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The man behind the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. The life and letters of Edward FitzGerald

The man behind the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. The life and letters of Edward FitzGerald. William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. London; New York; I.B. Tauris, 2016. ISBN 9781784536596. xii, 274 pp.

Summary:

Its lines and verses have become part of the western literary canon and his translation of this most famous of poems has been continuously in print in for almost a century and a half. But just who was Edward FitzGerald? Was he the eccentric recluse that most scholars would have us believe? Is there more to the man than just his famous translation? In The Man Behind the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam William Martin and Sandra Martin go beyond the standard view. Drawing on their unique analysis of the more than 2,000 surviving letters of FitzGerald, together with evidence from his scrapbooks, commonplace books and materials from his personal library, they reveal a more convivial yet complex personality than we have been led to suppose.”

Pope’s Iliad and E. FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát

Pope’s Iliad and E. FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát.
In: The Lesbian Lyre: Reclaiming Sappho for the 21st Century. Jeffrey M. Duban. Clairview Books, 2016. 832p. ISBN 9781905570799

Summary:

Hailed by Plato as the “Tenth Muse” of ancient Greek poetry, Sappho is inarguably antiquity’s greatest lyric poet. Born over 2,600 years ago on the Greek island of Lesbos, and writing amorously of women and men alike, she is the namesake lesbian. What’s left of her writing, and what we know of her, is fragmentary. Duban provides a reader-friendly overview of Sappho’s times and themes, exploring her eroticism and Greek homosexuality overall.

Artists of the Omar Khayyám Club of London 1892 to 1929

Artists of the Omar Khayyám Club of London 1892 to 1929. Danton O’Day. Emeritus Press, 2017. 86 p. ISBN: 9781389917240

Summary:

This book documents the menu artists of the Omar Khayyam Club of London from 1892-1929.
While 26 artists were credited in the two books of the Club, there actually were 28 different menu artists. Of these several were not properly credited for their contributions. For example, one artist was credited for three pictures that belonged to two other artists. Another incorrectly attributed picture was done by an, as yet, unidentified artist. This book details these issues as well as providing many other insights, firsts and interesting facts:
-First complete documentation of the artists of the Omar Khayyam Club of London Menus, 1892-1929
-First time most of the pictures have been seen since their initial publication
-Discovery of numerous incorrect artist credits
-Discovery of an “Unidentified Artist”
-Recognition of artists who were not credited for their contributions
-Corrected lists and timelines of artists and their contributions
-Learn about the artists: a cartoonist, a spy, the man who developed camouflage and more…

How Khayyám Got Lost in Translation. Cultural Errors and the Translators of the Rubaiyat

How Khayyám Got Lost in Translation. Bentolhoda Nakhaeï.
In: Speaking like a Spanish Cow: Cultural Errors in Translation. Clíona Ní Ríordáin, Stephanie Schwerter (eds.). Stuttgart : Ibidem Press, 2019. 368 p.
ISBN: 9783838272566.

Summary:
What is a cultural error? What causes it? What are the consequences of such an error? This volume enables the reader to identify cultural errors and to understand how they are produced. The meta-translational problem of the cultural error is explored in great detail in this book. The authors address the fundamental theoretical issues that underpin the term. The essays examine a variety of topics ranging from the deliberate political manipulation of cultural sources in Russia to the colonial translations at the heart of Edward FitzGerald’s famous translation The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Adopting a resolutely transdisciplinary approach, the seventeen contributors to this volume come from a variety of academic backgrounds in music, art, literature, and linguistics. They provide an innovative reading of a key term in translation studies today.

Sipping from the Rubáiyát’s Chalice

Sipping from the Rubáiyát’s Chalice. My journey with the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Martin Kimeldorf. Kimeldorf, 2017. 118 pp. ISBN: 9781537462608.

Contents:
Prefatory map
Introduction
Part I – My Rubáiyát memoir
Chapter 1 – Looking backward to find a way forward
Chapter 2 – Lessons from the Rubáiyát
Part II – The Poets and their Poetry
Chapter 3 – The grand collaboration
Chapter 4 – My favorite Rubáiyát quatrains
Chapter 5 – The sweet and sour chalice rim
Part III – Trying to Grasp the Scheme Entire
Chapter 6 – The artistic connections
Chapter 7 – Sipping the 21st century chalice
Chapter 8 – The Omarian Martini toast

Late night thoughts on reading Fitzgerald’s Omar Khayyam

Late night thoughts on reading Fitzgerald’s Omar Khayyam: my own reflections on a poem that has guided me well. Robert Gary. Independently published, 2017. 55 p. ISBN: 978-1520406756.

Summary:
This book is personal philosophical reflections on reading on Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, as translated by Edward Fitzgerald. Only some of the rubai are included, and the ones selected for including are taken from many different editions of the Fitzgerald translation based on the author’s own preference of which was the best. The French translations are his own amateur attempt to convey the basic meaning of a few rubai into modern French. The illustrations are Gary’s own gouache and watercolor paintings done in 1995.

Early artists of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1914-1929

Early artists of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1914-1929. Danton O’Day. Emeritus Press, 2018. iv, 141 p. ISBN: 9781388734190.

Summary:

This intensely illustrated book focuses on the era from 1914-1929 that followed the Golden Age of Rubáiyát Art, 1884-1913. It reveals the work of 16 illustrators who produced two or more pictures to illustrate the poems and 9 other artists who embellished the poetry with page decorations, title page adornments and unique frontispiece images.
In these pages, the identity of a previously anonymous artist is revealed. New decorators are discovered. Tables and graphic timelines put all the work into perspective as multiple images—many published here for the first time in 90-100 years—reveal the often-unparalleled talent of artists who took their pens, inks and paints to the task of illustrating FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát.