DOCSLIB.ORG

The Nightingales Are Drunk Free

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Nightingales Are Drunk Free FREE THE NIGHTINGALES ARE DRUNK PDF Hafez | 64 pages | 26 Feb 2015 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780141980263 | English | London, United Kingdom No. The nightingales are drunk, Hafez – A Little Bit Bookish I learnt to be careful about the Arabian Nights. So Hafez — a Persian poet from the 14th century The Nightingales are Drunk causes me a problem, because the overwhelming sense I have on reading his works is of somewhere distant and foreign. Part of this could be in the choices of the translator, which adds a whole extra level of complexity to the exercise. But these poems, which are about love and sensation in the poetically- inclined city of The Nightingales are Drunk, feel to me like a direct record of a world that The Nightingales are Drunk been lost. The following passage captures it The Nightingales are Drunk. What brought The sweetness The Nightingales are Drunk our town to naught? The ball of generosity lies on the field for all to see —. On the one level, the image of something publicly visible and demanding action, like the ball on a sportsfield, is a wonderful way of communicating his frustration with what is failing to happen. So, while I enjoy these poems, somewhere in the back of my head a warning sense starts to tingle. I feel something welling up in my post-colonial guilt ducts. Have I simply gone and taken a famous set of poems and welded them to my pre-existing prejudices? However, as I read on, I learn that I am probably not alone in this. I suspect that a modern Iranian leaving the mosque to get drunk with or without nightingale will receive worse than a sneer. Indeed, one shudders to think what would become of this poet — drunken, questioning, flagrantly bisexual and short on respect — in his home country today. Which in turn poses the question, given that Hafez is often hailed as the greatest poet of Persian history, of how modern day Iranians see him too. A friend of mine, better versed in these subjects than I, pointed out that the past in the Middle East is a strongly contested thing. This is truest of all in Iran, which has one of the strongest records of continued civilisation in world history — covering everything from Persian satraps to puritanical mullahs — and as a result does not lend itself to ideologies that like simple interpretations. When seen like that, it seems that everyone is working in terms of stereotypes. That means leaping over the inconvenient details and settling on the points which most gladly meet your prejudices. No apology necessary? You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are The Nightingales are Drunk using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Menu Skip to content. The Great Ideas The full Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Post to Cancel. By continuing to use this website, you agree to The Nightingales are Drunk use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy. Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats | Poetry Foundation Sensual, profound, delighted, wise, Hafez's poems have enchanted their readers for more than years. One of the greatest figures of world literature, The Nightingales are Drunk remains today the most popular poet in modern Iran. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics The Nightingales are Drunk the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a The Nightingales are Drunk of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Rumi Rumi's Selected Poems is available in Penguin Classics. Search books and authors. Buy from…. View all online retailers. Also by Hafez. Related titles. The Gift. The Iliad. Homer HomerHomer. Rick Stein: From Venice to Istanbul. Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. Yotam OttolenghiSami Tamimi. The Odyssey. The Unseen Poems. Spiritual Verses. The Way of Passion. The Prophet. The Conference Of The Birds. Farid Ud-din AttarFarid Attar. Conference Of The Birds. A Blood Condition. The Aeneid. Asleep and Awake. The Perfect Nine. The Lost Spells. Jackie MorrisRobert Macfarlane. Red Line. Our top books, exclusive content and competitions. Straight to your inbox. Sign up to our newsletter using your email. Enter your email to sign up. Thank you! Your subscription to Read More was successful. The Nightingales are Drunk help us recommend your next book, tell us what you enjoy reading. Add your interests. The Nightingales are Drunk by Hafez Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want The Nightingales are Drunk read. Want to The Nightingales are Drunk saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling The Nightingales are Drunk about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — The Nightingales are Drunk by Hafez. The Nightingales are Drunk by The Nightingales are Drunk. Dick Davis translator. One of the greatest figures of world literature, he remains The Nightingales are Drunk the most popular poet in modern Iran. