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With friends possessed – a life of Edward FitzGerald

With friends possessed – a life of Edward FitzGerald. Robert Bernard Martin. London, Faber and Faber, 1985. 313 p. ISBN: 0571134629.

Summary:

Biography of Edward FitzGerald, describing him as an attractive, brilliant, eccentric, irrepressibly humorous, loving and deeply vulnerable person.

Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword
I Family and Childhood
II Cambridge
III Thackeray, Tennyson, and Browne
IV Mirehouse and Boulge Cottage
V Browne’s Marriage
VI Cowell and Barton
VII Euphranor
VIII Death of FitzGerald’s Parents
IX FitzGerald’s Marriage
X The Discovery of the Rubáiyát
XI Posh
XII Letters and Readers
XIII Settling Accounts
XIV Boulge Churchyard
Acknowledgements
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Omar Khayam: messager de l’Iran universel

Omar Khayam: messager de l’Iran universel. Nabhani Koribaa. Paris, Publisud, 1988. 62 p. ISBN: 9782866003432

Summary:
La vie mouvementée de ce génie iranien connu pour ses célèbres quatrains ou roubaïates. Il sut briser les entraves du fanatisme et apparaître comme le représentant de l’esprit libre.

The wine of wisdom. The life, poetry and philosophy of Omar Khayyam

The wine of wisdom. The life, poetry and philosophy of Omar Khayyam. Mehdi Aminrazavi. Oxford, Oneworld Publishing, 2005. 396 p. ISBN: 1-85168-355-0.

Summary:
The intoxicating message of Khayyam’s famous Ruba‘iyyat created an image of exotic Orientalism in the West but, as author Mehdi Aminrazavi reveals, Khayyam’s achievements went far beyond the intoxicating message within these verses. Philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and mystic – his many different identities are examined here in detail, creating a coherent picture of this complex and often misunderstood figure.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Khayyam’s life and works
2. Reconstructing a tarnished image: Omar Khayyam according to his contemporaries and biographers
3. Khayyam within the intellectual context of his time
4. The Ruba’iyyat
5. Khayyam and sufism
6. Khayyam’s philosophical thought
7. Khayyam the scientist
8. Khayyam in the west
Epilogue
Appendix A: Translations of the philosophical treatises
Appendix B: The Ruba’iyyat – Edward FitzGerald’s translation
Appendix C: Arabic poems of Omar Khayyam
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Omar Khayyam: Poet, Rebel, Astronomer

Omar Khayyam: Poet, Rebel, Astronomer. Hazhir Teimourian. Stroud, Sutton, 2007. xiv, 365 p. Illustrated. ISBN: 978-0750947152

Summary:
This book claims to be detailed study of Khayyám’s life and world. It tells how Khayyám was persecuted for his philosophical beliefs and rebellious poems, how the two rival worlds of Christianity and Islam slowly moved towards their most violent embrace. It also tells the story of the Rubaiyat and gives a new translation of fifty quatrains, including FitzGerald’s first version.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Prologue – Four True Graveside Stories
1. The Fire Temples of Nishápur (1048–67)
2. The Libraries of Samarkand (1068–72)
3. The Throne Room of Bukhara (1072–73)
4. The Palaces of Isfahan (1073–77)
5. The Boy Triumphs (1077–79)
6. The Vizier Regrets (1079–84)
7. The Shah Applauds (1085–89)
8. The Assassin Stalks (1090–92)
9. The Queen Turns (1092–93)
10. The Pilgrim of Babel (1093–94)
11. The Recluse of Nishápur (1094–1108)
12. The Sage of Khorásán (1108–31)
Epilogue – The Story of the Rubáiyát
Appendix I – The Rubáiyát: A New Translation
Appendix II – The FitzGerald Translation of 1859
Appendix III – Omar the Greek
Appendix IV – Khayyám’s Mathematics and Other Writings
Principal Characters
Family Tree of the Saljuq Royal House
Map of the Saljuq Empire at the Time of Malik-Shah’s death
Chronology
Notes
Selected bibliography
Index

The genuine face of Omar Khayyam

The genuine face of Omar Khayyam. Bahram Baghaie Naini. London, Parsees Arts, 2007. 264 p. ISBN: 9780955601804

Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword

CHAPTER 1
The Genuine Face of Omar Khayyam
The influence of Avicenna on Omar Khayyam
The character of Omar Khayyam
The authenticity of the Rubaiyat
The intractable problem with translating Persian poetry
Translating the Rubaiyat in Prose

CHAPTER 2
The Creation of the World, Existence and Religions

CHAPTER 3
The Followers of Omar Khayyam
The influence of Omar Khayyam onSaadi
The influence of Omar Khayyam on Hafez

CHAPTER 4
Omar Khayyam and Pottery

CHAPTER 5
The Creation of the World and God

CHAPTER 6
Freewill and Predestination
The influence of Omar Khayyam on Parvin Etesami

CHAPTER 7
The Puppet Show

CHAPTER 8
The Translations
Edward FitzGerald
A brief look at Edward FitzGerald’s Life

CHAPTER 9
Omar Khayyam & the philosophers and scientists of the world

CHAPTER 10
Optimist and Pessimist

CHAPTER 11
The Existence of Man and Nature

CHAPTER 12
The Effect and Outcome at the Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

A book of verse. The biography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

A book of verse. The biography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Garry Garrard. Stroud, Sutton, 2007. 270 p. Illustrated. Index
ISBN: 978-0-7509-4631-5 (Hardback)
ISBN: 978-0-7509-4632-2 (Paperback)

Summary:
A Book of Verse tells the story of how The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám has provided delight and fascination for centuries. It brings to life the evocative world of early Islamic Persia and the literary and artistic scene in England in the second half of the 19th century.

 

Contents

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
1. An innocent obsession
2. The mightiest empire
3. A curious infidel
4. A friend indeed
5. A couple of old sceptics
6. Credit where it is due
7. Friends reunited?
8. A life of its own
9. On the bandwagon
10. Every picture tells a story
11. And now for something completely different
Appendix: Illustrated and decorated editions of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.
List of artists
A note on sources
Notes
Select bibliography
Index

Nearer the heart’s desire. Poets of the Rubaiyat: a dual biography of Omar Khayyam and Edward FitzGerald

Nearer the heart’s desire. Poets of the Rubaiyat: a dual biography of Omar Khayyam and Edward FitzGerald. Robert D. Richardson. New York, Bloomsbury USA, 2016. x, 195 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781620406533

Summary:

“Weaving together the biographies of two poets separated by some eight-hundred years, Robert Richardson brings to life one of the most famous– and ancient works of poetry in all existence”–Front jacket flap