultimate aim [lit. the aim of the aim]”. “Long-short-short-long, long-short-long-short” [metric pattern of munsarîÌ ma†wî]; I have given up (all) Attributes — (and) they disap- peared in the presence of Essence as soon as the Heart [= Beloved] began to speak. The Glory of the Tabriz-dwellers [= Sams-e Tabriz] offered (me) (His) heart, reason and soul/life — (and) thanks to [lit. with the help of] these three gifts [Pers. se dâd] the (bad) destiny (of mine) came to an end [lit. found an obstacle; Ar.-Pers. sedâd].’ Bayt 3 of the next example contains a pun of a more sophisticated type, namely a neologism nâ-ambar-a (spelling: n-a-n-b-r-h), lit. ‘hav- ing no shelter/shed’ in its second meÒrâ‘. This strange word confuses the reader who had just met the compound nân-xvâra ‘bread-eating’ in the first meÒrâ‘ and thus automatically analyses the unfamiliar form as *nân-bara which has no sense at all. Only after some reflection will the reader eventually find the right solution and smile at the poet’s superior verbal skill. [2] R 9/1-3 man az kojâ pand az kojâ bâda ân jâm-e jân-afzây-râ bar riz bar be-gardân sâqiyâ jân sâqiyâ bar dast-e man neh jâm-e jân dur az lab-e bigânegân pis âr ay dastgir-e ‘âseqân penhân sâqiyâ nân-i be-deh nân-xvâra-râ ân ân ‘âseq-e nâ-(a)mbara-râ konj-i †âme‘-e bicâra-râ be-xosbân sâqiyâ ‘Not for me moral advice: o cupbearer, bring wine! — pour this life- prolonging cup for the sake of life [or: Soul, i.e., Beloved], o cupbearer! 86 W. SKALMOWSKI O protector of lovers, put into my hand the life(-giving) cup — serve (it) secretly (and) far away from strangers’ lips, o cupbearer! Give some bread to this poor hungry breadeater — find some place to sleep for this homeless [lit. “shedless”] lover, o cupbearer!’ The two following examples feature unusual morphological forms which constitute obvious distortions of the norm of Classical Persian, but which — being only extravagant extensions of legitimate construc- tions — remain perfectly understandable to the reader. These apparently playful licentiae poeticae may be regarded as grammatical puns which ‘bisociate’ strange acoustic forms with normal syntactic functions. Thus, e.g., Ex. 3 displays a series of normal infinitives augmented with the suf- fix -â which habitually may be used only with the finite forms of certain verbs (e.g., gûy(i-y)â, goft-â ). In our case the source of this pun is the end of the first meÒrâ‘ of the first bayt: fanâ vo mordanâ in which the ad hoc ‘augmented’ infinitive (used as an abstract noun) forms an inter- nal rhyme to the preceding word fanâ. However, since a word in that position (the so-called ‘arû∂-foot) determines the rhyme of the whole ghazal all other infinitives in it had to be put into this unusual form. [3] R. 49/1 & 4-5 bâ to Ìayât o zendagi bi to fanâ z-ânk(e) to âftâbi vo bi to vo mordanâ bovad fasordanâ (…) pis be-sejda mi sodam past xanda-zanân gosâd lab goft derâz- xamida con sotor gardanâ bin ke ce xvâhi kardanâ bin ke gardan-e derâz karda-yi pamba ce xvâhi kardanâ be-xvâhi xvardanâ ‘(Being) with you (means) life and being alive; (being) without you (means) annihilation and dying — because you are (like) sun(shine) and (thus) (being) without you (means) withering away. I prostrated myself (before Him) bowing down (to the ground) like a camel — He opened (His) mouth (and) said with a smile: “O, impudent one [lit. streching (his) neck]! Look what you are (now) going to do: — (since) you have been impudent (to Me) you will (have to) stuff your mouth [lit.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Persian Manuscripts
    : SUPPLEMENT TO THE CATALOGUE OF THE PERSIAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM BY CHARLES RIEU, Ph.D. PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES Sontion SOLD AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM; AND BY Messrs. LONGMANS & CO., 39, Paternoster Row; R QUARITCH, 15, Piccadilly, W.j A. ASHEE & CO., 13, Bedford .Street, Covent Garden ; KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster House, Charing Cross Eoad ; and HENEY FROWDE, Oxford University Press, Amen Corner. 