Download or read book A Two Colored Brocade written by Annemarie Schimmel and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2004-12 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry
Download or read book A Two Colored Brocade written by Annemarie Schimmel and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 559 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annemarie Schimmel, one of the world's foremost authorities on Persian literature, provides a comprehensive introduction to the complicated and highly sophisticated system of rhetoric and imagery used by the poets of Iran, Ottoman Turkey, and Muslim India. She shows that these images have been used and refined over the centuries and reflect the changing conditions in the Muslim world. According to Schimmel, Persian poetry does not aim to be spontaneous in spirit or highly personal in form. Instead it is rooted in conventions and rules of prosody, rhymes, and verbal instrumentation. Ideally, every verse should be like a precious stone--perfectly formed and multifaceted--and convey the dynamic relationship between everyday reality and the transcendental. Persian poetry, Schimmel explains, is more similar to medieval European verse than Western poetry as it has been written since the Romantic period. The characteristic verse form is the ghazal--a set of rhyming couplets--which serves as a vehicle for shrouding in conventional tropes the poet's real intentions. Because Persian poetry is neither narrative nor dramatic in its overall form, its strength lies in an "architectonic" design; each precisely expressed image is carefully fitted into a pattern of linked figures of speech. Schimmel shows that at its heart Persian poetry transforms the world into a web of symbols embedded in Islamic culture.
Download or read book Autumn Brocade written by Teru Miyamoto and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterpiece of simplicity and beauty,Kinshuis an epistolary novel by one of Japan's most popular literary authors. Life, death, karma-these interwoven themes form the heart of Teru Miyamoto's lyrical novel in letters,Kinshu: Autumn Brocade, the first work to be published in the U.S. by this internationally acclaimed author. The word kinshu has many connotations-brocade, poetic writing, the brilliance of autumn leaves-and here resonates as a vibrant metaphor for the complex, intimate relationship between Aki and Yasuaki, a divorced and long-estranged couple. Ten years after their divorce, they meet by chance at a mountain resort. In a flood of emotions and memories, Aki initiates a new correspondence, and letter by letter through the seasons, the secrets of their past unfold as they reflect on their present struggles. From a lover's suicide to a father's controlling demands, the story moves seamlessly through their deeply introspective exchanges. What begins as a series of accusations and apologies, questions and excuses, turns into a source of mutual support and healing.
Download or read book And Muhammad Is His Messenger written by Annemarie Schimmel and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014-06-30 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The important role of the Prophet Muhammad in the everyday lives of Muslims is usually overlooked by Western scholars and has consequently never been understood by the Western world. Using original sources in the various Islamic languages, Annemarie Schimmel explains the central place of Muhammad in Muslim life, mystical thought, and poetry. She sees the veneration of Muhammad as having many parallels in other major religions. In order to understand Muslim piety it is necessary to take into account the long history of the veneration of Muhammad. Schimmel discusses aspects of his life, birth, marriage, miracles, and heavenly journey, all of which became subjects for religious devotions. By using poetic texts and artistic expressions and by examining daily Muslim religious practices, Schimmel shows us the gentler side of Islamic religious culture, providing a much-needed understanding of religion as it is experienced and practiced in the Islamic world. This is the first book in English to deal with all aspects of the veneration of the Prophet Muhammad. It is an expanded version of Schimmel's Und Muhammad Ist Sein Prophet, originally published in German in 1981.
