This volume is a collection of essays on classical Persian literature, focusing on Persian rhetorical devices, especially imagery and metaphors. The various contributions discuss the origin and the development of debate poetry, the transmission of Persian and Arabic tales to the works of Europeans medieval authors such as Boccaccio and Chaucer, but also the development of Aristotelian poetics and epistemology in Persian philosophical tradition. Furthermore, the baroque style of the Shiite author usayn V i K shif, the use of wine metaphors by mystics such as Jal l al-D n R m, fi 's original use of candle metaphors, the translation of Khayy m 's metaphors into English, and the importance of a single metaphor in the epic Barz -n ma are discussed.Contributors include: J. Landau, Ch. van Ruymbeke, A.A. Seyed-Gohrab, N. Pourjavady, F.D. Lewis, A. Sedighi, G.R. van den Berg, S. Sharma, F. Abdullaeva.

The True Dream is a Persian satirical drama set in Isfahan in the lead up to Iran's Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11. Although its three authors hail from the clerical class, they criticize the arrogance, corruption and secularity of the Iranian ruling dynasty and clergy, taking Isfahan as their example. The work blends fact and fiction by summoning the prominent men of the city to account for themselves on the Day of Judgement. God speaks offstage, delivering withering judgements of their behaviour. The dream of the authors is a vision of an Iran governed by law, where justice prevails and the clergy are honestly religious. This book has the Persian and English translation on facing pages. The introduction presents brief biographies of the authors - who wrote anonymously, but were all executed. One of the authors was the father of Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh, a pioneer of modern Persian fiction, and The True Dream was one of the first dramas, in European style, to be written in Persian. The book shows that today's struggle for a modern society began more than a century ago, and then and now pivots on the role of the Islamic clerics (the ulama). Using colloquial language, this first English translation of a significant and humorous Persian satirical drama will prove an accessible and valuable resource for students of Persian. By marking a significant point in the influence of Western political philosophy and Western drama on the Persian intellectual classes, this book will also appeal to students and scholars of Middle Eastern History and Political Science.

The True Dream is a Persian satirical drama set in Isfahan in the lead up to Iran's Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11. Although its three authors hail from the clerical class, they criticize the arrogance, corruption and secularity of the Iranian ruling dynasty and clergy, taking Isfahan as their example. The work blends fact and fiction by summoning the prominent men of the city to account for themselves on the Day of Judgement. God speaks offstage, delivering withering judgements of their behaviour. The dream of the authors is a vision of an Iran governed by law, where justice prevails and the clergy are honestly religious. This book has the Persian and English translation on facing pages. The introduction presents brief biographies of the authors - who wrote anonymously, but were all executed. One of the authors was the father of Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh, a pioneer of modern Persian fiction, and The True Dream was one of the first dramas, in European style, to be written in Persian. The book shows that today's struggle for a modern society began more than a century ago, and then and now pivots on the role of the Islamic clerics (the ulama). Using colloquial language, this first English translation of a significant and humorous Persian satirical drama will prove an accessible and valuable resource for students of Persian. By marking a significant point in the influence of Western political philosophy and Western drama on the Persian intellectual classes, this book will also appeal to students and scholars of Middle Eastern History and Political Science.