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Omar Khayyam’s Epicureanism: The Spanish Translations of Rubaiyats (1904-1930)

Omar Khayyam’s Epicureanism: The Spanish Translations of Rubaiyats (1904-1930). A. Gasquet.
In: Peripheral Transmodernities: South-to-South Intercultural Dialogues between the Luso-Hispanic World and ‘the Orient’. Ed. by Ignacio López-Calvo. Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars, 2012. pp. 155-177. ISBN 9781443837149.

The author gives a brief summary of a number of translations published in Spanish-American countries. Here, and in the Phillipines twelve translations of the Rubáiyát were issued in twenty-six years. The first translation was by Juan Dublan (Mexico, 1904), followed by Gregorio Martinez Sierra (Madrid, 1907), and finally by Francisco Propata (Paris, 1930). Four works are discussed more in detail: the versions by Dublan, Muzzio Sáenz-Peña, González and Bernabé. Gasquet describes the socio-cultural conditions of their time, and the sources of their work. He also shows how the hedonist-mystic debate played a role in these works.

The Arab ‘Umar Khayyám

The Arab ‘Umar Khayyám. M. Alsulami.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 73-84.

After their counterparts in the West had started collecting and translating the Rubáiyát of Khayyám during the nineteenth century, Arab intellectuals followed suit. A huge number of Arabic translations of Khayyám’s quatrains, and studies of his life, philosophy and literary works, were produced, and the broader interaction between Arabic and Persian literature was revived. In this chapter Alsulami focusses on translations from European languages, direct poetic translations from the Persian language and translations into Arabic dialects. He concludes with a brief discussion on Arab intellectuals’ reception of Khayyám.

The Russian perception of Khayyam: from text to image

The Russian perception of Khayyam: from text to image. F. Abdullaeva, N. Chalisova, N., Ch. Melville.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 161–188.

The authors show the extreme popularity of Khayyám in Russia, even before Fitzgerald’s translations were published. The English translation only added to Khayyám’s popularity. The authors investigate how different translations of a single quatrain were made and how a large number of illustrated translations usually erotic, were made based on these translations. They also examine the contemporary popularity of Khayyám and the ready availability of editions of his quatrains, from large bookstores to tiny book-stalls. The authors examine different translations in each generation and how these translations helped to popularize Khayyám. Attention is also paid to literary forgery and how it acquires national value and prestige: D. Serebryakov “claimed Omar Khayyám for the nation” in 2000 by stating that Khayyám’s native town was in Tataria.

Khaiyâmî

Khaiyâmî. F. de Blois.
In: Persian literature. Vol. 5, part 2. London, The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ire, 1994, p. 356-380.

Biographical and bibliographical survey of Khayyám’s life, works and the study and translations of his rubáiyát.