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The Protean precursor: Browning and Edward Fitzgerald

The Protean precursor: Browning and Edward Fitzgerald. J. Woolford.
Victorian Literature and Culture 24 (1996), p. 313-332.

Woolford analyzes Robert Browning’s varying attitude towards FitzGerald, as reflected in “Rabbi ben Ezra” and “To Edward FitzGerald,” and argues that FitzGerald, though a contemporary, at times figured for Browning as a Bloomian precursor.

Variants in Khayyamic Poetry

Variants in Khayyamic Poetry. Ralph Groves.
Islamic culture 69 (1995), nr. 3, p. 47-64.

This study will examine some of the variants found in Khayyamic poetry. After a brief introduction to Omar Khayyam, some variants in Khayyamic poetry will be presented to the reader. A hypothesis as to the causes of variations will be put forth and then criteria will be suggested to the reader for choosing the variant roba’i most loyal to Khayyam’s style.

Eine Welt in Worten : die Quellen von J.H. Leopold

Eine Welt in Worten : die Quellen von J.H. Leopold. H.T.M. van Vliet.
Editio : internationales Jahrbuch für Editionswissenschaft 11 (1997), p. 116-128.

Buchstäblich alles konnte Leopold für seine Arbeit verwenden, und er hat es auch verwandt: an erster Stelle natürlich Texte, sowohl literarische als auch nichtliterarische, variierend vom Zeitungsausschnitt bis zum Roman, vom Gedicht bis zum Zeitschriftenartikel, vom Reisebericht bis zur philosophischen Abhandlung, ja, selbst bis hin zu Briefen, die er erhielt. Unterschiedliche Typen von Äußerungen anderer wurden in Leopolds sprachliches Universum aufgenommen und fanden wie von selbst ihren Platz in einem der vielen Dossiers mit Gedichten in statu nascendi.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Jeremy Parrott.
Book and Magazine Collector (1997) nr. 163 p. 40-52.

Edward FitzGerald’s famous translation of the poem has been issued in many collectable editions

Bibliografie

Bibliografie. J. Coumans.
Boekenwereld 13 (1997) nr. 3 (mrt.), p. 130-144

Annotated list of Dutch translations

The Epicurean Humanism of Omar Khayyam

The Epicurean Humanism of Omar Khayyam. Pat Duffy Hutcheon.
Humanist in Canada, 1998 (Spring), p. 22-25, 29.

Summary

The man who was to keep the torch of scientific humanism alight within early Islamic civilization was born a thousand years after the death of Lucretius, and into a vastly different cultural setting. Nevertheless, in all that Omar Khayyam wrote one can clearly recognize the influence of the great Roman poet, and of the naturalistic Epicureanism that he celebrated. This is doubly remarkable when we recall that, during the centuries between Lucretius and Khayyam, a Dark Age had engulfed and stifled Western Europe. The spread of a mystical form of religion throughout the remnants of the Roman empire, combined with the influence of the Germanic tribes, had gradually produced what amounted to a reversion to barbarism. Gullibility and ignorance pervaded life at all levels, while economic activity declined to primitive levels of barter. An attitude of contempt for earthly existence and bodily pleasures had become the norm, along with belief in all manner of superstition and magic.