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Méditation sur les mystères de la création. Paul Valéry et Omar al Khayyâm

Méditation sur les mystères de la création. Paul Valéry et Omar al Khayyâm. Mohammad Reza Mohseni.
Revue Annales du patrimoine, (2012) Nr. 12, pp. 57-71.

La méditation sur la mort, l’ordre de l’existence ainsi que les mystères de la Genèse constitue l’objet principal des études philosophiques dont s’inspirent, de temps à autre, la poésie et la littérature. Cette recherche se fixe comme objectif de démontrer si l’attitude des poètes Paul Valéry et Omar al Khayyâm à l’encontre des notions telles que la mort et l’existence tire son origine de leur affres de la mort, ou bien elle prend ses sources dans leurs préoccupations philosophiques. Nous allons étudier les attributs narcissiques des poèmes de Valéry, en pleine contra diction avec des vers cosmopolites et regorgés de sagesse de Khayyâm.

Attempts at locating the Rubaiyat in Indian philosophical thought

Attempts at locating the Rubaiyat in Indian philosophical thought. A. Rangarajan.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 233–243.

In this article Rangarajan gives a metaphysical reading of Khayyám’s quatrains by comparing Khayyám’s description of human existence with the supernatural order of Hinduism. Moreover, the author concentrates on other religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika, showing how Khayyám’s philosophy matches the tenets of these religions.

Bitter certainty: J.H. Leopold on ‘Umar Khayyám

Bitter certainty: J.H. Leopold on ‘Umar Khayyám. J.D.F. van Halsema.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 129-134.

In this contribution Van Halsema discusses how the poet J.H. Leopold (1865-1925) focused on philosophy between 1900 and 1906, seeking to solve the problem of human loneliness. He studied Stoa, Epicurus, Spinoza, Descartes, Hume, and Kant closely, and then, in 1904, he found ‘Umar Khayyám.

Khayyám’s universal appeal: man, wine, and the hereafter in the quatrains

Khayyám’s universal appeal: man, wine, and the hereafter in the quatrains. A.A. Seyed-Gohrab.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 11-38.

Introductory essay, in which the author discusses a number of aspects in respect to the study of Omar Khayyám and his rubáiyát: the contents of the quatrains; man, the world and the hereafter; doubt versus certainty; the knot of death; flora and fauna; the pot and the pot-maker; who is the beloved; people with discernment; in vino veritas; activities in the world.

Vernacularizing Rubaiyat: the politics of Madhushala in the context of the Indian nationalism

Vernacularizing Rubaiyat: the politics of Madhushala in the context of the Indian nationalism. A. Castaing.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 215–232.

Anne Castaing shows the influence of Khayyám on the young Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bacchan (1907-2003), who translated the quatrains into Hindi under the title of Umar khayyám kī Madhuśálá (“Omar Khayyám’s House of Wine”). Bacchan wrote his own collection of quatrains entitled Madhuśálá (“The house of wine,” 1935) that deals with the same motifs and symbolism and are interpreted as an “allegory of poetic creation, homeland, universe, love etc., with wine and intoxication symbolising the duality of existence, both sweet and bitter.” By using themes and motifs from Khayyám’s poetry, Bacchan readdresses the questions of orthodoxy versus free thinking, hierarchy of being and man’s place in the universe.

Between tavern and madrassa: ‘Umar Khayyám the scientist

Between tavern and madrassa: ‘Umar Khayyám the scientist. Bagheri, Mohammad.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 67-72.

This contribution focuses on Khayyám as a scientist and how his scientific merits are combined with his literary genius. Bagheri’s study includes Khayyám’s classification of cubic equations, his commentary on Euclid’s Elements, and Khayyám’s scientific achievements.

FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and agnosticism

FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and agnosticism. Marta Simidchieva.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 55-72.

The author tries to find a possible answer to Pound’s question about the success of FitzGerald’s translation. She puts the first two editions of the Rubáiyát in the intellectual context of the times, in an attempt to discover how the Persian transplants ‘correlate with the [host] system’. She contends that the poetic persona of the Persian sage, and the agnostic overlay which FitzGerald created through his choices as an editor and interpreter of the Khayyámic legacy, were as instrumental in ensuring the worldwide fame of the Rubáiyát as FitzGerald’s prowess as a translator.