The Illuminated Rumi [Hardcover]

Jalal Al-Din Rumi (Author), Michael Green (Illustrator), Coleman Barks (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 1997

Rise up nimbly and go on your strange journey to the ocean of meanings...

In the mid-thirteenth century, in a dusty marketplace in Konya, Turkey, a city where Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist travelers mingled, Jelaluddin Rumi, a popular philosopher and scholar, met Shams of Tabriz, a wandering dervish.  Their meeting forever altered the course of Rumi's life and influenced the mystical evolution of the planet.  The bond they formed was everlasting--a powerful transcendent friendship that would flow through Rumi as some of the world's best-loved ecstatic poetry.

Rumi's passionate, playful poems find and celebrate sacred life in everyday existence.  They speak across all traditions, to all peoples, and today his relevance and popularity continue to grow.  In The Illuminated Rumi, Coleman Barks, widely regarded as the world's premier translator of Rumi's writings, presents some of his most brilliant work, including many new translations.  To complement Rumi's universal vision, Michael Green has worked the ancient art of illumination into a new, visually stunning form that joins typography, original art, old masters, photographs, and prints with sacred images from around the world.

The Illuminated Rumi is a truly groundbreaking collaboration that interweaves word and image: a magnificent meeting of ancient tradition and modern interpretation that uniquely captures the spiritual wealth of Rumi's teachings.  Coleman Barks's wise and witty commentary, together with Michael Green's art, makes this a classic guide to the life of the soul for a whole new generation of seekers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rumi has, to the recent amazement of many people in the Western culture as well as the Islamic culture, been able to speak directly to contemporary readers.  One of the greatest pieces of good luck that has happened recently in American poetry is Coleman Barks's agreement to translate poem after poem of Rumi.  Rumi, like Kabir, is able to contain and continue intricate theological arguments and at the same time speak directly from the heart or to the heart.  Coleman's exquisite sensitivity to the flavor and turns of ordinary American speech has produced marvelous lines, full of flavor and Sufi humor, as well as the intimacy that is carried inside American speech at its best."
--Robert Bly

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Broadway Books; 1st edition (October 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767900022
• ISBN-13: 978-0767900027
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 1.2 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The intersection of life and love across 700 years, December 7, 1999

By 

John L. Lange - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Illuminated Rumi (Hardcover)

Rumi, Coleman Barks, and Michael Green have collaborated on the most beautiful book I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot). Rumi's poetry trancends the artificial boundaries of religion, and speaks to anyone sincerely on the spiritual path. He captures the burning, the longing for the end of separation from God.

When I first became aware of Rumi's poetry, I was sure that it was about earthly love between humans here on earth. As I absorbed it more completely, I came to realize that all of his poetry, even his love poetry (which is very suitable for passing on to a loved one) is communicating with God.

Coleman Barks has done an amazing job of giving Rumi's work an accessable voice. He has truly given a gift for which we owe a huge debt of gratitude. Rumi provides the music, Coleman's translations provide the instruments.

Michael Green was obviously inspired by his collaborators to reach his own level of genius in the illustrations. I love the way he combines images from different cultures, different times, and from different disciplines both scientific and artistic! A desert oasis with a photo shot by the Hubble Space Telescope for the sky... The juxtaposition of fractal geometry with images from cultural art... I would gladly hang any of the original art from this book on the walls of my living room.

This book has been and continues to be my favorite gift to people who "get it," and I've probably handed out over 20 copies in the last two years. Do yourself a favor and buy it. I bet you'll be back for more copies.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book, October 3, 2001

By 

merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Illuminated Rumi (Hardcover)

This is a truly beautiful book - the artwork laid out with the poems is masterful. Its far more than just a book of terrific poetry - which it is by the way! I don't know how these poems read in their original language and forgive me but in this case that doesn't even matter - the writings represented here are beautifully written. I'm so glad I bought it. Its a real joy to read and contemplate.

113 of 138 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Less than illuminating, February 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Illuminated Rumi (Hardcover)

Coleman Barks has a way with words, which for the past few decades he's put to use casting the poems of 13th-century mystic Jalaluddin Rumi into contemporary language. Though considered one of the greatest poets the world has ever seen, Rumi was relatively unknown in the West until a recent surge in popularity due in no small part to Barks's efforts. THE ILLUMINATED RUMI presents readers with a pretty package indeed: deep thoughts, stirred emotions and illustrations galore. Yet while this would do most poets proud, it's doubtful Rumi would feel that way about his treatment at Barks's hands, if only because Barks speaks not a word of Persian, the language in which Rumi wrote. Barks freely admits he relied entirely on academic translations to concoct his popularized renderings. This would be less of a handicap were Rumi merely trying to entertain or to convey feelings, moods and subjective impressions. But as Barks himself points out, Rumi was a Sufi; and Sufis maintain that, far from being the emotional outpourings appearance might suggest, their poems are actually precise and carefully constructed technical instruments designed to have very specific effects on the reader under the right circumstances. These effects, which depend heavily upon the language in which the poems were written (not to mention the specific audience they were written for, which is another matter entirely), are easily blunted by translation and other forms of tampering. Barks - in translating translations - would seem to be carrying this tampering a step further, despite his good intentions. The result, however aesthetically pleasing and emotionally evocative, is unlikely to be what Rumi had in mind - any more than the miming of a surgeon's hand-movements, however gracefully executed, is likely to heal the sick. Those interested in Rumi's still-relevant message would do better to read THE SUFIS by Idries Shah, THE LIFE & WORK OF JALALUDDIN RUMI by Afzal Iqbal, or E.H. Whinfield's TEACHINGS OF RUMI.