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Dis-contenting Khayyam in the Context of Comparative Literature

Dis-contenting Khayyam in the Context of Comparative Literature. An Invitation to Translating Rubaiyat with a Focal Shift from Content to Form. Sajad Soleymani Yazdi
In: International journal of comparative literature and translation studies, 7 (2018) 1, p. 24-30

Abstract

Since its conception in France in 1877, Comparative Literature, always subject to a critique of Eurocentrism, has been in a state of perpetual crisis. In “The Old/New Question of Comparison in Literary Studies: A Post-European Perspective” (2004), Ray Chow argued for a Post-European perspective in which comparatists begin with the home culture and look outwards to the European cultures, contrary to the dominant approach of doing just otherwise. Missing in Chow’s argument is the position of translation in this post-European perspective. In the 14 years between 2004 and 2018, the grandiose claims of comparative literature have been problematized and addressed; the lay of the land, however, remains predominantly Eurocentric, as it still focuses on content disproportionately. In this paper, through a study of English translations of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, and taking Chow’s argument further, I argue that with its commitment to transfer the form of a text as much as the content, translation studies can further help comparative literature to distance itself from Europe. To exemplify the implication of this, I suggest that a translation of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat from Farsi to English would be more faithful to the original if its translations were to focus on the poem’s form rather than the content. I argue that translating with a focus on form would foreignize Khayyam’s poetry, hence an act of resistance against cultural hegemony.

The Afterlife of Edward FitzGerald s Poem

The Afterlife of Edward FitzGerald s Poem. A Comparative Study of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and Housman s A Shropshire Lad. Mostada Hosseini
In: Contemporary Literary and Cultural Studies , (2018) 1, p. 19-34

Abstract

The present paper seeks to address and examine Edward FitzGerald’s globally-known poem afterlife, The Rubáiyát. Translation can serve as a force for literary renewal and innovation. For many years translation was regarded as a marginal area within comparative studies, now it is acknowledged that translation has played a vital role in literary history and great periods of literary innovation tend to be preceded by periods of intense translation activity. The significance of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát lies in how the poem was read when it appeared and in the precise historical moment when it was published. The impact of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát was such that on the one hand it served as a model for a new generation of poets struggling to make the skepticism and pessimism a proper subject for poetry, while on the other hand it established a benchmark for future translators because it set the parameters in the minds of English-language readers of what Persian poetry could do. The present chapter tries to show that FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát had a role in forming pre-modern English poetry, notably Housman’s poetry, in terms of form and content. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad and FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát have undeniable similarities.

Khayyam’s Quatrains as Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyat

Khayyam’s Quatrains as Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyat. Khayyam’s Quatrains as Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyat. Ismail Alghamdi, Mohammed Albarakati.
In: Journal of Translation and Language Studies, 5 (2024) 1, pp. 65-81.

Research studies from around the globe on Omar Khayyẚm’s Persian quatrains and their translation into English by the poet, writer, and translator Edward Fitzgerald, are in abundance. Researchers are, in general, in praise of the translation and give credit to Fitzgerald for making Khayyẚm a world-renowned poet. However, the translation has rarely been approached from a socio-political perspective, or a look into Fitzgerald’s ideological manipulation of the original. The present research study investigates two issues with Fitzgerald’s translation- ideological manipulation and selective translation. The study also looks into Khayyẚm’s life and his works. It probes into the effects this translation left on the literary scene. The study involves a comparative literary translation analysis to compare and contrast the elements found in Fitzgerald’s translation and two Arabic translations. Employing Lefevere’s (1992) theory of ‘translation as rewriting,’ this paper assesses the extent to which a translator’s ideology can lead to a misrepresented product of translation (Lefevere, 1992). The study adopts textual analysis as a research method to capture the epicurean elements recurrently emphasized by Fitzgerald in his translation.

