Epic and Sedition: A Case of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh - Softcover

Dick Davis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933823054 ISBN 13: 9781933823058

Publisher: Mage Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

Iran's national epic, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, has traditionally been regarded by both Persians and Westerners as a poem celebrating the the central role of monarchy in Persian history. In this groundbreaking book, Dick Davis argues that the poem is far more than a patriotic chronicle of kingly deeds. Rather, it is a subtle and highly ambiguous discussion of authority, and far from being a celebration of monarchy, its most famous episodes and heroes amount to a radical critique of the institution. Davis demonstrates that the public world of kingly authority is shadowed in the poem by a series of tragic father-son relationships, and that in both the royal and familial spheres, authority figures are invariably presented as morally inferior to those whom they govern. The Shahnameh's complex aesthetic structure and its tragic resolution of problems of authority and hierarchy make it an artistic artifact able to take its rightful place beside the major masterpieces of world literature.

About this title

About the Author

Dick Davis was born to English and Italian parents in 1945 and educated at King's College, Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature). In 1970 while pursuing a career in poetry and literature and teaching in Greece he visited a friend in Iran. Davis fell in love with the country and stayed for eight years, learning Persian and teaching at the University of Tehran. After the revolution in 1979 he returned to England where he pursued his love of the Persian language, earning his Ph.D. in Medieval Persian Literature from the University of Manchester. Since then, he has emerged as the foremost translator of Persian as well as having published numerous volumes of his own poetry to critical acclaim. He is currently professor of Persian at Ohio State University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His translations from Persian include The Lion and the Throne: Stories from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi (Mage, 1997), Borrowed Ware: Medieval Persian Epigrams (Mage, 1997), My Uncle Napoleon (Mage, 1996), The Legend of Seyavash (Penguin Classics, 1992), and with Afkham Darbandi, The Conference of the Birds (Penguin Classics, 1984).

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian

Edition details

• Publisher: Mage Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1933823054
• ISBN 13: 9781933823058
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256