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The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Rachel Martin Cole.
Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 34 (2008), nr. 2, p. 40-41, 93.

Edward FitzGerald’s English translation of The Rubaiyat, a twelfth-century book of Persian poetry, sparked a sensation among nineteenth-century publishers and readers. His work, entitled The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, possesses a dream like quality, rich imagery, and appealing beauty that are attested to by the publication of hundreds of editions between 1859 and the present. From his first translation of the Rubaiyat to his death in 1883, FitzGerald completed five versions of the text. The Persian original comprised a collection of over one thousand quatrains, and FitzGerald felt free to transform the work in his own way, rearranging the verses and taking liberties with language. The result was a product that was less a reflection of its medieval Persian origins than the tastes of its nineteenth-century American audiences.

Appendix: two early reviews of the Rubaiyat

Appendix: two early reviews of the Rubaiyat.
Victorian Poetry, 46 (2008), nr 1, p. 105-125.

For many years it was thought that the earliest criticism of the Rubaiyat to appear in print was a review of the second edition, published in the North American Review in 1869, by Charles Eliot Norton. In 1960, however, an earlier review, dating from just six months after the publication of the first edition, was rediscovered in The Literary Gazette, a London weekly. (See Michael Wolff, “The Rubaiyat’s Neglected Reviewer: A Centennial Recovery,” VN 17 (1960): 4-6.)

Selected bibliography of FitzGerald criticism, 1959-2008

Selected bibliography of FitzGerald criticism, 1959-2008.
Victorian Poetry, 46 (2008), nr 1, p. 15-17.

The list includes the major critical contributions of the last fifty years. It does not include notes or short articles, nor the many editions of FitzGerald’s work, several of which contain very useful critical introductions.

The benefits of reading the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as pastoral

The benefits of reading the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as pastoral. Giuseppe Albano.
Victorian Poetry, 46 (2008), nr 1, p. 55-67.

On the publication of J. B. Nicolas’ French translations of Omar Khayyam –collected in book form as Les quatrains de Kheyam in 1867, having initially appeared in the Revue de l’Orient, de l’Algerie et des Colonies four years earlier–Edward FitzGerald was provoked into a caustic disagreement with its translator. The Frenchman held that Omar’s testaments to the benefits of drinking wine should not be taken literally, but should be seen in Sufi terms as representing an enlightened state of being.

Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat – an Antidote for Islamic Fundamentalism

Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat – an Antidote for Islamic Fundamentalism. N. Berdichevsky.
New English Review, (2007) November.

Omar Khayyam (1044-1123) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and mystic. His reputation was for a time highly regarded in Iran under the regime of the last Shah but by and large he has been held either in ignominy, contempt, total disregard or intentional oblivion by almost the entire Muslim world, and especially the Arab countries and his native Iran, ruled today by the clique of fanatical mullahs who represent the very targets of bigotry, asceticism and ignorance his verses derided in The Rubaiyat.

Strategies of appropriation: Khayyam and Rumi

Strategies of appropriation: Khayyam and Rumi. F. Farahzad.
In: Translation Studies 4 (2006), pp. 44-52.

This paper attempts to explore the issue of representation by focusing on two major translations of Persian poetry and literature, one produced in mid 19th century and the other produced in late 20th century.

Orientalist and liberating discourses of East-West difference – Revisiting Edward Said and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Orientalist and liberating discourses of East-West difference – Revisiting Edward Said and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Mohammad Tamdgidi.
The Discourse of sociological practice 7 (2005), nrs. 1&2 (Spring/Fall), p. 187-201.

The article focuses on the text of Professor Edward Said with regards to the use of East-West difference. The author presents an argument that distinguishes the literary and political rhetoric of Said and the substantive point he made with regards to East-West difference and orientalism. According to the view of Said, human history is a history of constant reciprocity and exchange of ideas and influences across cultures and traditions.