The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi Knowledge, Love, and Rhetoric

by Talattof, Kamran; Clinton, Jerome W.

• ISBN13: 9780312228101
• ISBN10: 0312228104
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-01-06
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The work of Nizami Ganjavi, a classical poet of the twelfth century, is fueling new cultural debate in Iran in recent years. The dominant discourse encourages the reading of the texts in light of biographical or theological conventions and religious motives. These essays explore Nizami's influential role and his portrayal of issues related to love, women, and science, stressing his preoccupation with the art of speech as a major impetus behind his literary activity.

Author Biography

Kamran Talattof is Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona.

Jerome W. Clinton is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
A Note on Transliteration	x
Introduction: Nizami Ganjavi and His Poetry	1	(14)
A Comparison of Nizami's Layli and Majnun and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet	15	(14)
Jerome W. Clinton
Layla Grows Up: Nizami's Layla and Majnun ``in the Turkish Manner''	29	(22)
Mehmed Kalpakali
Walter G. Andrews
Nizami's Unlikely Heroines: A Study of the Characterizations of Women in Classical Persian Literature	51	(32)
Kamran Talattof
Majnun's Image as a Serpent	83	(14)
Asghar Abu Gohrab
The Historian and the Poet: Ravandi, Nizami, and the Rhetoric of History	97	(32)
Julie Scott Meisami
Occult Sciences in The Iskandarnameh of Nizami	129	(12)
J. Christoph Burgel
Nizami's Poetry Versus Scientific Knowledge: The Case of the Pomegranate	141	(22)
Christine van Ruymbeke
Music in Khusraw Va Shirin	163	(16)
Firoozeh Khazrai
The Story of the Ascension (Mi'raj) in Nizami's Work	179	(10)
C.-H. De Fouchecour
Kamran Talattof
Arjang Talattof
International Recognition of Nizami's Work: A Bibliography	189	(16)
Kamran Talattof
Index	205