It Is All Connected …
Selections from Saadi‘s Bustan
Introduction and sample poems
Translated by poet and essayist Richard Jeffrey Newman
Selections from Saadi‘s Gulistan
Introduction and sample poems
“Whether you call the literature Iranian or Persian, it deserves and should command your attention, not only because the current political situation between the US and its allies and Iran makes it imperative that people throughout the world (though perhaps especially in the US) understand Iran and Iranians as much as possible, but because it is a worthy literature in its own right, confronting in important and complex ways, from at least the 10th century onward, the questions of identity and meaning that we all wrestle with, no matter what language we speak, where we live now or where we were born.” It Is All Connected
“Gathered together under the title “The Revolution Is What Made This Issue Possible”, the poems, stories and essays in this issue include works written - from outside Iran, inside Iran and the Academy - from the 10th through the 21st centuries …” more
Relevant links:
Richard Jeffrey Newman website and blog
ArteEast: Works of artists from the Middle East and its diaspora
The Translation Project: contemporary Persian literature
Persian Arts Festival, New York City
[...] writes about new special feature in Artenews:”the revolution is what made this issue possible.” [...]
Pretty racy stuff, Homeyra. Thank you.
Link repair needed in the first line of the Relevant links section- link to Newman’s _website_
Homeyra: Thanks S
corrected
Great stuff. Good to see the wonderful Persian literary masterpieces get out to a contemporary audience. I can’t get enough of Saadi, Rumi and Ferdowsi et. al. and I’m still a beginner with their work.
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain! Let’s buy it!
–Rumi
I had a hunch that 99 would find something that suited her temper in all that:)
JUST JUMPING in the middle of some intellectual discussion & making a quick U-TURN (& why is it called U-turn? I should be Me-turn! Don’t U agree?) As usual I’m infatuated by ur post!
Keep on enlightening us! Thx! xoxoxo
I memorized that quatrain upon reading it the first time… about fifteen years ago. Rumi’s stuff, like most canonical bits of the true schools, is meant to speak on different levels. That quatrain is very attractive to many people, but when one works out its other meaning, it simply blows the mind clean out of its busybody. It’s intensely good stuff. And… well, beyond any doubt, the price of “kissing” IS, literally, your life.
Thanks for the links, homeyra! Just so people know, the Gulistan is out of print. I will be posting a pdf, uncorrected-proof version on my website soon, but if anyone is interested in buying the actual book, they should contact Mehdi Faridzadeh, executive director of the International Society for Iranian Culture, http://www.isicweb.org at fmehdi@isicweb.org, and/or Parviz Morewedge, executive director of Global Scholarly Publications, http://www.gsp-online.org at pmorewed@gsp-online.org. Let them know you are interested in buying the book and that you would like to see it reprinted. Also, anyone interested in buying the Bustan should email me directly, richardjeffreynewman@msn.com.
Ann: This reminds me that a while ago your posts about Persian poetry inspired me to open the chapter in this blog.
Barefoot: You are always welcome:)
And I like your description 99, one can recognize “the canonical bits of true schools” in Rumi (and other Persian poets).
Thank you Richard for the information above and also introducing “Master” Saadi, Ferdowsi and contemporary writers to a broader public.
So far I have read both introductions and 3 articles in ArteNews. Will write to you later.
homeyra–
You should know that I have been asked to remove from ArteNews the interview with Maryam Ala-Amjadi that you link to in this post. That will probably happen later today, so you might want to remove the link from the post. If you want more information about why I was asked to do this, please email me: richardjeffreynewman at verizon.net.
Fine Richard. These days I have limited access to the web, will contact you later.
[...] Poet and essayist Richard Jeffrey Newman has translated a selection of Saadi’s Bustan and Golestan, see previous post: It is all connected [...]
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