In his new collection of poems, Dick Davis, the acclaimed author of Belonging, addresses themes that he has long worked with--travel, the experience of being a stranger, the clash of cultures, the vagaries of love, the pleasures and epiphanies of meaning that art allows us. But A Trick of Sunlight introduces a new theme that revolves around the idea of happiness--is it possible, must it be illusory, is its fleetingness an essential part of its nature so that disillusion is inevitable? Many of the poems are shaded by the poet's awareness of growing older, and by the ways that this both shuts down many of life's possibilities and frees us from their demands. The levity of some verses here is something of a departure for Davis, but his insights can be mordant too, revealing darknesses as often as they invoke frivolity. As Davis's readers have come to expect, the poems in A Trick of Sunlight aim at the aesthetic satisfactions that accompany accurate observations expressed with wit, intelligence, and grace. But they achieve as well an immediacy and rawness of vision that seem to belie his careful craft.

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There are worlds within our own in which even the smallest victories are hard won, the tender moment is almost unbearable, and the understated rings like a bell. "Belonging," a new collection by British poet Dick Davis, is an extended visit to these worlds.
Deepened by his dry wit and the formal rigor of his verse, the poems of "Belonging" negotiate their way among personal and political divides -- generations in a family, man and woman, and the tentative present and our inherited pasts.
But behind much of the writing there is also a desire for a kind of idealized belonging -- to a clerisy of civilized and humane decency which can be found intermittently in all cultures and is the monopoly of none. Davis's own cosmopolitan background provides the context for many of the poems, yet he is concerned always to find the humanly universal within the local and anecdotal -- a hope realized in these careful and incandescent poems.

Dick Davis, "our pre-eminent translator from the Persian" (Washington Post) has revised and expanded his highly-praised translation of Ferdowsi's masterpiece, including more than 100 pages of newly translated text. Davis's elegant combination of prose and verse allows the poetry of the Shanameh to sing its own tales directly, interspersed sparingly with clearly-marked explanations to ease along modern readers. Among the greatest works of world literature, this prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi in the late tenth century, tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century.

Consisting of a group of stories bound together by a pilgrimage, this great twelfth-century poem is an allegorical rendering of the Way of the Sufi—the secretive and paradoxical form of Islamic mysticism.

A pioneer in the financial media, Dick Davis has interacted with the investing public for over forty years. With his new book, he continues this trend. The first part of "The Dick Davis Dividend" contains an easy-to-read, yet profound discussion of the essentials of investing--focusing on the savvy veteran's often unconventional, core beliefs. While the second part of this engaging guide makes a compelling case for combining both passive investing via index funds and active investing via stocks and mutual funds.

This is the fourteenth volume from Between The Lines, and it marks an interesting departure from the previous thirteen, featuring as it does three poets, not just one, each of whom is rather younger than the poets appearing in the earlier books. Though younger each has a claim to being called "senior," having a long list of highly regarded publications behind them, and a number of coveted honors and awards to his/her name. The three poets have been questioned at length about their life and their work by three distinguished poet-critics: Clive Wilmer, Isaac Cates, and Cynthia Haven. Their carefully meditated responses will be helpful to the general reader and the specialist alike. The three poets interviewed are Tim Steele, who teaches at California State University, Dick Davis, who teaches at Ohio State University, and Rachel Hadas, who teaches at Rutgers University.

One of the great works of Persian literature in a masterful new translation Called 'the Romeo and Juliet of the East' by Lord Byron, Layli and Majnun is a classic tale of forbidden love that gained widespread popularity following its depiction in this twelfth-century narrative poem. Much like the lovers in the Shakespearean classic, Layli and Majnun's star-crossed lovers have become icons of both Persian literature and popular culture thanks to Nizami's accessible narrative poem, which is translated here in rhyming couplets by the acclaimed poet and scholar of Persian literature Dick Davis.

An incredible collection of verse by women poets writing in Persian, many translated into English for the first time From Iran and India, to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, from princesses and entertainers to anonymous wives and daughters, The Mirror of My Heart displays the extraordinary breadth of women writing in Persian. The 83 poets included in this collection - many translated here for the first time - traverse a thousand years: from Rabe'eh and her surprisingly sensual writing in the ninth century, to the powerful verse of Fatemeh Ekhtesari in the twenty-first.