1895. : LONDON printed by gilbert and rivington, limited , st. John's house, clerkenwell, e.g. TUP r-FTTY CFNTEf ; PEE FACE. The present Supplement deals with four hundred and twenty-five Manuscripts acquired by the Museum during the last twelve years, namely from 1883, the year in which the third and last volume of the Persian Catalogue was published, to the last quarter of the present year. For more than a half of these accessions, namely, two hundred and forty volumes, the Museum is indebted to the agency of Mr. Sidney J. A. Churchill, late Persian Secretary to Her Majesty's Legation at Teheran, who during eleven years, from 1884 to 1894, applied himself with unflagging zeal to the self-imposed duty of enriching the National Library with rare Oriental MSS. and with the almost equally rare productions of the printing press of Persia. By his intimate acquaintance with the language and literature of that country, with the character of its inhabitants, and with some of its statesmen and scholars, Mr. Churchill was eminently qualified for that task, and he availed himself with brilliant success of his exceptional opportunities. His first contribution was a fine illuminated copy of the Zafar Namah, or rhymed chronicle, of Hamdullah Mustaufi (no.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great 'Umar Khayyam
    The Great ‘Umar Khayyam Great The IRANIAN IRANIAN SERIES SERIES The Rubáiyát by the Persian poet ‘Umar Khayyam (1048-1131) have been used in contemporary Iran as resistance literature, symbolizing the THE GREAT secularist voice in cultural debates. While Islamic fundamentalists criticize ‘UMAR KHAYYAM Khayyam as an atheist and materialist philosopher who questions God’s creation and the promise of reward or punishment in the hereafter, some A GLOBAL RECEPTION OF THE RUBÁIYÁT secularist intellectuals regard him as an example of a scientist who scrutinizes the mysteries of the universe. Others see him as a spiritual A.A. Seyed-Gohrab (ed.) master, a Sufi, who guides people to the truth. This remarkable volume collects eighteen essays on the history of the reception of ‘Umar Khayyam in various literary traditions, exploring how his philosophy of doubt, carpe diem, hedonism, and in vino veritas has inspired generations of poets, novelists, painters, musicians, calligraphers and filmmakers. ‘This is a volume which anybody interested in the field of Persian Studies, or in a study of ‘Umar Khayyam and also Edward Fitzgerald, will welcome with much satisfaction!’ Christine Van Ruymbeke, University of Cambridge Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab is Associate Professor of Persian Literature and Culture at Leiden University. A.A. Seyed-Gohrab (ed.) A.A. Seyed-Gohrab WWW.LUP.NL 9 789087 281571 LEIDEN UNIVERSITY PRESS The Great <Umar Khayyæm Iranian Studies Series The Iranian Studies Series publishes high-quality scholarship on various aspects of Iranian civilisation, covering both contemporary and classical cultures of the Persian cultural area. The contemporary Persian-speaking area includes Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Central Asia, while classi- cal societies using Persian as a literary and cultural language were located in Anatolia, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent.
    [Show full text]
  • Persian Poetry at the Indian Frontier
    Permanent Black Monographs: The ‘Opus 1’ Series Published by PERMANENT BLACK D-28 Oxford Apartments, 11, I.P. Extension, Persian Poetry Delhi 110092 Distributed by at the Indian Frontier ORIENT LONGMAN LTD Bangalore Bhubaneshwar Calcutta Chennai Ernakulam Guwahati Hyderabad Lucknow Mas‘ûd Sa‘d Salmân Mumbai New Delhi Patna of Lahore © PERMANENT BLACK 2000 ISBN 81 7824 009 2 First published 2000 SUNIL SHARMA Typeset in Adobe Garamond by Guru Typograph Technology, New Delhi 110045 Printed by Pauls Press, New Delhi 110020 Contents Acknowledgements ix Transliteration and Abbreviations xi INTRODUCTION 1 1. POETRY AT THE FRONTIER OF EMPIRE 6 A. At the Frontiers of Islam: The Poetics of Ghazâ 7 B. Lahore: The Second Ghaznavid City 14 C. The Life of Mas‘ûd Sa‘d 18 D. Mas‘ûd Sa‘d and Ghaznavid Poetry 26 2. POETS IN EXILE FROM PRIVILEGED SPACES 33 A. The Perils of Being a Court Poet 33 B. The Poetic Memory of Ghazna and Sultan Mahmûd 39 C. Manipulation of History in a Qasida by Mas‘ûd Sa‘d 43 D. Poets Complaining of Ghurbat 47 E. Mas‘ûd Sa‘d between Ghazna and Lahore 56 3. PRACTICING POETRY IN PRISON 68 A. The Genre of Prison Poetry (Habsîyât)68 B. Varieties of Habsîyât 73 viii / Contents C. The Physical State of Being Imprisoned 81 D. The Prisoner’s Lament 86 E. Mas‘ûd Sa‘d’s Use of His Name 102 4. ‘NEW’ GENRES AND POETIC FORMS 107 A. Shahrâshûb: A Catalogue of Youths 107 B. Bârahmâsâs in Persian? 116 C. Mustazâd: A Choral Poem 123 D.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanzaic Poems