Rubaiyat EI-Khayyam zwischen den deutschen und den arabischen Übersetzungen

Rubaiyat EI-Khayyam zwischen den deutschen und den arabischen Übersetzungen. Fausia Hassan
In: Revue Traduction et Langues, 2 (2003), 1, p. 22–42

Al-Khayyam between the Arabic and German translations -This work deals with the Rubaiyat of Omar Al -Khayyam. -We will cover the life and work of Omar AlKhayyam in general, emphasizing his importance and influence on other poets. A general overview of the different translations is given. It is further examined to what extent the Arabic translations differ from the German translation and where there is a comparison. The question is also asked whether the difference involves social, political or other aspects. With 50 quatrains quoted from the translation by Mohamed Abou-Zaid.

Veiling the Mystic in the Hedonist’s Gear: A Comparative Rereading of Omar Khayyam’s The Rubaiyat …

Veiling the Mystic in the Hedonist’s Gear: A Comparative Rereading of Omar Khayyam’s The Rubaiyat and Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s Madhuśālā. Prasun Banerjee.
The Contour, 1 (2015) 4 (April), pp. 14-21.

Despite the conspicuous mystic perspectives, the recognition of the Rubaiyat to the Western literary discourse has essentially been as a hedonist poem celebrating the paganistic wine-intoxicated revelry and joys of earthly life and that of Omar Khayyam as the poet of the sharab (wine), saki (wine-girl) and peyala(wine-pot). But a careful scrutiny of the Persian and oriental tradition of poetry would reveal that the Rubaiyat is fraught with poetic devices that indicate at established Sufistic discourses in Khayyam’s verses, almost akin to the poets like Rumi, Hafeez or Ferdowsi.

A Comparative Study of Modulation in English Translations of Khayyam’s Quatrains

A Comparative Study of Modulation in English Translations of Khayyam’s Quatrains. Mojtaba Delzendehrooy ; Amin Karimnia.
Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 70 (2013), pp. 28–40.

During the process of translation, the relatedness of content and form sometimes leads to some changes in semantics or point of view of the original text. This study tries to investigate the instances of modulation occurred in the translation of poetry. To this end, two English translations of Khayyam’s quatrains (FitzGerald and Emami) were studied to see what kinds of modulation have been used by the translators and consequently how they have changed the semantics and points of view of the original work; i.e. Khayyam’s quatrains. The two translations were studied carefully to identify the instances of modulations occurred.

FitzGerald’s Omar and Hardy’s Jude: A Humanistic Kinship

FitzGerald’s Omar and Hardy’s Jude: A Humanistic Kinship. Asad al-Ghalith.
The Midwest Quarterly, 51 (2010) 1, pp. 57–69.

Edward Fitzgerald’s poem, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, focuses on some of the major humanistic issues of the Victorian period: What is man? From whence did he come? What is his purpose in life? In FitzGerald’s translation of the poem, Omar appears to be strongly preoccupied with the fatalistic vision of man’s existence. This vision was one that emerged again and again in Victorian writers. Thomas Hardy, in Jude the Obscure, wrestled with a fatalistic view of man not unlike FitzGerald’s. This article will draw parallels between the two literary works not only to suggest a matter of influence, but also to stress the common intellectual heritage of humankind.

The Fin de Siècle cult of FitzGerald’s “Rubaiyat” of Omar Khayyam

The Fin de Siècle cult of FitzGerald’s “Rubaiyat” of Omar Khayyam. John D. Yohannan.
In: Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyám. Ed. by H. Bloom. Philadelphia, Chelsea House, 2004. p. 5-19.
(From Review of National Literatures 2, no. 1.)

Yohannan describes how the Rubaiyat was recognised as “a disintegrating spiritual force in England and America” and how in the Omar Khayyam clubs the veneration for the translator tended to surpass worship of the poet.

Fugitive articulation: an introduction to The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Fugitive articulation: an introduction to The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. D Schenker.
In: Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Ed. by H. Bloom. Philadelphia, Chelsea House, 2004. p. 59-76.
(From Victorian Poetry 19, no. 1.)

Schenker takes an innovative and challenging look at the Rubaiyat, questioning why we fail today to respond to it as a work of serious literary art (p. 60). The author compares its effect on an audience with that of an “unimpeachable contemporary masterpiece, T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The Rubaiyat’s wide appeal might be that it “institutionalizes a cult of spiritual resignation” and that it is “sufficiently void of meaning to be recyclable in any number of contexts”. In his analysis of the poem, the author recognises its “verbal claustrophobia”.