Archives

Rubaiyat of Groper Trump

Rubaiyat of Groper Trump. R.K.R. Thornton. Exeter : Rectory Press, 2020. 65 p.

293 quatrains

An angry collection of Rubaiyat (quatrains in Fitzgerald’s Omar Khayyam form) castigating President Trump, his Republican enablers, and all his disgraceful crew. The sharpest attack since Dryden and Swift, it mixes wit, comedy, and annoyance. (From Amazon)

Omar Chajam

Omar Chajam. Eva Pietzcker. Bayreuth : Bear Press Benda, 2020. 2 l.; 30 cm.
Title on front cover: Fünf Rubajat [by Friedrich Rosen]. Einblattdruck CLXXXII der Bear Press Wolfram Benda in der Lutetia. Bayreuth 2020.

Rubaiyat. Omar Khayyam

Rubaiyat. Omar Khayyam. Bewerkt door Hans van Rossum. Giethoorn, Duine, 2020. – iv, 144 p.; 15,5 x 11 cm. – ISBN: 978-90-79726-17-2.

144 quatrains.
Selection from a translation published online in 2003. – 75 copies

– Inleiding
– Rubaiyat

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. A new translation from the Persian based on the edition of Mahmud Yerbudaki with a historical epilogue by Juan Cole. London ; New York [etc.] : I.B. Tauris, 2020. – viii, 164 p.; 21 x 13 cm. – ISBN: 978-0-7556-0052-6.

157 quatrains

Contents

– Acknowledgements, p. vi
– Introduction, p. 1
– Rubáiyát, p. 19
– Epilogue: Persian Literature and the Rubáiyát, p. 71
– Notes, p. 149
– Index, p. 161

Edward FitzGerald’s Translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Appeal of Terse Hedonism

Edward FitzGerald’s Translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Appeal of Terse Hedonism. Asghar Seyed-Gohrab
In: Seigneurie (Ed.) 2020 – A Companion to World Literature. Volume 4: 1771 to 1919. 6 volumes. Hoboken, Wiley. Pp. 1-12

Abstract

The year 1859 is a seminal moment for both Persian and English poetry. In that year, the English poet Edward Purcell FitzGerald (1809–1883) published an adaptation of the quatrains attributed to the Persian philosopher poet Omar Khayyam, under the title The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. It was to become one of the world’s best-known poems. Although several poets before FitzGerald had translated specimens of Persian literature into English, his translations transmitted the Persian sentiments into English poetry, and have remained popular in world literature ever since. At first the translation was not successful at all, as the history of the first edition indicates. The book contained 75 quatrains and was published anonymously in an edition of 250 copies, 40 of which were bought by FitzGerald himself. With this poor start, the remaining books were sent to Bernard Quaritch’s bookshop, where they were shelved and later placed in a box outside the door for sale. In 1861, Whitley Stokes and John Ormsby discovered the book. Stokes purchased copies of the Rubáiyát for his friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who introduced the book to the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Its enthusiastic reception among the Pre-Raphaelites led FitzGerald to publish a second edition of the Rubáiyát in 1868 to which he added 35 quatrains. The cult of Rubáiyát was born. The Rubáiyát ran to a third edition in 1872, a fourth in 1879, and a fifth, posthumous, edition in 1889 (Karlin 2009, l–lvi). FitzGerald’s quatrains have been the source for hundreds of translations in various languages. Some 310 editions have sold millions of copies around the world.

General virtues of Umar Khayyam’s philosophical views

General virtues of Umar Khayyam’s philosophical views. Gulnoza Akramovna Yunusova.
In: International Scientific Journal of Theoretical and Applied Science, vol. 85 (2020), nr. 5, p. 328-332.

Summary:
The article describes the interpretation of the works of Umar Khayyam and their philosophical concepts. Khayyam attracted the attention of all as a person who did not follow any of the various categories of his time with his whole being, and who had an independent opinion and position. On the other hand, he seems to have been a more cautious man. After all, not everyone was able to live long in a very delicate and complex period and avoid severe conflicts.

