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A Thousand and One Nights. The art of folklore, literature, poetry, fashion & book design of the Islamic world

A Thousand and One Nights. The art of folklore, literature, poetry, fashion & book design of the Islamic world. Hiroshi Unno. Tokyo, Pie Books, 2016. 295 p. ISBN: 978-4-7562-4816-9.

Summary:

Middle Eastern literature and poetry, including Arabian Nights and Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, has captured the imaginations of European people with its mysterious atmosphere and tales of exotic lands. From the 18th to the early 20th century, various European editions of these stories were published that included imaginative illustrations by notable European illustrators such as Nielsen, Dulac, Pogány, Bull and others. This book is a visual art collection of the world featured in such European illustrations and introduces the ancient Islamic manuscripts and art on which the illustrations are based. Text in Japanese, with an introduction and captions in English.

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.

Le roman de Khayyam

Le roman de Khayyam. Normand Baillargeon. Montréal, Poètes de Brousse, 2016. 84 pp. ISBN: 9782923338941.

Summary:

A book born out of passion, regret and indignation, as the author explains. Passion for the immense and important work of Omar Khayyam that developed for more than thirty years, above all to his Rubaiyat. Regret for the rich and fertile civilization in which Khayyam was able to create this work which did not keep his promises, as the Muslim world, which had at that time such a considerable advance on the Western world, has since been, in too many places, frozen, fossilized, petrified. Indignation that one may feel in the face of racism against Arabs and Muslims, which, among all racisms, is now the only one that does not immediately provoke repugnance, as might be expected.

Analyse critique des transformations stylistiques dans les traductions des XIXe et XXe siècles des Robâïât d’Omar Khayyám

Analyse critique des transformations stylistiques dans les traductions des XIXe et XXe siècles des Robâïât d’Omar Khayyám. Exploration des quatrains communs chez FitzGerald, Arberry, Nicolas et Lazard. Bentolhoda Nakhaeï. Paris, 2016.
[Thèse de doctorat en Études anglophones]

Summary:

This thesis aims to carry out a meticulous analysis of the transformation of form and meaning in the rendition of the Rubáiyát in four significant 19th and 20th-century translations—two in English and two in French. The translators of the selected translations are Edward FitzGerald, Arthur John Arberry, Jean-Baptiste Nicolas, and Gilbert Lazard. The translations produced by these translators have offered opportunities of investigation within linguistic boundaries. In fact, one may wonder if the translators have transformed the meaning and the form of the Persian quatrains.