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The mystic Rubáiyát

The mystic Rubáiyát. [Translated by Edward FitzGerald. Illustrated by Penelope Cline]. Fig Tree Press, 2016. – 75 illustrations in colour; 17 x 11 cm.

75 quatrains. – 100 numbered sets of tarot playing cards.

Pessoa, Borges and Khayyam

Pessoa, Borges and Khayyam. Fabrizio Boscaglia
Variaciones Borges, 2015, nr. 40, pp. 41–64.

The fascinating possibility of an encounter between Pessoa and Borges in Lisbon, in May 1924, at the end of Borges’s second trip in Europe, has been the departing point for some comparative readings on these authors (Rodriguez Monegal 15-16; Ferrari and Pizarro 91; Balderston 168). The author wants to imagine that, if it had happened, they would have discussed, among other things, a work which both would later mention in their upcoming publications and that would become an important reference to both of them. It is the Rubaiyat of the Persian poet and philosopher Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), in the famous English translation by the English poet Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883), first published in 1859.

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.

Implications of Mystic Intoxication in Chinese and Iranian Poetry

Implications of Mystic Intoxication in Chinese and Iranian Poetry. R. Weston.
The Undergraduate Historical Journey, 1 (2014) 1, pp. 5-9.

In analyzing the works of Chinese Tang poet Li Bo (701-762),1 one notices the reoccurring reference to “drunkenness” or drinking of wine; though it can be taken at face value to represent a state of being in the literal sense—that is, what appears to be an intoxicated stupor—it seems more practical to consider a more figurative meaning. Namely, it is possible to interpret themes of wine and drunkenness as allegories for spiritual enlightenment, be it found in nature or simply life in general.

Omar Khayyám (1040/62 -1131/32) y la filosofía árabe

Omar Khayyám (1040/62 -1131/32) y la filosofía árabe. Martín González Fernández.
Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval, 21 (2014), pp. 119-130.

This article analyzes the figure of Omar Khayyam (Nîsâbur, Persia, ca. 1040/62, – ca. 1131/32, Nîsâbur) by looking at his famous quatrains or rubayat, focusing on the reception and review of the Arab philosophies of his time, and the defense that he makes of Persian Archaic, Zoroastrian, Mazdean and Manichean culture and philosophy.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. I.B.H. Jewett.
In: Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyám. Ed. by H. Bloom. Philadelphia, Chelsea House, 2004. p. 21-58.
(From Edward FitzGerald. © 1977 by G.K. Hall & Co.)

Jewett pinpoints interesting moments in the correspondence between Fitzgerald and his mentor, Cowell, comparing their versions of the same Khayyam quatrain, thus illustrating “dramatically the difference between translation and creation”. The importance Fitzgerald attached to his earlier translation of Jami’s Salaman and Absal is also touched upon. Fitzgerald emphatic stipulation that Omar never be published without Salaman was apparently disregarded after his death. The article further gives a brief treatment of the problem of the Persian quatrains’ authenticity and of Khayyam’s possible authorship and possible mysticism.

Umar Khayyam and his age

Umar Khayyam and his age. Otto Rothfeld. Bombay, Taraporevala, 1922.

Summary:

Study of Omar Khayyám’s life and works, in correlation to the historical and spiritual development of Islam. With quatrains from Whinfield’s translation.

Contents:
Umar’s Life and Period
The Significance of Umar’s Ruba’iat

Translation or travesty?

Translation or travesty? an enquiry into Robert Graves’s version of some Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. John Charles Edward Bowen. Abingdon, Abbey Press (Berks), 1973. Freshet library, no. 2. IX, 43 p. ISBN: 0900012323.

Summary:
Bowen discusses whether Edward FitzGerald’s (1859) or Robert Graves’s (1967) version of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat is a more accurate translation; it explains the scope of the great Islamic philosophy of Sufism, and questions whether a mystical interpretation of the quatrains accords with Khayyam’s known scepticism; and it quotes conclusive evidence that Robert Graves’s version of the Rubaiyat, so far from having been translated from a manuscript which has lain bidden in the Hindu Kush for the past 800 years, is based on the text of a book published in London in 1899.

Omar Khayyám : Some Facts and Fallacies

Omar Khayyám : Some Facts and Fallacies by Reynold A. Nicholson.
In: Aberdeen University Review. Nr. 2 (1914), Feb., p. 138-142

Since FitzGerald introduced him to Europe, Omar Khayyám has enjoyed a world-wide reputation exceeding that of all the rest of the Persian poets together. Does he deserve it? What was his character and philosophy? Was he a materialist or a mystic, or neither? How far is the English version an original poem, and can we fairly use it as a key to the riddle? These are some of the questions that I am going to discuss and in part, I hope, to answer.