    CHAPTER 7 STANZAIC POEMS G. van den Berg 1. The Tarjiʿ-band and Tarkib-band Prosody In Persian classical poetry, three different types of stanzaic po- ems can be discerned: the tarjiʿ-band (or tarjiʿ), the tarkib-band (or tarkib), and the mosammat. The first two types are very much alike: both tarjiʿ-band and tarkib-band consist of a varying num- ber of stanzas, formed by a number of rhyming couplets (beyts). Each stanza has a different rhyme, though the same rhyme may occur in more than one stanza. The individual stanzas are followed and interlinked by a separate beyt with an independent rhyme, the so-called vâsete (linker, or the go-between) or band-e sheʿr.1 The two hemistichs (mesrâʿs) making up the vâsete-beyt usually rhyme, but this rhyme stands apart from the rhyme in the stanzas. The Persian term for the stanza without the vâsete is khâne, the term for the stanza including the vâsete is band, though band, con- fusingly, is sometimes also used to denote the vâsete.2 The vâsete and the rhyme which varies per stanza form the main characteris- tics of the tarjiʿ-band and the tarkib-band. The vâsete is usually clearly marked in printed editions of divans as a separate unit, with the hemistichs forming the vâsete-beyt presented one above the other, rather than next to each other. 1 L. P. Elwell-Sutton, The Persian Metres (Cambridge, 1976), p. 256. 2 G. Schoeler, “Neo-Persian Stanzaic Poetry and its Relationship to the Ara- bic Musammaṭ,” in E. Emery, ed., Muwashshah (London, 2006), p.
    [Show full text]
  • When His Father Was Only Nineteen Years of Age
    The Turkish cause owes more to Jelal-ud-Din's son Sultan Veled. This son, whose full name was Sultan Veled Beha- * ud-Din Ahmed, was born in the Seljuq city of Larende, in 623 (1226), when his father was only nineteen years of age. His youth was spent in the service of some of the ereatest Sufi teachers of the time, such as Burhan-ud-Din of Tirmiz, Shems-ud-Din of Tebriz and Salah-ud-Din Feridun of Qonya, the last-mentioned of whom gave him his daughter Fatima in marriage. In his Lives of the Sufi Saints, entitled Nefahat-ul-Uns or 'The Breaths of Intimacy,"'^ Jami, the great Persian poet, tells us that when Sultan Veled grew up, he became so like his father that those who did not know them used to take the two for brothers. Jelal-ud-Di'n, who died in 672 (1273-4), was, according to Eflaki, succeeded by Sheykh Husam-ud-Din, who had till then acted as his vicar. On the death of this person in 683 (1284), the generalship ^ of the order passed to Sultan Veled, who continued to expound his father's teachings in what the biographers de- scribe as clear and graceful language till he died, at the age ' is the of the town it is still used in official Larende old name Qaraman ; documents. 2 The 'Intimacy' alluded to in this title is that between God and the mystic. 3 The generalship of the Mevlevi order is still in the family of Mevlana Efendi. The head- Jelal-ud-Din.
    [Show full text]
  • Father of Persian Verse: Rudaki and His Poetry
    Father of Persian Verse Iranian Studies Series The Iranian Studies Series publishes high-quality scholarship on various aspects of Iranian civilisation, covering both contemporary and classical cultures of the Persian cultural area. The contemporary Persian-speaking area includes Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Central Asia, while classi- cal societies using Persian as a literary and cultural language were located in Anatolia, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. The objective of the series is to foster studies of the literary, historical, reli- gious and linguistic products in Iranian languages. In addition to research monographs and reference works, the series publishes English-Persian criti- cal text-editions of important texts. The series intends to publish resources and original research and make them accessible to a wide audience. Chief Editor: A.A. Seyed-Gohrab (Leiden University) Advisory Board of ISS: F. Abdullaeva (University of Oxford) I. Afshar (University of Tehran) G.R. van den Berg (Leiden University) J.T.P. de Bruijn (Leiden University) N. Chalisova (Russian State University of Moscow) D. Davis (Ohio State University) F.D. Lewis (University of Chicago) L. Lewisohn (University of Exeter, UK) S. McGlinn (Unaffiliated) Ch. Melville (University of Cambridge) D. Meneghini (University of Venice) N. Pourjavady (University of Tehran) Ch. Ruymbeke (University of Cambridge) S. Sharma (Boston University) K. Talattof (University of Arizona) Z. Vesel (CNRS, Paris) R. Zipoli (University of Venice) Father of Persian Verse Rudaki and his Poetry Sassan Tabatabai Leiden University Press Cover design: Tarek Atrissi Design Layout: V3-Services, Baarn ISBN 978 90 8728 092 5 e-ISBN 978 94 0060 016 4 NUR 630 © S.
