N膩峁r-i Khusraw was a major figure in medieval Persian culture. This Muslim philosopher, poet, traveller and Ismaili 诲腻士墨Lit. ‘summoner,’ a term for missionary amongst various Muslim communities, especially used among the Ismailis before and during the Fatimid period as well as in the Alamut period of Ismaili…, who lived a thousand years ago in the lands today known as Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan, is consistently ranked by Persian speakers as one of the finest poets in their language. Yet, in the West, where he is known largely for his 厂补蹿补谤-苍腻尘补 (travelogue), describing his seven-year journey from Khur膩s膩n, in the eastern Islamic lands, to Cairo, the city of the Fatimid caliph-imams, his poetry and ideas are less familiar. Even among those who know the poet鈥檚 work, few understand the concepts he expounds, as the genre of philosophical poetry in Persian remains mostly unexplored. As the first Western study of Persian philosophical poetry, this volume seeks to redress the balance.
Written by authorities on N膩峁r-i Khusraw and Persian literature, and originally presented as papers at a conference at SOAS, University of London, the chapters here cover topics ranging from metaphysics, cosmology and ontology, to prophecy, rhythm and structure, the analysis of individual poems and the matter of authorship. Rigorous literary analysis of several complete major poems advances the field of Persian Studies beyond investigating what a poem means to how it is constructed and how poetic technique and philosophy can be combined to create masterpieces. This volume therefore represents the initiation of important studies in the genre of Persian philosophical poetry.
Editor鈥檚 Introduction: N膩峁r-i Khusraw and Philosophical Poetry
Alice C. Hunsberger
I. Speech and Intellect
1. The Position of 士础辩濒 in the Prose and Poetry of N膩峁r-i Khusraw
Faquir Muhammad Hunzai
2. Ontological and Religious Aspects of the Intellect in N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 Poetry
M. J. Esmaeili
3. 鈥業 Am a Mine of Golden Speech鈥: Poetic Language and Self-Reference in N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 蚕补峁Ｄ玠补蝉
Daniel Rafinejad
4. N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 Ode to the Universal Soul and Intellect
Leonard Lewisohn
II. Philosophical Poetry: Enlightening the Soul
5. N膩峁r-i Khusraw, Imagination, Prophecy and the Poetics of Enlightenment
Mohammad Azadpur
6. N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 Poetics of the Moral Journey and the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
Mehdi Aminrazavi
7. The 搁补飞蝉丑补苍腻示墨-苍腻尘补 and the Older Iranian Cosmogony
Mohsen Zakeri
III. N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 Poetics
8. Also a Poet
Michael Beard
9. Hearing by Way of Seeing: Zab膩n-i 岣ツ乴 in N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 Poetry and the Question of Authorship of the 搁补飞蝉丑补苍腻示墨-苍腻尘补
Nasrollah Pourjavady
10. 鈥極n the Steed of Speech鈥: A Philosophical Poem by N膩峁r-i Khusraw
Alice C. Hunsberger
11. Symbolic Structure in a Poem by N膩峁r-i Khusraw
Julie Scott Meisami
12. Rhythm in N膩峁r-i Khusraw鈥檚 Poems
Finn Thiesen
13. N膩峁r-i Khusraw: A Poet Lost in Thought?
Julie Scott Meisami
Appendix: Three 蚕补峁Ｄ玠补蝉 in the Persian script
Bibliography
Index
Alice C. Hunsberger received her PhD in Islamic and Persian studies from Columbia University. She has written and lectured extensively on N膩峁r-i Khusraw, and is the author of the acclaimed biography Nasir Khusraw, The Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher (2000), which has been translated into Persian, Tajik, Russian and Arabic. A former Research Fellow at 久久久福利国产, London, Dr Hunsberger currently lectures on Islam and Sufism at the City University of New York, Hunter College, where she has twice won the First Prize President LeClerc Award for Excellence in Teaching.