Download or read book Hidden in Plain Sight written by Eliza Tasbihi and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2024-12-02 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is an examination of the apocryphal text known as Book Seven of the Mathnawī, attributed to Rūmī, which has never before been studied. Why was this text was added to Rūmī’s Mathnawī? What were its implications in the Mevlevī centers in 17th-century Ottoman society or in Persian speaking societies in India and Iran? The author has located and analyzed different manuscript versions of the text, discusses possible authors and motives behind its composition: Was Book Seven added on the Indian subcontinent or in the Ottoman Empire? One important aspect of the text being interpreted as Book Seven was a great anxiety over whether Rūmī's Mathnawī had been incomplete, an assumption made by Rūmī's own son Sulṭān Valad as well as by Sufis in India and the Ottoman lands. In addition to a literary examination of Book Seven of Rūmī’s Mathnawī, the study also sheds light on religio-political conflicts between various social groups in Ottoman society in which this text played a major role. By examining İsmāʿīl Anqaravī’s (d.1631) introduction on his commentary, which presents a detailed account of his debate with Mevlevī and Khalvetī Sufis and shaykhs, I argue that Anqaravī claimed authority as the ultimate commentator and Mathnawī-reciter among the Mevlevī Sufis, a claim that was bolstered by his closeness to Sultan Murad IV (d. 1049/1640).
Download or read book Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires written by Charles Melville and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-02-25 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw the establishment of the new Safavid regime in Iran. Along with reuniting the Persian lands under one rule, the Safavids initiated the radical transformation of the religious landscape by introducing Imami Shi'ism as the official state faith and in this as in other ways, laying the foundations of Iran's modern identity. In this book, leading scholars of Iranian history, culture and politics examine the meaning of the idea of Iran in the Safavid period by examining contemporary experiences of both insiders and outsiders, asking how modern scholarship defines the distinctive features of the age. While sometimes viewed as a period of decline from the high points of classical Persian literature and the visual arts of preceding centuries, the chapters of this book demonstrate that the Safavid era was nevertheless a period of great literary and artistic activity in the realms of both secular and theological endeavour. With the establishment of comparable polities across western, southern and central Asia at broadly the same time, the book explores some of the literary and political interactions with Iran's Ottoman, Mughal and Uzbek neighbours. As the volume and frequency of European merchants and diplomats visiting Safavid Persia increased, especially in the seventeenth century, and as more Iranians recorded their own travel experiences to surrounding Muslim lands, the Safavid period is the first in which we can document and explore the contours of Iran's place in an expanding world, and gain insights into how Iranians saw themselves and others saw them.
Download or read book Martyrdom Mysticism and Dissent written by Asghar Seyed-Gohrab and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-08-23 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first extensive research on the role of poetry during the Iranian Revolution (1979) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). How can poetry, especially peaceful medieval Sufi poems, be applied to exalt violence, to present death as martyrdom, and to process war traumas? Examining poetry by both Islamic revolutionary and established dissident poets, it demonstrates how poetry spurs people to action, even leading them to sacrifice their lives. The book's originality lies in fresh analyses of how themes such as martyrdom and violence, and mystical themes such as love and wine, are integrated in a vehemently political context, while showing how Shiite ritual such as the pilgrimage to Mecca clash with Saudi Wahhabi appreciations. A distinguishing quality of the book is its examination of how martyrdom was instilled in the minds of Iranians through poetry, employing Sufi themes, motifs and doctrines to justify death. Such inculcation proved effective in mobilising people to the front, ready to sacrifice their lives. As such, the book is a must for readers interested in Iranian culture and history, in Sufi poetry, in martyrdom and war poetry. Those involved with Middle Eastern Studies, Iranian Studies, Literary Studies, Political Philosophy and Religious Studies will benefit from this book. "From his own memories and expert research, the author gives us a ravishing account of 'a poetry stained with blood, violence and death'. His brilliantly layered analysis of modern Persian poetry shows how it integrates political and religious ideology and motivational propaganda with age-old mystical themes for the most traumatic of times for Iran." (Alan Williams, Research Professor of Iranian Studies, University of Manchester) "When Asghar Seyed Gohrab, a highly prolific academician, publishes a new book, you can be certain he has paid attention to an exciting and largely unexplored subject. Martyrdom, Mysticism and Dissent: The Poetry of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) is no exception in the sense that he combines a few different cultural, religious, mystic, and political aspects of Iranian life to present a vivid picture and thorough analysis of the development and effect of what became known as the revolutionary poetry of the late 1970s and early 1980s. This time, he has even enriched his narrative by inserting his voice into his analysis. It is a thoughtful book and a fantastic read." (Professor Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona)