Shahrokh Meskoob was one of Iran's leading intellectuals and a preeminent scholar of Persian literary traditions, language, and cultural identity. In The Ant's Gift, Meskoob applies his insight and considerable analytical skills to the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran completed in 1010 by the poet Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi. Tracing Iran's history from its first mythical king to the fall of the Sasanian dynasty, the Shahnameh includes myths, romance, history, and political theory. Meskoob sheds new light on this seminal work of Persian culture, identifying the story as at once a historical and poetic work. While previous criticism of the Shahnameh has focused on its linguistic importance and its role in Iranian nationalism, Meskoob draws attention to the work's pre-Islamic cultural origins.

The most beloved Iranian novel of the twentieth century
"God forbid, I've fallen in love with Layli!" So begins the farce of our narrator's life, one spent in a large extended Iranian family lorded over by the blustering, paranoid patriarch, Dear Uncle Napoleon. When Uncle Napoleon's least-favorite nephew falls for his daughter, Layli, family fortunes are reversed, feuds fired up and resolved, and assignations attempted and thwarted.
First published in Iran in the 1970s and adapted into a hugely successful television series, this beloved novel is now "Suggested Reading" in Azar Nafisi's "Reading Lolita in Tehran. My Uncle Napoleon is a timeless and universal satire of first love and family intrigue.

A giant of world literature, an eloquent princess, a dissolute satirist -- these are the three voices translated from fourteenth-century Persian by Dick Davis in Faces of Love. Together, they represent one of the most remarkable literary flowerings of any era. All three -- Hafez, Jahan Malek Khatun, and Obayd-e Zakani -- lived in Shiraz, a provincial capital in south-central Iran, and all drew support from arts-loving rulers at a time better known for invasions and political violence. Love was a frequent subject of their work: spiritual as well as secular, in varieties embracing every aspect of the human heart. They could hardly have been more different. Hafez -- destined to win fame throughout the world -- wrote lyrical poetry that was subtle, elusive, and rich in ambiguity. Jahan -- largely forgotten until recent decades -- was a privileged princess who could evoke passion, longing and heartbreak with uncanny power. (As Davis says: "To have this extraordinary poets fascinating and often very beautiful poems emerge from six hundred years of virtual oblivion seems almost miraculous") Obayd -- a satirist and truth-teller -- celebrated every pleasure of the flesh in language of astonishing and occasionally obscene honesty.

The Hudson Review has always had an international focus. Travel and reports from abroad have figured prominently in the journal, including essays on exotic and picturesque locales, as well as accounts from war-torn areas and the experiences of exiles. Many of these are pilgrimages; others are harrowing memoirs. What unites even the most devastating of these accounts are intellectual curiosity and a spirit of adventure. Places Lost and Found is a treasury of distinctive and compelling essays selected from six decades of the Hudson Review. From a description of the gardens of Kyoto and a portrait of Syria just before its civil war to reflections on Veblen and the Mall of America, these essays explore an array of places that are deeply layered with history and meaning. The stunning cover photo of the Semper Opera House in Dresden encapsulates many of the themes of the book: war and its aftermath, the importance of the built environment in any discussion of "place," the endurance of civilization and resilience, and of course the romance of travel.

In "Borrowed Ware, poet and translator Dick Davis brings together a collection of epigrams by poets from the "classic" period of Persian literature. It makes a fascinating introduction to a literature that is little known in the West, and incidentally provides insight into a vanished and extraordinary way of life. Davis's prodigious scholarship of Persian poetry has enabled him to select a wide range of poems, from both famous and little-known poets. The result is some to the best English translations of Persian poetry ever. Davis has maintained exceptional faithfulness to the original Persian while recasting the poems grace and drive in English. The book also contains a lucid and entertaining introduction, and informative notes on each of the sixty-eight poets whose work is included. Each poem is faced by the text in delicate Persian "nasta'liq calligraphy by Amir Hossein Tabnak

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.

The Hudson Review has always had an international focus. Travel and reports from abroad have figured prominently in the journal, including essays on exotic and picturesque locales, as well as accounts from war-torn areas and the experiences of exiles. Many of these are pilgrimages; others are harrowing memoirs. What unites even the most devastating of these accounts are intellectual curiosity and a spirit of adventure. Places Lost and Found is a treasury of distinctive and compelling essays selected from six decades of the Hudson Review. From a description of the gardens of Kyoto and a portrait of Syria just before its civil war to reflections on Veblen and the Mall of America, these essays explore an array of places that are deeply layered with history and meaning. The stunning cover photo of the Semper Opera House in Dresden encapsulates many of the themes of the book: war and its aftermath, the importance of the built environment in any discussion of "place," the endurance of civilization and resilience, and of course the romance of travel.