    [Show full text]
  • Forugh Farrokhzad Persian Poetness and Feminist
    Durham E-Theses Forugh farrokhzad Persian poetness and feminist Bharier, Mehri How to cite: Bharier, Mehri (1978) Forugh farrokhzad Persian poetness and feminist, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9817/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk FORUGH FARROKHZAD PERSIAN F03STKSS AND FEMINIST by Mehri Bharier Subaiiitod for the degree of tyaqtej? of Literature In. Persia;? Studies. University of Durhame April 1978. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. )'-ORl)Gll FARROKHZAD; PEKSIAH POETESS AND FEMINIST by T'ehri Bharier ABSTRACT OF THESIS Th:'.s thesis is the first evaluation of the life and work of Forugh Farrokhzacl, a Persian poetess and feminist who died tragically at the age of 32.
    [Show full text]
  • Indian and Persian Prosody and Recitation
    Indian and Persian Prosody and Recitation edited by HIROKO NAGASAKI English editing by Ronald I. Kim Saujanya Publications, Delhi 2012 Contents Preface Vll First published in India, 2012 PART ONE I(;) Publisher EARLY INDO-IRANIAN METRES Ancient Iranian Poetic Metres ISBN-I 0 : 81-86561-04-8 Hassan Rezai Baghbidi 3 ISBN-13 : 978-81-86561-04-1 CLASSICAL PERSIAN METRE Basic Principles of Persian Prosody Editor Ayano Sasaki 25 Dr. Hiroko Nagasaki Associate Professor Meter in Classical Persian Narrative Poetry Hindi Language and Literature Zahra Taheri 45 Osaka University, Japan Verbal Rhythm and Musical Rhythm: A Case Study of Iranian Traditional Music Masato Tani 59 Published by Manju Jain Saujanya Publications NEW INDO-ARYAN METRES 165-E, Kamla Nagar, Delhi - 110007 (India) URDU Tel: +91-11-23844541, Fax: +91-1.1-23849007 Email: [email protected] A Note on the 'Hindi' Metre in Urdu Poetry Website: www.saujanyabooks.com Takamitsu Matsumura 73 Dual Trends of Urdu and Punjabi Prosody So Yamane 97 All rights reserved . d stored in or introduced into a retrieval syst~m, or IDNDI No part ot this book may be reproduce '( I t . mechanical photocopying, recordmg, or . fi by any means e ec rome, ' transmitted m any orm ?r . 'on from the publisher of this book. Hindi Metre: Origins and Development otherwise), without the pnor wntten permiSSI Hiroko Nagasaki 107 The Prosody of Kesav Das Printed in India Yoshifumi Mizuno 131 44 Ayano Sasaki faces of the similarity were settled in a circle which maf 'u-liit. !herefore, the~ f -fo- ''i-lon. As Najafi expresses, however, many is the repetitiOn of fourfol o ma ta' d 'n the circles and we have to .