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the h 'Drunk or sober, king The Nightingales are Drunk soldier, none will be excluded' Sensual, profound, delighted, wise, Hafez's poems have enchanted their readers for more than years. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Rumi Rumi's Selected Poems is available in Penguin Classics. Get A Copy. PaperbackLittle Black Classics 2764 pages. More Details Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Nightingales are Drunkplease sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The Nightingales are Drunk. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Nightingales are Drunk. Jun 21, Jibran rated it it was amazing Shelves: eastern-poetrypersiamysticismlittle-black-classics. Come, tell me what it is that I have gained The Nightingales are Drunk loving you, The doubtful quality of translation and the thematic similarity of the selection makes it an unsuitable book to approach Hafiz's poetry for the uninitiated. Not that it's impossible to not like him, but I hold this LBC responsible for the many one-star comments trashing Hafiz the poet that you see in community reviews. But The Nightingales are Drunk can't help but rate it five stars because Hafiz is a five-star poet and one of the greatest practitioners of the cl Come, tell me what it is that I have gained From loving you, The doubtful quality of translation and the thematic similarity of the selection makes it an unsuitable book to approach Hafiz's poetry for the uninitiated. But I can't help but rate it five stars because Hafiz is a five-star poet and one of the greatest practitioners of the classical Persian love lyric - the ghazal. The natural flow of Hafiz's poetry is lost in the rendition and rearrangement of couplets. Ghazals move erratically, break abruptly, and it feels as though a mediocre dabbler has penned them. Davies' handling of the refrain radeef has also been problematic see poem on pgwhich I'm not quoting here. It is also important to stick to a form when translating the ghazal. Sure, not every poem translates well into a prefigured form, but it helps to stick to one for the most part and deviate only when the occasion demands it. Arbitrarily changing form as though the originals were a bunch of dissimilar poems obscures the meticulous care the poet has put into crafting each and every ghazal of his Divan. This selection is culled by whom it doesn't say from a Penguin volume Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz, which means it's a selection of a selection. The final product is constricted and doesn't feel like a representative selection of the diversity and richness of his poetic cosmos. He comes off as a fatalist winebibber incapable of talking about anything else. You could never have guessed Hafiz was primarily a Sufi poet who used wine-drinking as a metaphor for divine love, keeping the literal meaning on a mundane level yet elevating it to a higher degree with a reminder that all life is ephemeral and The Nightingales are Drunk pinnacle of existence is to merge as one with the Beloved - beloved with the capital B. By way of apology for pulling a Professor Horrendo on the book, below I quote some fine examples to round off the review: Where's a musician, so that I can give The profit I once found In self-control The Nightingales are Drunk knowledge for a flute's songs, And a lute's sweet sound? But those whose lives are centered on Your lovely mouth confess No other thoughts than this, and think Nothing of Nothingness.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 'Momentary Glimpse' Final Report of the Conference
    Persica 23, 123-126. doi: 10.2143/PERS.23.0.2050511 © 2009-2010 by Persica. All rights reserved. ‘MOMENTARY GLIMPSE’ FINAL REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE THE LEGACY OF OMAR KHAYYAM (6-7 JULY 2009, LEIDEN UNIVERSITY) Asghar Seyed-Gohrab Leiden University The conference was intended to highlight not only Khayyam as a mathematician, philoso- pher and astronomer, but also the reception of Khayyam in various literary traditions. It was very successful, in terms of academic achievement and of networking and establishing new projects in the future. The opening in the Music Hall (aan het Ij) in Amsterdam was especially successful, with a peerless performance from Het Nederlands Kamerkoor, singing a wide range of classical Western and Persian compositions based on the quatrains of Omar Khayyam. This impressive opening affected the programme in the following days, especially because of the