Omar Khayyam’s Ruba’iyat and Rumi’s Masnavi Interpreted

Omar Khayyam’s Ruba’iyat and Rumi’s Masnavi Interpreted. The Politics and Scholarship of Translating Persian Poetry. Amir Theilhaber.
In: Friedrich Rosen. Orientalist Scholarship and International Politics. Berlin, Munich, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2020. viii, 627 pp. ISBN: 978-3-11-063925-4.
Also available as Open Access document.

Summary

In the recently published Friedrich Rosen. Orientalist scholarship and international politics Amir Theilhaber describes the diplomatic career and scholarly-literary productions of Friedrich Rosen “to investigate how politics influenced knowledge generated about the “Orient” and charts the roles knowledge played in political decision-making regarding extra-European regions. This is pursued through analyses of Germans in British imperialist contexts, cultures of lowly diplomatic encounters in Middle Eastern cities, Persian poetry in translation, prestigious Orientalist congresses in northern climes,leveraging knowledge in high-stakes diplomatic encounters, and the making of Germany’s Islam policy up to the Great War.” An extensive chapter 6 deals with Omar Khayyam’s Ruba’iyat and Rumi’s Masnavi, in the context of politics and scholarship of translating Persian Poetry.

Omar Khayyam – Mathematiker, Philosoph und Dichter

Omar Khayyam – Mathematiker, Philosoph und Dichter
In: Strick (Ed.) 2020 – Mathematik – einfach genial! Berlin : Springer, 2020. ISBN 978-3-662-60448-9. Pp. 97-114.

Summary:

Der persische Mathematiker, Astronom und Philosoph Omar Khayyam fand eine geniale Methode, um kubische Gleichungen zu lösen: Für jede der möglichen Gleichungstypen entwickelte er eine geeignete Konstruktion. Berühmt wurde Omar Khayyam auch als Dichter – einige seiner Verse gingen als geflügelte Worte in die englische Sprache ein.

Edward FitzGerald’s Translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Edward FitzGerald’s Translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Appeal of Terse Hedonism. Asghar Seyed-Gohrab
In: Seigneurie (Ed.) 2020 – A Companion to World Literature, Volume 4: 1771 to 1919.

Summary

The year 1859 is a seminal moment for both Persian and English poetry. In that year, the English poet Edward Purcell FitzGerald (1809–1883) published an adaptation of the quatrains attributed to the Persian philosopher poet Omar Khayyam, under the title The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. It was to become one of the world’s best-known poems. Although several poets before FitzGerald had translated specimens of Persian literature into English, his translations transmitted the Persian sentiments into English poetry, and have remained popular in world literature ever since. At first the translation was not successful at all, as the history of the first edition indicates. The book contained 75 quatrains and was published anonymously in an edition of 250 copies, 40 of which were bought by FitzGerald himself. With this poor start, the remaining books were sent to Bernard Quaritch’s bookshop, where they were shelved and later placed in a box outside the door for sale. In 1861, Whitley Stokes and John Ormsby discovered the book. Stokes purchased copies of the Rubáiyát for his friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who introduced the book to the Pre-Raphaelite circle. Its enthusiastic reception among the Pre-Raphaelites led FitzGerald to publish a second edition of the Rubáiyát in 1868 to which he added 35 quatrains. The cult of Rubáiyát was born. The Rubáiyát ran to a third edition in 1872, a fourth in 1879, and a fifth, posthumous, edition in 1889 (Karlin 2009, l–lvi). FitzGerald’s quatrains have been the source for hundreds of translations in various languages. Some 310 editions have sold millions of copies around the world.

Omar Khayyam’s Transgressive Ethics and Their Socio-Political Implications in Contemporary Iran

Omar Khayyam’s Transgressive Ethics and Their Socio-Political Implications in Contemporary Iran. A.A. Seyed-Gohrab.
In: Iran Namag, Vol. 5, no. 3 (Fall 2020).

Summary:

In this paper, the author examines several social implications of Khayyam’s poetry and the reception history of the Persian sage (hakim) Omar Khayyam, who has become a personification of transgressive ideas in Persian literary history. The fascination of the author is due not only to Khayyam’s poetic genius (although he is not the author of the majority of quatrains attributed to him), but also to his problematic reception in twentieth-century Iran and how he has been connected to the notion of modernity. Both religious and secular intellectuals have tried to position Khayyam in the modern intellectual history of Iran in their own ways.