Salavati 1 The Intercultural Relationship between Persian and English Literature: A Translational Perspective (With Emphasis on the Role of Sir William Jones) Dipartimento di Studi Europi, Americani e Interculturali Dottorato in Scienze del Testo Curriculum di Letterature in Lingua Inglese Candidata Parastoo Salavati Supervisore Prof. Giorgio Mariani 26 Febbraio 2020 Salavati 2 Abstract This PhD dissertation scrutinizes some of Edward Said's notions concerning Western imperialism and colonialism as the hidden targets of Orientalism, presented in his celebrated book, Orientalism. It also demonstrates that Said's political ideas have prevented him from conceiving the literary and cultural bonds which were created between the Orient and the Occident via the endeavors of the Orientalists. In a historical context, this study explores the influence of Persian literature on the development of English poetry particularly during the Romantic Period. It also designates that German Romanticism and American Transcendentalism were inspired by Oriental literature and philosophy, conveyed to them through the translated works. Accordingly, the significance of translation in transmitting literature and culture between nations is examined. Focusing on Sir William Jones as the counterexample of Said's prototype of Orientalists, the study investigates the influence of Jones' translations on European literary works during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in England. This dissertation concludes that literature is man's universal and immortal legacy which is improbable to be colonized, contrary to Said' hypothesis. It also proves that some Orientalists devoted their life to transfer the literature and culture of the Oriental lands to the world, not to dominate them, but based on love and enthusiasm. Salavati 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgement 5 Preface 7 1. Orient and Orientalism 1.1. Background 10 1.2. Edward Said and His Orientalism 13 1.3. The Limits of Said's Orientalism 24 1. 3.1. Persia, the Lost Piece in Edward Said's Orientalism (Up to the 18th Century) 30 1.4. Orientalism Today 51 2. Sir William Jones, Persia’s Bridge to the West 2. 1. Background 56 2. 2. Biographical Facts 58 2. 3. A Grammar of the Persian Language 65 2. 3. 1. Linguistic and literary Complications in Translating Poetry 72 2. 3. 2. Cultural Complications in Translating Poetry 87 2. 4. "The Persian Song" of Hafiz; A Review According to the Theories 96 of Translation 3. Romantic Oriental Renaissance 3.1. The Footprints of Jones on Romantic Poetry 117 3.1.1. William Blake (1757–1827) 123 3. 1. 2. William Wordsworth (1770–1850) 127 3. 1. 3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 –1834) 132 Salavati 4 3. 1. 4. George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788 –1824) 140 3. 1. 5. Thomas Moore (1779 –1852) 154 3. 1. 6. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) 161 3. 1. 7. John Keats (1795 –1821) 176 3. 2. The Translations of Hafiz after Sir William Jones 181 4. Victorian Concept of the Orient 4.1. Oriental Influences in the English Poetry of the Victorian Era 192 4.1.1. Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 –1892) 196 4.1.2. Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) 206 4.1.3. Edward FitzGerald (1809–1883) 219 4.2. Translations of Hafiz in the Nineteenth Century 234 5. Sir William Jones, the Transatlantic 5-1- American Transcendentalism (Thoreau and Whitman) 248 5-2-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 –1882) 277 Conclusion 306 Bibliography 312 Salavati 5 Acknowledgement My Ph.D. career was like a bildungsroman, a journey toward maturity, replete with numerous adventures. I entered the Eternal City, which I loved all my life (and I still do), to begin a new stage, to see more comprehensively and to grow intellectually. Throughout this expedition I was privileged enough to experience new accomplishments and challenges and to be acquainted with influential people who helped me traverse the untrodden paths, and filled my mind with the most splendid memories. My deepest and sincerest appreciations are attributed to my admired supervisor, Professor Giorgio Mariani, on whose personality words are too feeble to construct an adjective. He not only satiates the students and researchers academically with his interminable springs of immense knowledge, but also, like a sturdy mountain, protects them mentally. His willingness to give his time to his students so generously is very much valued. Having the honor of being his student, I am indebted to him every single step I have taken during the period of my study at Sapienza University and throughout writing this research project. I thank him wholeheartedly for his perpetual supports, patient supervisions, enthusiastic encouragements, very useful comments, and the treasured lessons he taught me as a responsible human and a motivated teacher. Moreover, I will not forget to pronounce my deep gratefulness to the esteemed members of the committee including Professors Vincenzo Bavaro, Elisabetta Marino, Cinzia Schiavini, Rossana Sebellin and Sabrina Vellucci for their time and patience and for their perceptive and precious comments on this research. I