fruitful cooperation with the musicologist Professor Rokus de Groot (University of Amsterdam). The first day began with the key note address of Dick Davis (Ohio State University, USA) with the intriguing title “Too good a poem to be faithful?” in which he discussed “the notion of ‘fidelity’ implied in Chesterton’s remark, and whether it applies to FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat.” After giving a background of translated literature in English in the nineteenth century, and various English views on literary translations, Davis gave a meticulous exposi- tion of the way the spirit and the sentiments of Khayyam’s poetry were transmitted into English poetry in the nineteenth century through Edward FitzGerald’s adaptations of the quatrains. Presenting the challenging idea that Khayyam as a poet never existed and that the poems attributed to him belong to other poets, Dick Davis opened a very informative and enthusiastic discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Edgar Bowers Conference and Exhibition April 11, 2003
    UCLA How Shall a Generation Know Its Story: The Edgar Bowers Conference and Exhibition April 11, 2003 Title Edgar Bowers and England Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43d7q8h6 Author Davis, Dick Publication Date 2003-04-11 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California How Shall a Generation Know Its Story: The Edgar Bowers Conference and Exhibition April 11, 2003, UCLA Edgar Bowers and England by Dick Davis Anyone familiar with Edgar’s poetry is aware that there is a recognizable break between the publication of Living Together, (1973), and For Louis Pasteur, (1989). We are not only talking about quite a considerable period of time (sixteen years) in which Edgar published no new collection, but there is also to some extent a break in style and subject matter between these two volumes. The relatively prolonged silence before the appearance of For Louis Pasteur can in fact be extended backwards for a few years, as Living Together is basically his first two volumes bound as one, with a handful of poems omitted, and it contains only six new poems, only one of which is of a substantial length. It seems then generally true to say that after the publication of The Astronomers (1965) Edgar entered on a relatively barren period as a poet, the end of which was signaled by the appearance of For Louis Pasteur over twenty years later. What enabled him to emerge from this barren patch, and to produce a volume that was startlingly more relaxed and personal in tone than his often lapidary and Parnassian earlier work? There cannot be a simple answer to the complicated question of why a poet writes as he does when he does, or of why he falls silent when he does.
    [Show full text]
  • Firdawsi: a Scholium
    Firdawsi: A Scholium by Burzine Waghmar and Sunil Sharma Hakim Abu’l-Qasim Mansur b. al-Hasan al-Firdawsi al-Tusi (ca. 940/41-ca. 1020/25), a middle- ranking aristocrat recognised by his nom de plume, Firdawsi (‘paradisiacal’), was a central figure in the history of classical Persian literature.1 His monumental epic poem, Shahnama (‘Book of Kings’), conjures Homeric as well as Miltonic associations to the Iranian mind thus ensuring him a niche in the universal literary canon.2 This mytho-poetic masterpiece, dealing with Persian legendary and recorded history from the first man to the Arab conquest in AD 652, has been continuously read, recited, remembered, and re-enacted across the Iranian-speaking oecumene straddling West, Central and South Asia for over a millennium.3 Starting from the nineteenth century, a virtual school of Shahnama studies has flourished as successive generations of scholars interpreted and contextualised the text in published abridgements, translations and new editions. Animated productions of Rustam’s adventures, as those of Hercules, are keenly enjoyed by adults and children in contemporary Iran and the diaspora.4 Although Firdawsi dedicated his work to Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998-1030), his life was spent in the town of Tus, Khurasan, away from the courts of princes and paladins. For almost a generation, about thirty years, he quietly worked on his magnum opus and interspersed it with brief vignettes of his personal life for the reader. As Shahpur Shahbazi has noted: Much has been written on Ferdowsī and his work, but even learned studies have given inharmonious results for the simple reasons that our sources are late, uncritical and contradictory, and that … [t]he best authority is the Šāhnāma itself as the poet frequently breaks his narrative to insert a few lines about his age, work and thoughts.5 Firdawsi belonged to the traditional squirearchy or dihqan class emotively tied to its land and ancient Persian culture.