Download or read book Metaphor and Imagery in Persian Poetry written by Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-10-14 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of essays on classical Persian literature, focusing on Persian rhetorical devices, especially imagery and metaphors. The various contributions discuss the origin and the development of debate poetry, the transmission of Persian and Arabic tales to the works of Europeans medieval authors such as Boccaccio and Chaucer, but also the development of Aristotelian poetics and epistemology in Persian philosophical tradition. Furthermore, the baroque style of the Shiʿite author Ḥusayn Vāʾiẓ Kāshifī, the use of wine metaphors by mystics such as Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Ḥāfiẓ’s original use of candle metaphors, the translation of Khayyām’s metaphors into English, and the importance of a single metaphor in the epic Barzū-nāma are discussed. Contributors include: F. Abdullaeva, G.R. van den Berg, J. Landau, F.D. Lewis, N. Pourjavady, Ch. van Ruymbeke, A. Sedighi and S. Sharma
Download or read book General Introduction to Persian Literature written by J.T.P. Bruijn and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2008-10-31 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Persian literature is the jewel in the crown of Persian culture. It has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India and Turkic Central Asia and been a source of inspiration for Goethe, Emerson, Matthew Arnold and Jorge Luis Borges among others. Yet Persian literature has never received the attention it truly deserves."A History of Persian Literature" answers this need and offers a new, comprehensive and detailed history of its subject. This 18-volume, authoritative survey reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian experience. It includes extensive, revealing examples with contributions by prominent scholars who bring a fresh critical approach to bear on this important topic.The first volume offers an indispensable entree to Persian literature's long and rich history, examining themes and subjects that are common to many fields of Persian literary study. This invaluable introduction to the subject heralds a definitive and ground-breaking new series.
Download or read book Structure and Meaning in Medieval Arabic and Persian Lyric Poetry written by Julie Meisami and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive and comparative study of compositional and stylistic techniques in medieval Arabic and Persian lyric poetry. Ranging over some seven countries, it deals with works by over thirty poets in the Islamic world from Spain to present-day Afghanistan, and examines how this rich poetic traditions exhibits both continuity and development in the use of a wide variety of compositional strategies. Discussing such topics as principles of structural organisation, the use of rhetorical figures, metaphor and images, and providing detailed analyses of a large number of poetic texts, it shows how structural and semantic features interacted to bring coherence and meaning to the individual poem. It also examines works by the indigenous critics of poetry in both Arabic and Persian, and demonstrates the critics' awareness of, and interest in, the techniques which poets employed to construct poems which were both eloquent and meaningful. Comparisons are also made with classical and medieval poetics in the west. The book will be of interest not merely to specialists in the relevant fields, but also to all those interested in pre-modern poetry and poetics.
Download or read book Emerson in Iran written by Roger Sedarat and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emerson in Iran is the first full-length study of Persian influence in the work of the seminal American poet, philosopher, and translator, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Extending the current trend in transnational studies back to the figural origins of both the United States and Iran, Roger Sedarat's insightful comparative readings of Platonism and Sufi mysticism reveal how Emerson managed to reconcile through verse two countries so seemingly different in religion and philosophy. By tracking various rhetorical strategies through a close interrogation of Emerson's own writings on language and literary appropriation, Sedarat exposes the development of a latent but considerable translation theory in the American literary tradition. He further shows how generative Persian poetry becomes during Emerson's nineteenth century, and how such formative effects continue to influence contemporary American poetry and verse translation.
