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Empire, Piracy and Appropriation. India & the Englishing of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Empire, Piracy and Appropriation. India & the Englishing of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. John Drew. Cambridge, Cambridge Poetry Workshop, 2009. 73 p.

Summary:
When the Rubáiyát was published in London in 1859, it fell dead from the press. Surprisingly, the next edition of the poem was publieshed in India. The Madras edition of 1862 was not a mere reprint but a whole compendium of Omarian studies. This booklet makes available all 136 translated quatrains published in the Madras edition, 79 by FitzGerald and the rest by others intimately associated with him in the Rubáiyát story.

Contents

Introductory Essay:
1. The Calcutta Connection p. I
2. Piracy in Madras, p. II

A Sample Comparison of Translated Quatrains Together with Several others of Interest p. 25
Quatrains Attributed to Omar Khayyám Published in the Madras 1862 Edition p. 28
1. Garcin de Tassy p. 29
2. Edward Byles Cowell p. 31
3. Whitley Stokes p. 37
4. Edward FitzGerald p. 40

A Further Note on Major Thomas Evans Bell (1825-1887) and Whitley Stokes (1830-1909) p. 54

1857: Two Appendices p. 60
Extract from a Letter by Evans Bell p. 61
Extract from a Letter by George Thompson p. 65

Select Bibliography p. 67
Acknowledgements p. 73

The dog the mongoose. The Indian pirate edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1862)

The dog & the mongoose. The Indian pirate edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1862). An introduction by John Drew. Cambridge, Cambridge Poetry Workshop, 2009. 68 p.

Summary:
Limited Library edition. A variant edition for the general reader was published as: Empire, piracy and appropriation: India and the Englishing of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Contents

Introductory Essay:
The Dog & the Mongoose p. l
Quatrains Attributed to Omar Khayyám
Published in the Madras 1862 Edition p. 28
1. Garcin deTassy p. 29
2. Edward Byles Cowell p. 31
3. Whitley Stokes p. 37
4. Edward Fitz.Gerald p. 40
A Sample Comparison of Translated Quatrains Together with Several Others of Interest p. 54
A Further Note on Major Thomas Evans Bell (1825-1887) p. 58
Essential Sources p. 62
End Note p. 68

Infinite transformation: The modern craze over the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in England and America, c. 1900-1930

Infinite transformation: The modern craze over the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in England and America, c. 1900-1930. Michelle Kaiserlian. Proquest Dissertations and Theses, 2009. Illustrated. 374 p. ISBN: 9781109586534.

Summary
“In the first critical study of the Rubáiyát craze as a whole and as a creative and historical phenomenon, I examine visual and literary responses to the poem in the form of illustrations, parodies, advertisements, and religio- philosophical debates to determine the Rubáiyát’ s overwhelming and enduring resonance in the culture. I argue that people’s engagement with and their myriad responses to the poem performed a kind of cultural work during a period of great social, economic, technological, scientific, and religious upheaval. I demonstrate how the Rubáiyát became a vehicle through which people processed the rapid changes of modern life and how poem and craze alike provided a tool to define and order an increasingly uncertain and fragmented world.“

Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

INTRODUCTION 1

PROLOGUE 20
The Imagined Elites of the Omar Khayyám Club

CHAPTER ONE 35
In (and Out of) Omar’s Garden: Illustrating the Rubáiyát

Out of the Garden: Taking Omar on Holiday
In an Oriental Garden
The Symbolic Garden

CHAPTER TWO 81
Rubáiyát Parodies and Modern Life: The Omar Cure-all

Defining the Rubáiyát Parody
Nationalism, Fraternity, and the British Rubáiyát Parody
The Other Among Us: Views of Dominance and Compassion
Risky Business and Deviant Behavior: Control and Resistance in the Realm of Leisure
Courtship: Changing Rituals for Modern Life

CHAPTER THREE 133
Consumerism and the Rubáiyát

Too Much and Never Enough: Rubáiyát Mania
Production and Consumption in the Modern Middle Class

CHAPTER FOUR 161
Omar Sells: Advertisements Based on the Rubáiyát

Parody-Advertisements
Advertising Schemes

CHAPTER FIVE 185
The Rubáiyát as Doctrine, or “What Would Omar Do?”

Religious Climate
The Rubáiyát as Doctrine: Problems of Interpretation
In Search of Omar Khayyám
Khayyám’s Skepticism and the Lure of Modern Science
The Question of Immortality
The Triumph of Free Will over Fate

CONCLUSION 223

APPENDIX 228
Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, first and fifth editions

ILLUSTRATIONS 239

BIBLIOGRAPHY 317

CURRICULUM VITAE