    [Show full text]
  • The University of Chicago Poetry
    THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO POETRY AND PEDAGOGY: THE HOMILETIC VERSE OF FARID AL-DIN ʿAṬṬÂR A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS BY AUSTIN O’MALLEY CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MARCH 2017 © Austin O’Malley 2017 All Rights Reserved For Nazafarin and Almas Table of Contents List of Tables .......................................................................................................................................vi Note on Transliteration ...................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgments...........................................................................................................................viii Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1 I. ʿAṭṭâr, Preacher and Poet.................................................................................................................10 ʿAṭṭâr’s Oeuvre and the Problem of Spurious Atributions..............................................12 Te Shiʿi ʿAṭṭâr.......................................................................................................................15 Te Case of the Wandering Titles.......................................................................................22 Biography and Social Milieu....................................................................................................30
    [Show full text]
  • Part 1 of Dick Davis Interview
    T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E The most important event of my early life was the suicide of my brother when I had just turned 21; he was 19. It was An Interview with mainly because of this event that I left England as soon as I went down from Cambridge – I just couldn’t bear to be Dick Davis there. And leaving at that age meant that a life out of England seemed to become Professor and Translator more or less inevitable for me. I feel a stranger when I go there now. As I do in the US too of course. I’m English, wholly PART ONE so I think, but my England is the England of my adolescence, so not I’m not English as England now is. What attracted you to Iran and Persian culture? Did the national past time of poetry have anything to do with it? What makes Persian culture different from that of other nations? I went to Iran serendipitously. I had a friend who was working there on an ar- chaeological dig, and he absolutely loved it. He suggested I come out for a year and that we share an apartment and both teach English somewhere; it was fairly easy to get a job doing that then. So I found a job Brian Appleton at Tehran University, sponsored by the British Council, and went. After the year was up my friend went back to England, Tell us about your childhood, English teacher. His name is John Gibson; but I stayed, mainly because by that time perhaps a unique incident or he’s in his 80s now, and like me he moved I had met the person who later became experience that influenced to the US.
    [Show full text]
  • Herald NAMSCA 3, 2018 Ali Mazarei, Asgar Salahi ATTAR RESEARCH in EUROPE
    Herald NAMSCA 3, 2018 Ali Mazarei, Asgar Salahi ATTAR RESEARCH IN EUROPE Ali Mazarei PhD student of Persian literature, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili [email protected] Asgar Salahi Assistant Professor, Department of Literature, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili [email protected] Abstract. Helmutriert, Margaret Smith, Aghazgar Tehrani and others. By translating the works of Attar, Neyshaburi has attracted the attention of some other nations to the works of Attar. If these translations are introduced more and more, young researchers and seekers will be useful, as well as those who are interested in studying the mystical works, will benefit from the familiarization and study of these translations. By seeing and studying these translations, other scholars may also be able to translate Attar's works into other languages that have not been translated. And this will make the human community more familiar with the works of this mystic and expensive poet. And as a result, the costly development of Islamic culture and literature for the international community will be more and more evident. n the area of bibliography of Attar, works have been carried out so far, and books such as "Attar's Bibliography" by Ali Mir Ansari and "The Influence and Propagation of Tadzkera Al-Alawi Attar in Pakistan," and so on. But in the area of analytical work of Attar Research, especially outside of Iran, less has been studied. Hence, the authors of this article have taken a moment to reflect on this subject. Keywords: Arabic, Astrology, Literature, Sufism, Translation. 1.Introduction. What I do not keep apart from my sow creations until the resurrection In the language of creation till the day I remembered it was enough this relicFarid al-Din Abu Hamed Mohammad Attar Neyshaburi is famous for Sheikh Attar Neyshaburi, one of the Iranian mystics and poets of the Persian language.
