Note: When searching for resources on non-English titles, there may be spelling variants. The official Library of Congress subject heading for the Shahnama is "Firdawsī. Shāhnāmah." The diacritics aren't normally vital though, so "Shanama," "Shahnamah," or "Shahnameh" would all work. In most databases, using "Shahnam*" (without quotations) should encompass most variants.
In book indexes, look under both Shanama (and variants) as well as Ferdowsi or Firdawsi.
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World by
Most up-to-date Analyses. The ever-growing numbers of students matriculating in disciplines connected to the teaching and understanding of Islam need accurate, current information on this religion and its impact on the world. Balanced Coverage. Rich historical content is partnered with coverage of the issues, countries, and people that are important in today's world, allowing for an assessment of Islam's influence on all areas of human activity throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas Fully Updated Content. More than 50% new and revised content, including more than 160 new entries and 60 sidebars. Beautifully Illustrated in Full Color. This edition doubles the number of photos and maps from the first edition, all in color.
The Necklace of the Pleiades by
Persian literature has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India, and Turkic Central Asia, and was a source of inspiration for such prominent intellectuals as Goethe, Emerson, and Jorge Luis Borges, among others. This comprehensive study reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature, with contributions from prominent scholars who bring a fresh critical approach to this important topic. The essays illuminate subjects ranging from the Alexander romance, to Sufism and Baha’i literature, to the reception of Salman Rushdie’s novels in Persian. A snapshot of the current state of Persian literary studies, this volume will be of substantial interest not only to scholars of Iranian culture, history, and religions, but of Middle Eastern and South Asian studies as well.
Shahnama Studies II by
This volume explores different aspects of the reception of Firdausi's Shahnama or 'Book of Kings', both within Iran and in neighbouring lands.
Shahnama Studies III by
Shahnama Studies III focuses on the hugely successful afterlife of the Shahnama or Book of Kings, completed by the poet Firdausi around 1010 AD. This long epic grew out to be an icon of Persian culture and served as a source of inspiration for art and literature, leaving its traces in manifold ways. The contributors to this volume each treat an aspect of the rich legacy of the Shahnama and offer new insights in Shahnama manuscript studies, the illustration of the Shahnama, the phenomenon of later epics, and the Shahnama in later texts and contexts.
The World of Persian Literary Humanism by
What does it mean to be human? Humanism has mostly considered this question from a Western perspective. Through a detailed examination of a vast literary tradition, Hamid Dabashi asks that question anew, from a non-European point of view. The answers are fresh, provocative, and deeply transformative. This groundbreaking study of Persian humanism presents the unfolding of a tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization. Exploring how 1,400 years of Persian literature have taken up the question of what it means to be human, Dabashi proposes that the literary subconscious of a civilization may also be the undoing of its repressive measures. This could account for the masculinist hostility of the early Arab conquest that accused Persian culture of effeminate delicacy and sexual misconduct, and later of scientific and philosophical inaccuracy. As the designated feminine subconscious of a decidedly masculinist civilization, Persian literary humanism speaks from a hidden and defiant vantage point-and this is what inclines it toward creative subversion. Arising neither despite nor because of Islam, Persian literary humanism was the artistic manifestation of a cosmopolitan urbanism that emerged in the aftermath of the seventh-century Muslim conquest. Removed from the language of scripture and scholasticism, Persian literary humanism occupies a distinct universe of moral obligations in which "a judicious lie," as the thirteenth-century poet Sheykh Mosleh al-Din Sa'di writes, "is better than a seditious truth."
Shahnama Studies I by
This volume brings together a collection of papers exploring many different aspects of the Shahnama, both as literature and as the object of royal patronage. It focuses particularly on the manuscripts in which the poem has been preserved from the thirteenth century onwards, and the relationships between Firdausi's text and the rich variety of the miniature paintings created to illustrate it.
Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings by
Drawing on comprehensive research in oral poetics and epic traditions, as well as on her own throughtful reading of other monumental works of world literature which have been so influential in shaping our present day notions of national and cultural identity, Professor Davidson enhances our understanding of the relationship between myth and epic and orality and literary history. The theoretically radical rethinking of long held assumptions are buttressed by meticulous references to the text itself, providing the readers with ample opportunity to assess the evidence for the searching questions provided by the book in the closely connected fields of comparative literature and religion, and literary theory and history.
Women in the Shahnameh by
In the introduction, the author seeks to clarify the role of the female gender within the heavenly mythology of Iran in order to next determine if and if so, to what extent it is represented within the Shahnameh. The introduction ends with the story of the creation of man and woman, which the author connects to the story of the first women in the Shahnameh.
Part A summarizes the stories of the most important women of the Shahnameh, comparing them to others from ancient to medieval sources insofar as they were known and accessible to the author at the time of writing. At the end of each paragraph, the author outlines the characteristic traits of each individual. Given the high number of female characters in the Shahnameh, Khaleghi considers all women from the mythical part, but only the most important ones from the historical part, which he then divides into women of the nobility and those belonging to the common people.
Part B examines the positions of the women in the Shahnameh, taking into consideration other ancient and medieval sources. Khaleghi outlines the role, importance, and fate of each female character in the various periods of their lives, e.g. as a girl, wife, and mother, both within the family framework and society as a whole. Since the Shahnameh is not a book on family law, Khaleghi has taken into account other sources in order to fill gaps that would otherwise have existed. Most of the sources used in this analysis the classical ones as well as the Arabic and Iranian ones are so well known that a more detailed description is unnecessary.
Poetics and Politics of Iran's National Epic, the Shahnameh by
This book considers some of the Western interpretations of The Shahnameh - Iran's national epic, and argues that these interpretations are not only methodologically flawed, but are also more revealing of Western concerns and anxieties about Iran than they are about the Shahnameh.
Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings by
Addressing the literary as well as the historical and mythological aspects of the Shahnama, Olga M. Davidson makes this centerpiece of Iranian culture accessible to Western readers." "Drawing on recent work in epic studies and oral poetics, Davidson considers analogies with Classical and medieval European narratives as she investigates the poem's social contexts. Her interpretation of the Shahnama focuses on both the figure of the poet himself and on his protagonists - the superhuman hero Rostam and the historical or historicized shahs. Exploring the Shahnama as an example, Davidson identifies as a driving force of Ferdowsi's narrative a strong current of antagonism between king and hero. Ironically, she shows, it is the epic hero himself who poses the greatest threat to the concept of kingship that he is sworn to defend." "Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings enhances our understanding of the relationship between myth and epic. It will be welcomed by readers working in such fields as comparative literature, Middle Eastern Studies, folklore, literary theory, and comparative religion.