After the fall of the Sassanian Empire and with it the gradual decline of Middle Persian as a literary language, New Persian literature emerged in Transoxiana, beyond the frontiers of present-day Iran, and was written and read in India even before it became firmly established in cities such as Isfahan on the Iranian plateau. Over the course of a millennium (ca. 900-1900 CE), Persian established itself as a contact vernacular and an international literary language from Sarajevo to Madras, with Persian poetry serving as a universal cultural cachet for literati both Muslim and non-Muslim. The role of Persian, beyond its early habitat of Iran and other Islamic lands, has long been recognized: European scholars first came to Persian via Turkey and British orientalists via India. Yet the universal popularity of poets such as Sa'di and Hafez of Shiraz and the ultimate rise of Iran to claim the centre of Persian writing and scholarship led to a relative neglect of the Persianate periphery until recently. This volume contributes to the scholarship of the Persianate fringe with the aid of the abundant material (notably in Tajik, Uzbek and Russian) long neglected by Western scholars and the perspectives of a new generation on this complex and important aspect of Persian literature.

Persian literature is the jewel in the crown of Persian culture. It has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India and Turkic Central Asia and been a source of inspiration for Goethe, Emerson, Matthew Arnold and Jorge Luis Borges among others. Yet Persian literature has never received the attention it truly deserves. "General Introduction to Persian Literature" answers this need and offers a new, comprehensive and detailed history of its subject. This 18-volume, authoritative survey reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian experience. It includes extensive, revealing examples with contributions by prominent scholars who bring a fresh critical approach to bear on this important topic. The first volume offers an indispensable entree to Persian literature's long and rich history, examining themes and subjects that are common to many fields of Persian literary study. This invaluable introduction to the subject heralds a definitive and ground-breaking new series.

Persian literature is the jewel in the crown of Persian culture. It has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India and Turkic Central Asia. It has been a source of inspiration for Goethe, Emerson, Matthew Arnold and Jorge Luis Borges among others and praised by William Jones, Tagore, E. M. Forster and many more. Yet Persian literature has never received the attention in the West, which it merits. Whereas Persian art and architecture, and more recently Iranian cinema, have been written about extensively and at different levels for a varied audience, Persian literature - the greatest achievement of the Iranian people, and one of the major literatures of the world - has largely remained the exclusive domain of specialists. And although in the past few years the poems of Rumi have attracted the kind of popular attention enjoyed by Omar Khayyam's quatrains in the 19th century, Persian literature has never had the impact of the recognition outside the Persianate world of a major world literature. A History of Persian Literature responds to this need and offers a new, comprehensive and detailed history of its subject. This multi-volume, authoritative survey reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian nation. Prominent scholars in the field bring a fresh critical approach to bear on this important topic and each volume includes representative samples of this literature. *** The third volume in this ground-breaking series explores mainly the poems written in the couplet form (mathnavi) including narrative mathnavis, allegorical mathnavis such as Conference of the Birds by Attar as well as didactive mathnavis such as Sa'di's Bustan and Rumi's Mathnavi-ye Ma'navi. Included in this volume are also Strophic Poetry, Satirical and Invective Poems and Occasional Poems (qat'e) and some rarer forms of Persian poetry. Exploring these genres of Persian poetry and the major figures of each genre such as Rudaki, Nezami, Sana'i, Attar, Sa'di and Rumi, there is a detailed examination of the intricate interplay between form and content. Through expert and revealing analysis of these distinctive Persian poetic genres this volume provides invaluable insights into their creation and development. Examining the contribution of the great practitioners of the era, some of the most distinguished authorities on the subject lend their expertise to unravel the complex but central role played by poetry in its golden age. This volume is an invaluable companion for anyone who wants to understand the continuing relevance and influence of Classical Persian Poetry.

The second volume in this series presents the reader with an extensive study of some major genres of Persian poetry from the first centuries after the rise of Islam to the end of the Timurid era and the inauguration of Safavid rule in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The authors explore the development of poetic genres, from the panegyric (qaside), to short lyrical poems (ghazal), and the quatrains (roba'i), tracing the stylistic evolution of Persian poetry up to 1500 and examine the vital role of these poetic forms within the rich landscape of Persian literature.