    [Show full text]
  • Hard Translation: Persian Poetry and Post-National Literary Form
    Forum for Modern Language Studies Vol. 00,No.0,doi:10.1093/fmls/cqx039 HARD TRANSLATION: PERSIAN POETRY AND POST-NATIONAL LITERARY FORM REBECCA RUTH GOULD ABSTRACT This essay examines how translation theory can further globalize contemporary literary comparison. Whereas Persian studies has historically been isolated from the latest developments within literary theory, world literature has similarly been isolated from the latest developments within the study of non-European litera- tures. I propose the methodology of hard translation as a means of addressing these lacunae. As it was understood and practised among Chinese and German translation theorists in the early decades of the twentieth century, hard translation is a method that incorporates translation in the form of exegesis, while preserving traces of the source language in the target language. Coined in 1929 by the Chinese critic, writer and translator Lu Xun amid the ferment stimulated by the May Fourth movement, hard translation (yingyi) is here considered alongside Walter Benjamin’s cognate and nearly contemporaneous arguments for transla- tion in a context of linguistic incommensurability. Keywords: Persian poetry; comparative literature; world literature; translatability; translation theory; poetics; nationalism; transnationalism; Shafic¯Kadkanıı ¯; Lu Xun; Walter Benjamin; Gayatri Spivak; Emily Apter; H: afez _ As far as I am concerned, I must either go on producing these hard translations, or produce none at all. I can only hope that readers will be willing to make the necessary
    [Show full text]
  • UC Riverside UCR Honors Capstones 2019-2020
    UC Riverside UCR Honors Capstones 2019-2020 Title Concepts of Just Rule in Medieval Islamicate Texts: The Shahnameh, The Siyasatnama, and The Muqaddimah Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5mf6c478 Author Ismail, Evan Publication Date 2021-01-11 Data Availability The data associated with this publication are within the manuscript. eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California By A capstone project submitted for Graduation with University Honors University Honors University of California, Riverside APPROVED _______________________________________________ Dr. Department of _______________________________________________ Dr. Richard Cardullo, Howard H Hays Jr. Chair, University Honors Abstract Acknowledgements Dr. Fariba Zarinebaf’s mentorship has been vital in the completion of this project. I learned about the concepts of just rule in HIST 121 Middle Eastern History: 1200-1800 during fall quarter of 2018. I remember being fascinated by how this concept could hold empires together. I have taken three other courses with Dr. Zarinebaf (HIST 122, 128, 197) from Iranian film and literature to urban studies of Middle Eastern cities. Dr. Zarinebaf provided an abundance of feedback on my drafts, both in class and in office hours, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to her. My grandmother Mary (1933-2015) always provided me the resources and strength to accomplish any task I set my mind to. Though she didn’t live to see the completion of this project, this work is as much hers as it is mine. My parents, Ahmud and Debra, supplied their unconditional love and support throughout my time researching and writing this project. My brother Joseph drove 100 miles to visit me and treat me to lunch when I needed it the most.
    [Show full text]
  • Suggested Reading
    READING GUIDE Iran Here is a brief selection of favorite, new and hard-to-find books, prepared for your journey. Essential Reading Package Helen Loveday Odyssey Guide Iran Hooman Majd IRN20 | 2016 | 464 pages | PAPER The Ayatollah Begs to Differ Strong on Iran's many archaeological sites, this IRN67 | 2009 | 272 pages | PAPER illustrated, authoritative guide includes chapters on Islamic art and architecture, history and religion. An American journalist (who translated for Ahmadinejad at the UN), grandson of an eminent $24.95 ayatollah and the son of an Iranian diplomat, Majd introduces Persian culture and modern Iran Louisa Shafia with insight and depth. The New Persian Kitchen $16.00 ARB187 | 2013 | 208 pages | HARD COVER Acclaimed chef and blogger Louisa Shafia explores Abrahamian Ervand her Iranian heritage by reimagining classic Persian recipes from a fresh, vegetable-focused perspective. A History of Modern Iran IRN65 | 2008 | 264 pages | PAPER Her vibrant recipes feature ingredients like rose petals, dried limes, tamarind and sumac, in surpri A well-written, reliable account of 20th-century Iranian history which traces the collapse of the Shah’s regime $24.99 and the formation of the Islamic Republic. Yasmin Khan $30.99 The Saffron Tales, Recipes from the Persian Kitchen Stuart Williams Culture Smart! Iran IRN139 | 2016 | 240 pages | HARD COVER Interweaving stories and recipes from all corners of IRN64 | 2016 | 168 pages | PAPER Iran, British-Iranian cook Yasmin Khan shares A concise, well-illustrated and practical guide to exceptionally delicious recipes from the ordinary local customs, etiquette and culture. Iranian kitchen, including Fesenjoon (chicken with walnuts and pomegranates), Tahcheen (baked $11.99 saffron and aubergine rice) and some mouth-watering desserts.
