Omar the Wise
In: World of wonder, 1973, nr. 165, p. 14-15
Over the centuries, from far-away Persia, come the sad, sweet words of wisdom of that land’s most famous bard.
Archives
The enigma of Edward FitzGerald
The enigma of Edward FitzGerald. J.L. Borges.
In: Other inquisitions, 1937-1952. London : Souvenir Press, 1973. ISBN: 0-285-64711-3
Borges ponders on the mysterious connection between Khayyám and FitzGerald. A miracle that happened: from the fortuitous conjunction of a Persian astronomer who condescends to write poetry, and an eccentric Englishman who peruses Oriental and Hispanic books, emerges a poet who does not resemble either of them. He suggests a deep-seated, a-Platonic connection between philosophy, mathematics, and poetry.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: a critical assessment of Robert Graves’ and Omar Ali-Shah’s ‘translation’
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: a critical assessment of Robert Graves’ and Omar Ali-Shah’s ‘translation’. J.C.E. Bowen
Iran: Journal of Persian studies 11 (1973), pp. 63–73
When Cassells in November 1967 published Robert Graves’s versification of 111 of Omar Khayyam’s quatrains, they announced it to be “for the first time a true translation of Omar Khayaam which reverses his philosophy as presented, in ignorance of the Persian language and of Sufi symbolism, by Edward FitzGerald”. They also called it “one of the most important literary revelations of our time”. In this article, the validity of these claims is examined.
Omar Khayyam: astronomer, mathematician and poet
Omar Khayyam: astronomer, mathematician and poet. John Andrew Boyle.
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 52 (1969) 1, p. 30-45
General article investigating what is known about Khayyám, the years of his birth and death, his background, and the various manuscripts that have come to light in recent years.
The Persian Rubā’ī: Common Sense in Analysis
The Persian Rubā’ī: Common Sense in Analysis. Michael Craig Hillmann.
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 119 (1969) 1, p. 98–101.
Comment on an article by G. L. Windfuhr, entitled “Die Struktur eines Robai” (ZDMG 1968, pp. 75- 8)
Graves and Omar
Graves and Omar. Anthony Burgess.
Encounter (1968) (Jan.), pp. 77–80
Comments on the Graves-Ali Shah translation of the Rubáiyát.
The Omar Khayyam Puzzle
The Omar Khayyam Puzzle. L.P. Elwell-Sutton.
Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 55 (1968) 2, pp. 167–179
A recent publication has stimulated interest once again in the Persian poet Omar Khayyam-though admittedly to the English speaking world he is already by far the best-known, and for many the only, figure in Persian literature. Yet in fact he is a rather shadowy, insubstantial person, largely ignored in his own land of Iran, and about whom surprisingly little is recorded in history. Much of what is related about him is purely legendary: for instance, the well-known story of his schooldays friendship with the vizier Nizam al-Mulk and Hasan Sabbah, founder of the sect of the Assassins-impossible on chronological grounds alone. Other legends have been ad added through the centuries, particularly by some of the Sufi sects in Iran and Afghanistan.