    [Show full text]
  • Premodern Ottoman Poetry
    © 2018, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847108559 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847008552 Ottoman Studies /Osmanistische Studien Band 5 Herausgegeben von Stephan Conermann, Sevgi Ag˘cagül und Gül S¸ en Die Bände dieser Reihe sind peer-reviewed. © 2018, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847108559 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847008552 Christiane Czygan /Stephan Conermann (eds.) An Iridescent Device: Premodern Ottoman Poetry With 10 figures V&Runipress Bonn University Press © 2018, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847108559 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847008552 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Veröffentlichungen der Bonn University Press erscheinen im Verlag V&R unipress GmbH. © 2018, V&R unipress GmbH, Robert-Bosch-Breite 6, D-37079 Göttingen Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Das Werk und seine Teile sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung in anderen als den gesetzlich zugelassenen Fällen bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Einwilligung des Verlages. Umschlagabbildung: Third Divan of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, MKG, 1886.168. Incipit. Fotographer Luther & Fellenberg. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage | www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com ISSN 2366-3677 ISBN 978-3-8470-0855-2 © 2018, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847108559 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847008552 For Hedda Reindl-Kiel
    [Show full text]
  • Creativity in the Iranian National Tradition
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 1977 Naqqāli and Ferdowsi: Creativity in the Iranian National Tradition Mary Ellen Page University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, and the Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Page, Mary Ellen, "Naqqāli and Ferdowsi: Creativity in the Iranian National Tradition" (1977). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1531. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1531 This dissertation by Mary Ellen Farr, née Mary Ellen Page, was received in Oriental Studies, a department that no longer exists at Penn and was folded into the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies departments in the 1990s. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1531 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Naqqāli and Ferdowsi: Creativity in the Iranian National Tradition Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations First Advisor William L. Hanaway Subject Categories Comparative Literature | Near and Middle Eastern Studies | Near Eastern Languages and Societies Comments This dissertation by Mary Ellen Farr, née Mary Ellen Page, was received in Oriental Studies, a department that no longer exists at Penn and was folded into the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies departments in the 1990s. This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1531 NAQQALI AND FERDOWSI: CREATIVITY IN THE IRANIAN NATIONAL TRADITION Mary Ellen Page A DISSERTATION in Oriental Studies Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Pennsylvani in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Docto of Philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Poetics of Sabk-I Hindi by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
    Stranger in the City: The Poetics of Sabk-i Hindi By Shamsur Rahman Faruqi A Stranger In The City: The Poetics of Sabk-i Hindi by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi 29 C, Hastings Road, Allahabad 211 001, India Phones: 91-532-2622693; 2623137 Email: [email protected] 1 Stranger in the City: The Poetics of Sabk-i Hindi By Shamsur Rahman Faruqi A Stranger In The City: The Poetics of Sabk-i Hindi By Shamsur Rahman Faruqi If there is a knower of tongues here, fetch him; There’s a stranger in the city And he has many things to say. Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib1 (1797-1869) The phrase sabk-i hindi (Indian Style) has long had a faint air of rakish insubordination and unrespectability about it and it is only recently that it has started to evoke comparatively positive feelings.2 However, this change is clearly symptomatic of a process of gentrification and seems to be powered as much by political considerations as by literary ones. Hence the proposal by some scholars to describe the style as “Safavid- Mughal”, or “Isfahani” or plain “Safavid” rather than “Indian.”3 Wheeler Thackston even believes that “there is nothing particularly Indian about the ‘Indian-style’….The more accurate description is ‘High-Period’ style.”4 The term sabk-i hindi was coined perhaps by the Iranian poet, critic, and politician Maliku’sh Shu’ara Muhammad Taqi Bahar (1886-1951) in the first quarter of twentieth century. It signposted a poetry in the Persian language, especially ghazal, written mostly from the sixteenth century onward by Indian and Iranian poets, the latter term to include poets of Iranian origin who spent long periods of their creative life in India.
    [Show full text]
  • Hafiz and the Challenges of Translating Persian Poetry Into
    This essay appears in A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue between East & West Gingko / 2019 / 9781909942288 Hafi z and the Challenges of Translating Persian Poetry into English narguess farzad Marianne Moore, the renowned modernist American poet who lived most of her life in New York, described the Brooklyn Bridge as ‘a caged Circe of steel and stone’,1 comparing this iconic structure, which connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, to the goddess of wizardry and enchantment. According to Greek legend Circe was skilled in the magic of transfi guration, and she possessed the ability to commu- nicate with the dead to foretell the future. Perhaps this is a good starting defi nition for a literary translator: an illusionist with a dual command of expressiveness and intuition who magically transforms the ‘metaphysical conceits’ of a poet writing in his or her own language, into the appropriate yet pleasing expressions and metaphors of a foreign language, all the while ferrying across as many aspects of the style, idiom and tone of the original as possible. Th e metaphor of the translator as bridge is also an appropriate and fi tting description, even if it has become something of a cliché. Th e translator is expected to establish vital connections between islands of culture, ideas and visceral emotions, regardless of the diff erences in topography and principles of literary composition, especially in the classical period. For such a metaphorical and practical lyrical bridge to withstand the passage of time and stylistic challenges while satisfying the evolving expectations of users, it must be supported by abutments – translators as well as copy-editors who are familiar with cultural idiosyncrasies and traditions of both the source and target languages – who can navigate the incongruous linguistic features on either side of the divide.
    [Show full text]