Conveners: Dr. Asghar Seyed-Gohrab Matthias de Vrieshof 4, Witte Singel 25, room 109B ( 31 (0) 71- 527 22 87; a.a.seyed-gohrab@let.leidenuniv.nl; Course load: 10 ECTS
This course is a weekly seminar, focusing on the role of classical Persian literature in various aspects of the modern Persian society. Persian poetry’s central role in Persian identity is uncontested, and in this course, the student journeys through the rich classical literature, examining how individual poets are received by Persian speaking peoples. One of the aim of this course is to know how classical literature functions in society and everyday life. We will read the works of classical masters such as Ferdowsi, Sana’i, Khayyam, Attar, Nezami, Saadi, Rumi, Hafez. In addition to these poets, we will pay attention to the way Shiite passion plays and mystic poetry of Ayatollah Khomeini were used during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war.
Timetable
For the most recent update of the timetable please click here
Method of instruction
The course consists of thirteen seminars. For each seminar, students are required to read in advance selections from secondary literature and to analyse a limited number of passages from the primary sources. Each session consists of two hours with one short break. The first hour is a general lecture while during the remaining hour, the students discuss their translations and analyses of a text. Each student is expected to give one presentation on a specific topic from the programme below. The final assignment for this course is an essay of 3,000 words, part of which should be an annotated translation of a literary text. Both primary and secondary literature are available from the lecturer. Students are responsible for their own photocopies of the texts.
Examination
Paper (60%) and presentation (40%)
Information
dr. Asghar Seyed-Gohrab
Matthias de Vrieshof 4, Witte Singel 25, room 109B ( 31 (0) 71- 527 22 87.
Blackboard/webpage
Overview
- 1-4 Ferdowsi’s Shâh-nâma as an icon of Persian identity I
Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings, Trans. Dick Davis, Penguin Books, 2006, second print 2007; Dick Davis, Epic and Sedition: The Case of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Mage Publishers, reprint 2006; S. Soroudi, “Poet and Revolution: The Impact of Iran’s constitutional Revolution on the Social and Literary Outlook of the Poets of the Time: Part I” in Iranian Studies, vol. 12, no. 1/2, 1979, pp. 3-41; idem, “Poet and Revolution: The Impact of Iran’s constitutional Revolution on the Social and Literary Outlook of the Poets of the Time: Part II” in Iranian Studies, vol. 12, no. 3 /4, 1979, pp. 239-73; Michael B. Loraine, “A Memoir on the Life and Poetical Works of Maliku’l-Shu’ara’Baharr” in International Journal of Middle east Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, 1972, pp. 140-68; idem, “Bahar in the Context of Persian Constitutional Revolution,” in Iranian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2/3, 1972, pp. 79-87. M. Afshâri & M. Madâyeni, Haft Lashgar (tumâr-e jâme-e naqqâlan): az Kayumarth tâ Bahman, Tehran: Padzuheshgâh_, 1998; J. Dustkhâh (ed.), _MorshedAbbâs Zariri, Dâstân-e Rostam va Sohrâb: revâyat-e naqqalân, Tehran: 1990; H. Seyf, Coffee House Painting, Tehran: Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, 2nd print, 1990. K. Yamamoto, The Oral Background of Persian Epics: Storytelling and Poetry. (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 26). Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2003, 20-52. U. Marzolph, “Illustrated Persian Lithographic Editions of the Shâhnâme” in Edebiyât 13/2, 2002, 177-198; Shahnama: the Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings, ed. R. Hillenbrand, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004.
5 Omar Khayyâm and the Persian quatrain
Robâiyyât-e Khayyām_, ed. M.A. Forughi & Q. Ghani, reprinted with an intro. by B.D. Khorramshâhi, Tehran: Nâhid, 1373/1994. L.P. Elwell-Sutton, “‘Omar Khayyâm” in _Persian Literature, ed. E. Yarshater, Bibliotheca Persica, 1988, 147-60; Ali Dashti, In Search of Omar Khayyâm, Trans. L.P. Elwell-Sutton, London, 1971.6-7 Hakim Sanai of Ghazna and Farid ad-Din Attar
Sanæ>ñ, „akñm Majdýd-i Ædam, _„adñqat al-…aqñqa wa-sharññ of Ghazna, Leiden: E.J. Brill, Publication of the “De Goeje Fund,” No. 25, 1983.