Download or read book A Companion to the History of the Middle East written by Youssef M. Choueiri and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to the History of the Middle East offers a fresh account of the multifaceted and multi-layered history of this region. A fresh account of the multifaceted and multi-layered history of the Middle East Comprises 26 newly-commissioned essays by leading international scholars Primarily focused on the modern and contemporary periods Covers religious, social, cultural, economic, political and military history Treats the region as four differentiated political units – Iran, Turkey, Israel and the Arab world Includes a section on current issues, such as oil, urban growth, the role of women, and democratic human rights
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation written by Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-07-08 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation offers a detailed overview of the field of Persian literature in translation, discusses the development of the field, gives critical expression to research on Persian literature in translation, and brings together cutting-edge theoretical and practical research. The book is divided into the following three parts: (I) Translation of Classical Persian Literature, (II) Translation of Modern Persian Literature, and (III) Persian Literary Translation in Practice. The chapters of the book are authored by internationally renowned scholars in the field, and the volume is an essential reference for scholars and their advanced students as well as for those researching in related areas and for independent translators of Persian literature.
Download or read book Print Areas written by Swapan Chakravorty and published by Orient Blackswan. This book was released on 2004 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Pioneering Attempt To Bring Together The Work Of Leading Contemporary Academics In Relation To The Book In India Is A Much Welcome Effort.
Download or read book The Oral Epic written by Karl Reichl and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-26 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the performance of oral epics and explores the significance of performance features for the interpretation of epic poetry. The leading question of the book is how the socio-cultural context of performance and the various performance elements contribute to the meaning of oral epics. This is a question which not only concerns epics collected from living oral tradition, but which is also of importance for the understanding of the epics of antiquity and the Middle Ages which originated and flourished in an oral milieu. The book is based on fieldwork in the still vibrant oral traditions of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Siberia. The discussion combines fieldwork with theory; it is not limited to Turkic epics but branches out into other oral traditions.
Download or read book Madhumalati written by Manjhan and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2001-02-01 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mystical romance Madhumalati tells the story of a prince, Manohar, and his love for the beautiful princess Madhumalati. When they are separated they have to endure suffering, adventure, and transformation before they can be reunited and experience true happiness. A delightful love story, the poem is also rich in mystical symbolism and the story of the two lovers represents the stages on the spiritual path to enlightenment. Madhumalati was written in the sixteenth century and it is an outstanding example of Sufi literature in the Indian Islamic tradition. Originally written in a dialect of Eastern Hindi it is here translated for the first time into English verse, with an introduction and notes that explain the poem's religious significance.
Download or read book Pregnant Darkness written by Monika Wikman and published by Nicolas-Hays, Inc.. This book was released on 2005-01-28 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author, psychologist, and astrologer Monika Wikman has worked for decades with clients and their dream symbols and witnessed the presence of the divine hand at work in the psyche. In The Pregnant Darkness, Wikman shows readers that the best way to cope with their darkest hours is by fostering a connection to the deeper current of life, those mysteries that give life form and meaning. Wikman's analysis of dream material leads readers into a practical explanation of alchemical symbolism. Far from being a quaint, ancient practice, The Pregnant Darkness shows that alchemy is at work in contemporary, everyday life. Alchemical symbolism, properly understood, can be applied to unraveling the meaning of visions in meditation, active imagination, and dream work. Wikman shows how readers can participate in the divine energies to help miraculous changes occur in their lives. Wikman writes: "In Greek mythology, Pegasus, upon taking to the air, pushed hard with a back hoof and penetrated the earth. A spring rose up where his hoof dashed the earth, and in this hole . . . the muses reside. One of the roles of the "religious function" of which Jung speaks is to bring us toward that inner spring of the muses where something beyond ego resides, instructs, and inspires. Like a hole created from Pegasus' leaping foot, contact with this inner spring often entails a crack in our field of ordinary consciousness. In the inner world, the spring of living symbols and accompanying presences is the source of dreams and visions, as well as the fountain of inspiration at the heart of poetry, art, ritual, mythology, and even religion."