    [Show full text]
  • Hard Translation: Persian Poetry and Post-National Literary Form,” Forum for Modern Language Studies
    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322901005 “Hard Translation: Persian Poetry and Post-National Literary Form,” Forum for Modern Language Studies Article in Forum for Modern Language Studies · April 2018 DOI: 10.1093/fmls/cqx039 CITATIONS READS 4 200 1 author: Rebecca Ruth Gould University of Birmingham 232 PUBLICATIONS 194 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Islamic Concepts of Freedom View project Academic Freedom & the Palestine Exception View project All content following this page was uploaded by Rebecca Ruth Gould on 04 March 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Forum for Modern Language Studies Vol. 00,No.0,doi:10.1093/fmls/cqx039 HARD TRANSLATION: PERSIAN POETRY AND POST-NATIONAL LITERARY FORM REBECCA RUTH GOULD ABSTRACT This essay examines how translation theory can further globalize contemporary literary comparison. Whereas Persian studies has historically been isolated from the latest developments within literary theory, world literature has similarly been isolated from the latest developments within the study of non-European litera- tures. I propose the methodology of hard translation as a means of addressing these lacunae. As it was understood and practised among Chinese and German translation theorists in the early decades of the twentieth century, hard translation is a method that incorporates translation in the form of exegesis, while preserving traces of the source language in the target language. Coined in 1929 by the Chinese critic, writer and translator Lu Xun amid the ferment stimulated by the May Fourth movement, hard translation (yingyi) is here considered alongside Walter Benjamin’s cognate and nearly contemporaneous arguments for transla- tion in a context of linguistic incommensurability.
    [Show full text]
  • Dick Davis ___On Not Translating Hafez
    davis2004 Source: http://cat.middlebury.edu/~nereview/25-1-2/Davis.html (downloaded Apr. 2015) From the New England Review, 25,1-2 (2004), Translation Double Issue Dick Davis _____ On Not Translating Hafez A couple of years ago I was asked by a publisher if I would be interested in producing a volume of verse translations of the poems of Hafez. I was very pleased to be asked, since Hafez (he flourished in the mid-fourteenth century) is pretty universally regarded as the greatest of Persian lyric poets, and to produce versions of his poems seemed a serious challenge worthy of serious effort. I began trying my hand at a few, but rewrite and start over as I might, I consistently came up with generally disappointing results. All the problems I had encountered when trying to translate other medieval Persian poets seemed compounded, and then, as it were, distilled and essentialized, in trying to translate Hafez’s ghazals, and my frustration set me to thinking about just what those problems are. This essay is a result of those ruminations. Two kinds of problems for the translator of a literary text are well-recognized, and these we may call, for convenience’s sake: first, the linguistic and second, the cultural; naturally, the two often overlap. The linguistic problem is the easiest to formulate. We know that exact synonyms do not exist between languages; idioms are even more challenging to the translator and a literal word-for-word translation will often convey virtually nothing of the originally intended meaning. Persian, for example, has some extremely inventive—one might almost call them Gongoristic—ways of cursing or threatening people, and a literal translation will convey very little of their intended force.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Reflections Further Resources
    Literary Reflections Further Resources Recommended by Leila Golestaneh Austin FICTION Amin Maalouf, Samarkand (Interlink Publishing Group, 1998) This work of historical fiction weaves a suspenseful tale of the search for the lost manuscript of Omar Khayyam’s Rubayyat, an 11th-century selection of poems attributed to the Persian mystic poet, astronomer, and mathematician. In the process, the book takes the reader on a journey back in time to ancient Persia (which includes present- day Central Asia) at the height of the classical Islamic civilization, which was known for its science, philosophy, technology, and literature, yet was not immune to political and religious intrigue. Maalouf uses history as a backdrop for the universal tale of political struggles juxtaposed with the ever-present desire for social justice and a happy life. In so doing, he weaves the main plot of the tale through hundreds of years up to the twentieth century, showing the reader that humankind’s search for justice and personal fulfillment remains constant throughout history, even as the context changes. Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red (Vintage, 2002) The Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk brings together the notions of Islam, beauty, and cultural and religious conflict in a murder mystery that is set around a workshop of miniaturist painters in sixteenth-century Istanbul. Writing before 9/11, Pamuk captures a historical moment of globalization illustrating the initial decline of the Ottoman Empire through the cultural shift precipitated by the rise of the Venetian art of portraiture, with its underlying theme of individuality, which eclipsed the more labor-intensive and decorative (and traditional) art of miniature painting.
    [Show full text]