also would like to express my gratitude to the other professors that trained and accompanied me during the program, accurately selected by Professor Mariani. My special thanks go for Professors Nina Silber, Djalal Kadir, Virginia Dominguez, Jane Desmond, Gordon Hutner, Patricia Schroeder and others who provided me with Salavati 6 invaluable learning opportunities and left unforgettable footprints on my memory. Likewise, I am very grateful to Dr. Rizzolo who has gone along with us during the doctorate program. Additionally, I do appreciate my classmates who have honored me with their friendship and helped me to overcome the unexpected situations by their consultations and helps. Finally, I cannot but be wholeheartedly thankful to my family who supported me throughout the entire path and lit the darkest moments with their infinite love, support, understanding, and confidence in my potentials. I dedicate the work to the great blessings in my life, my parents, who have given me the wings to fly, my husband, who has always been the source of boundless love and care, and my little daughter, who has been the origin of my stamina by her patience and pure affections. Salavati 7 Preface In spite of the significance of Edward Said's Orientalism, some notions in his work, concerning imperialism and colonialism can be questioned on a close inspection. In his book Said considers Orientalism as "a rationalization of colonial rule,"1 an obscure field with political intentions through which Europeans could dominate Oriental lands. This study, in five sections, is expected to reveal the process of English knowledge about the Oriental literature, exclusively Persian literature, through translation by eminent Orientalists such as Sir William Jones whose enthusiasm for the literature and culture of the Oriental lands calls Said's claim into question. Accordingly, it will demonstrate that the Orientalists were not all the representatives of Colonialism; rather, some of them were the agents upon whom a bridge was made between the cultures and nations. The first chapter deals with Orientalism, and Edward Said's conception on it. It concisely reviews Said's main concerns in Orientalism, then discusses the limitations of his hypotheses, which consist of his neglecting a significant part of the Orient, Persia, and considering the Orientalists in search of domination over the East with colonial perceptions. In order to illustrate the limits of Said's Orientalism and the significant role of the Oriental literature, in the development of English literature, this study reconsiders the historical events. It elucidates the initial images of Persia depicted by Herodotus and other historians, the travelers' accounts, and English literary works from medieval period to the eighteenth century, the age of emerging Orientalism and the presence of English Orientalists in India. The second chapter commences with a short history of Persian studies in the West to discern Sir William Jones as the initial point of eighteenth-century Oriental studies in England who had an effective role in translating and introducing Persian 1 Edward Said's Orientalism, p. 39. Salavati 8 Literature to the English readers. After a biography, his Grammar of the Persian Language, as one of his distinguished works in teaching Persian Grammar is discussed. Also, some extracts from this book and his famous translation of one of Hafiz's ghazals, is analyzed based on the theories of translation accompanied by references to linguistic, literary and cultural complications which Jones faced in translating Persian poetry. The third chapter is an overview of the ways in which Oriental literature in general and Persian literature in particular affected a considerable part of English Romantic literature through Sir William Jones' essays and translations and other Oriental literary works such as The Arabian Nights. It considers some specimens from the works of the principal authors of the period, from William Blake to John Keats, to find traces of Oriental literature and philosophy in their works. The implication of Oriental images, themes, and settings is argued in different literary works of the period and the way the authors were inspired by them. The chapter ends with different translations of Hafiz after Sir William Jones and the vision of the Orient at the culminating years of the eighteenth century. The fourth chapter focuses on the Victorian conception of the Orient. It discusses the influence of the Oriental literature on the Victorian poets in England comprising Alfred Lord Tennyson, Mathew Arnold and Edward FitzGerald and shows that Jones' translations were stimulating in developing the poetic career of the mentioned authors. Gertrude Bell's translations of Hafiz will be commented in the final part of the chapter. The importance of Oriental literature and religion in the development of the nineteenth century American Transcendentalism is argued in the last chapter. The Oriental Renaissance, which was initiated in England by Jones and other Orientalists, influenced German Romanticism, and American Transcendentalism reflected in the works of the authors such as Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson.