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The illustration of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and its contribution to enduring popularity

The illustration of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and its contribution to enduring popularity. W.H. Martin, S. Mason.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 233-248.

In this paper, the authors aim to shed more light on how it is that Edward FitzGerald’s short poem became one of the most widely illustrated books of all time. They consider the social and economic framework within which publication of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát reached its zenith and the critical role played by technical change in this important period. They examine in more detail the role of certain key actors, notably individual publishers and their illustrators, in the process of Rubáiyát publishing. And, by looking at the longer term evolution of Rubáiyát publishing through the twentieth century, they try to reach a clearer view of the importance of illustration to the enduring popularity of the poem.

The vogue of the English Rubáiyát and dedicatory poems in honour of Khayyám and FitzGerald

The vogue of the English Rubáiyát and dedicatory poems in honour of Khayyám and FitzGerald. P. Loloi.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 213-231.

Since the publication of Swinburne’s ‘Laus Veneris’ in 1866, there have been thousands of poems whose existence would have been impossible without the example of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát. For convenience of discussion (and, of course, only a small proportion of this material can be examined), these poetic materials are considered under three headings: parodies, imitations and dedicatory poems.

‘Some for the glories of the sole’: the Rubáiyát and FitzGerald’s sceptical American parodists

‘Some for the glories of the sole’: the Rubáiyát and FitzGerald’s sceptical American parodists. A.S. Drury.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 193-212.

Drury sees in American parodies of the Rubáiyát a critique of the uncomplicated celebration of cultural fusion that many of FitzGerald’s champions promulgated. Her examples include the different uses of the Rubáiyát made by Mark Twain, Oliver Herford, and the ‘Hoosier poet’ James Whitcomb Riley.

Le Gallienne’s paraphrase and the limits of translation

Le Gallienne’s paraphrase and the limits of translation. A. Talib.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 175-192.

Talib shows that Richard Le Gallienne’s 1897 edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is an original work of literature that helps us understand the contemporary tensions surrounding academic and commercial translation and the place of the Rubáiyát in English literary history.

The imagined elites of the Omar Khayyám Club

The imagined elites of the Omar Khayyám Club. Michelle Kaiserlian.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 147-174.

This study begins with a brief description of the role of elite men’s clubs in late- and post-Victorian society. In the first section, ‘Claiming the Rubáiyát’, Kaiserlian shows how members of the London Club distinguished themselves from outsiders through their exclusive knowledge and appreciation of the poem. ‘FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát & The Pilgrimage of the Rose’ analyses one of the Club’s early ceremonies, revealing imperialist metaphors at work in their worship of the Persian poem and its English translator. ‘Ordering Omar’s World’ investigates Clubbists’ regard for Khayyám as bastion of ‘the good life’ and their use of the poem’s Eastern context as a springboard for exotic indulgences. In the final section, ‘Containing the Rubáiyát’, she demonstrates how Clubbists’ privileged activities as collectors and publishers and their extraordinary objects both reflected their desire to contain the poem’s influence and maintain its status for themselves.

‘Under Omar’s subtle spell’: American Reprint Publishers and the Omar Craze

‘Under Omar’s subtle spell’: American Reprint Publishers and the Omar Craze. J.R. Paas.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 127-146.

By 1900 a cult of sorts with Omar and FitzGerald as the focus existed on both sides of the Atlantic, but what has yet to be clarified is the seminal role that American reprint publishers played as they first responded to the public’s interest in the Rubáiyát and then contributed to the spread of the cult. These enterprising publishers offered the public a range of inexpensive reprint editions of FitzGerald’s poem and in the process developed clever marketing strategies that continue to this day. The impact which they had on the cultural acceptance of the Rubáiyát cannot be overestimated, and the purpose of this essay is to shed light on how this happened.

Edward Heron-Allen: a polymath’s approach to FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Edward Heron-Allen: a polymath’s approach to FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. G. Garrard.
In: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and neglect. Ed. by A. Poole et al. London, Anthem Press, 2011. pp. 109-126.

Garrard focuses on the fascinating polymath Edward Heron-Allen and his close engagement with FitzGerald’s work in the 1890s.