The selected adventures of Persia's Hercules, from Iran's great national epic
No understanding of world mythology is complete without acquaintance with Rostam, Iran's most celebrated mythological hero. According to the "Shahnameh "(the tenth-century "Book of Kings"), this titan, magnificent in strength and courage, bestrode Persia for 500 years. While he often served fickle kings?undergoing many trials of combat, cunning, and endurance?he was never their servant and owed allegiance only to his nation's greater good. Anyone interested in folklore, world literature, or Iranian culture will find "Rostam" both a rousing and illuminating read.
The selected adventures of Persia's Hercules, from Iran's great national epic
No understand ing of world mythology is complete without acquaintance with Rostam, Iran's most celebrated mythological hero. According to the "Shahnameh "(the tenth-century "Book of Kings"), this titan, magnificent in strength and courage, bestrode Persia for 500 years. While he often served fickle kings?undergoing many trials of combat, cunning, and endurance?he was never their servant and owed allegiance only to his nation's greater good. Anyone interested in folklore, world literature, or Iranian culture will find "Rostam" both a rousing and illuminating read.

"The Legend of Seyavash begins with the stuff of romance--a foreign girl of royal blood, found as a fugitive and introduced into the king's harem, gives birth to a son, Seyavash, who is raised not by his father the king, but by the great hero Rostam. Upon his return home from Rostam's tutelage, he is betrayed by his stepmother, Sudabeh, who attempts to seduce him and punishes him with a trial by fire when he spurns her. Seyavash is victorious in his trial, and goes on to successfully battle Iran's rival. Turan, concluding a truced with the Turanian king, Afrasyab, on amicable terms. But Seyavash's father, Kavus, insists that Seyavash surrender the Turanian hostages to slaughter, and with a conflicted conscience and no one to turn to, Seyavash flees to the Turanian court, where he is first given safe harbor, but is once again abandoned, murdered by the king's jealous brother. The Legend of Seyavash comes from the middle section of Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh, and presents a world of warfare between Iran and its neighbors. The epic style--with its paeans to loyalty, military prowess, and bravery, and its dichotomy between the forces of good and evil--is in full bloom. But here, as an episode of the Shahnameh which seems to receive more of Ferdowsi's attention, "The Legend of Seyavash achieves a psychological complexity, in Seyavash's struggles with his various father-figures, with his surrogate family, and ultimately with his own sense of loyalty conscience, and fate. The heroic action in The Legend of Seyavash is matched by Ferdowsi's acute and ethical insights into the individual's struggle between conscience and familial loyalty, easting Seyavash as not only an epic figures but a tragic oneas well.

Among the masterpieces of world literature, one of the least familiar to English readers is the Persian Book of Kings (Shahnameh in Persian). Composed 1,000 years ago, this prodigious national epic is a 60,000 couplet verse poem, which recounts Persia's history from the time of Creation to the 7th-century Arab conquest. The Lion and the Throne, volume I of our series recasts the first third of this epic in a mixture of English prose and verse for the contemporary reader. These tales follow Persia's civilization through a long line of rulers, heroes and heroines as they face love and lust, tragedy and treachery, war and peace, victory and defeat.

Volume II of our series, Fathers and Sons, opens and closes with tales of tragic conflict between a king and his son: Prince Seyavash and Prince Esfandyar are both driven from the court by their foolish fathers to confront destiny and death in distant lands. Interwoven with Seyavash's story is the tale of his stepmother Sudabeh's lust for him, and of his escape from her wiles by the famous trial by fire. Esfandyar's story involves the last combat of the great Rostam, a fight to the death which leads to Rostam's own demise at the hands of his evil brother Shaghad. Between these two stories the reader travels through a wondrous landscape of romance "Bizhan and Manizheh", demons "the Akvan Div", heroic despair "The Story of Forud" and mystical renunciation of the world "The Occultation of Kay Khosrow". Breathtaking miniatures from the finest Persian Shahnameh manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries heighten the emotional impact of the text.