The Omar Khayyam Puzzle

The Omar Khayyam Puzzle. L.P. Elwell-Sutton.
Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 55 (1968) 2, pp. 167–179

A recent publication has stimulated interest once again in the Persian poet Omar Khayyam-though admittedly to the English speaking world he is already by far the best-known, and for many the only, figure in Persian literature. Yet in fact he is a rather shadowy, insubstantial person, largely ignored in his own land of Iran, and about whom surprisingly little is recorded in history. Much of what is related about him is purely legendary: for instance, the well-known story of his schooldays friendship with the vizier Nizam al-Mulk and Hasan Sabbah, founder of the sect of the Assassins-impossible on chronological grounds alone. Other legends have been ad added through the centuries, particularly by some of the Sufi sects in Iran and Afghanistan.

The real Omar Khayyam

The real Omar Khayyam. B. Csillik.
Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 10 (1960), p. 58-77.

Review of Arberry's edition of 1949.
This edition, as the Author-Editor himself tells us in his Introduction, had to fulfill the purpose of quickly presenting to the public, with a minimum of critical apparatus, the newly discovered facts in order to give share to others in the exciting work of further research. Beside the Introduction the book contains nothing but the printed text of the MS with the critical apparatus, the English versions and an alphabetical list of the quatrains. The Editor restored the dotted däl’s wherever the copyist omitted them by obvious inadvertency and — what the copyist did not even try to do — he distinguished the pä and gäf letters from the bä and käf letters. This peculiar employment of the däl, bä and käf letters speaks for the antiquity of the MS. The dots supplied by the Editor are not indicated, and this may be regretted in view of the potential hints which the presence or absence of the dots of the däl’s might have given to the student of phonology and linguistic history.

Houtsma and the story of the three school-fellows …

Houtsma and the story of the three school-fellows: Nizam al Mulk, Hasan B. Sabbah and ‘Umar Khayyam. S.Moinul Haq.
Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, 28 (1953) 4, pp. 229–234.

The story of the three schoolfriends is generally considered to be controversial. The author however argues that there are authentic sources to support the story.

Recherches sur les Rubá’iyát de ‘Omar Hayyám

Recherches sur les Rubá’iyát de ‘Omar Hayyám. Par Arthur Christensen. Heidelberg, Carl Winters Universität, 1905.

Contents:
Préface
Première partie. Histoire et critique
Deuxième partie. Caractère national et vie littéraire
Troisième partie. L’oeuvre intitulée “Rubá’iyát de ‘Omar Hayyám”
Appendice I. Concordance des principales éditions et de quelques manuscrits des Rubá’iyát de ‘Omar Hayyám
Appendice II. Additions
Corrections

Die Überlieferung der ‘Umar-i Hayyám zugeschriebenen Vierzeiler im 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert

Die Überlieferung der ‘Umar-i Hayyám zugeschriebenen Vierzeiler im 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert. Christian Rempis. In: Beiträge zur Hayyám-Forschung. Leipzig, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1937.

Included in “Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes”, Band XXII. Published by die Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1937.
Reprint by Klaus Reprint, Nendeln, 1966.

Contents:

1. Die ältesten Handschriften der Vierzeiler ‘Umar-i Hayyáms.
2. Die frühstbezeugten Sinnsprüche Hayyáms.
3. Der Reim als Scheidemerkmal zwischen alten und jungen Sprüchen in der Hayyám-Überlieferung.
4. Die “wandernden” Vierzeiler der Hayyám-Überlieferung.
5. Vergleichsliste der C-Handschriften.
6. Hauptvergleichsliste.

The nectar of grace. ‘Omar Khayyám’s life and works

The nectar of grace. ‘Omar Khayyám’s life and works by Swámí Govinda Tírtha (V.M. Datar). With foreword by Sir Akbar. Allahabad, Kitabistan, 1941.
Includes the Persian text of the Ruba’iyat with an English translation. Reissued in 2010 by Oxford City Press.

Contents:

Bibliography
History and notices regarding ‘Omar Khayyam
‘Omar Khayyam’s scientific and philosophic works
Manuscripts and editons of ‘Omar Khayyam’s Quatrains
Works of other Persian authors.

A comparative analysis of Edward Fitzgerald’s and Robert Graves’s translation of ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’

A comparative analysis of Edward Fitzgerald’s and Robert Graves’s translation of ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’. Bahram Meghdadi. Columbia University, 1969.

Summary:
Robert Graves’s publication of his own translation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat in November, 1967 triggered this study. Graves claims that Edward FitzGerald used spurious sources for his translation and that FitzGerald misinterpreted Khayyam’s basic philosophy.