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Ruba'Iyat of Omar Khayyam (Paperback)

~ Ahmad Saidi (Author)
Key Phrases: References Calcutta, References Bodleian, References Lucknow (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

The Rubaiyat, 1859 Edition. (complete)
The Rubaiyat, 1889 Edition. (complete)
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-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.


Product Description

This is a new selection from the Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam, the famed poet of Iran. It differs from other selections in that the entries here are chosen with emphasis on authenticity and translations are made with emphasis on accuracy. Furthermore, all historical, religious and mystical allusions, hard to understand, are fully annotated.

The translator renders faithfully and beautifully the selections from the Ruba'iyat into English quatrains that not only reflect the sense, but also the sound and the style of the original work, noted for simplicity, spontaneity and poetic beauty.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 302 pages
  • Publisher: Jain Publishing Company (December 1992)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0895818981
  • ISBN-13: 978-0895818980
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,337,602 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

37 Reviews
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4.6 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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78 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Omar and the Spice Girls, January 27, 2004
"The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam" translated by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs is available in two Penguin editions. This edition (ISBN 01400595447) comes in a larger format with 32 beautiful colored illustrations of Persian miniature paintings from the 16th and 17th century, and an essay on the history of the miniatures that points out the influence of Chinese painting on Persian graphic arts (an interesting subject in itself). The other edition is the Penguin Classics edition (ISBN 0140443843), which is identical to this edition but lacks the illustrations and the essay on Persian graphic arts. The illustrated, larger sized edition is definitely worth the slightly higher price, in my opinion.

A reader who is familiar with FitzGerald's classic "re-creation" - "translation" is a term that is too weak in this context - will be surprised at the defiant materialism of Omar Khayyam's quatrains in Avery's literal translation stripped of the poetic spark of FitzGerald's work.

For example, while the Victorian gentleman Edward FitzGerald chose to translate Omar Khayyam's praise of simple joys and poetry in his famous "A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, / A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and Thou / Beside me singing in the Wilderness - / Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!", Peter Avery gives us not only a more literal translation (#98) but also a much more worldly (and spicy) version of the same theme:

If chance supplied a loaf of white bread,
Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton,
In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl
There'd be enjoyment no Sultan could outdo. (#234)

In his introduction, Peter Avery points out that the ruba'i (quatrain) was the favorite verse form among intellectuals, "those philosophers and mystics in eleventh- and twelfth-century Persia who were in some degree non-conformists opposed to religious fanatism, so that they have often been called Islam's free-thinkers." And a free-thinker Omar Khayyam was. He did not believe in the cardinal Muslim tenet of the resurrection of the body after death, and he suggested that drinking wine was better than worrying about abstruse religious theories and dogmas. In an instance that must have been particularly enraging for orthodox Muslims he turned the argument for future rewards in paradise on its head by thinking it through to its logical end:

They promise there will be Paradise and the houri-eyed,
Where clear wine and honey will flow:
Should we prefer wine and a lover, what's the harm?
Are not these the final recompense? (#88)

(the "houri-eyed" are beautiful girls, by the way)

In another slyly funny (and self-critical) quatrain, Omar Khayyam pushes his skepticism and blunt honesty even further:

A religious man said to a whore, "You're drunk,
Caught every moment in a different snare."
She replied, "Oh Shaikh, I am what you say,
Are you what you seem?"(#86)

Peter Avery's translations stress the worldly, materialistic side of Omar Khayyam, which is rooted in his conviction that nothing lasts but the joys experienced in the present moment. What I missed in Peter Avery's translations, though, was the joy Omar Khayyam must have felt when he created a new quatrain to remind himself to seize the day, to change his state of mind (that's a polite way of describing "to get drunk") or just to invent a polished metaphor or rhyme. FitzGerald captured this redeeming poetic beauty of Omar Khayyam's work so well that his rendition of the Rubaiyat remains a benchmark true to the spirit if not the letter of the Persian poet:

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help - for It
As impotently moves as you or I.

(while Avery translates with the intention "to give as literal an English version of the Persian originals as readability and intelligibility permit":)

The good and evil that are in man's heart,
The joy and sorrow that are our fortune and destiny,
Do not impute them to the wheel of heaven because, in the light of reason,
The wheel is a thousand times more helpless than you. (#34)

Buy this edition for the invaluable introduction, for the contrast to FitzGerald's rendition, and quite simply to get a feeling for Omar Khayyam's blunt honesty; but do buy a book with FitzGerald's version, preferably the out-of-print edition with English novelist A.S. Byatt's introduction ("Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", ASIN 0965231240).

And lest anyone should think Omar Khayyam was only a frivolous, inebriated hedonist, here are two of my favorite quatrains from Peter Avery's and John Heath-Stubbs's book:

If the heart could grasp the meaning of life,
In death it would know the mystery of God;
Today when you are in possession of yourself, you know nothing.
Tomorrow when you leave yourself behind, what will you know? (#5)

It is we who are the source of our own happiness, the mine of our own sorrow,
The repository of justice and foundation of iniquity;
We who are cast down and exalted, perfect and defective,
At once the rusted mirror and Jamshid's all-seeing cup. (#211)

(Avery explains that to the Persian culture hero Jamshid or Jam was attributed a magic cup in which he could see time past, present and future and all the world, and by which like Joseph with his silver cup, he could divine (Genesis xliv, 4-5).)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, I would recommend it to anyone!, September 3, 1999
By A Customer
I first read this work of art a month ago, and many times after that. My parents were surprised that I, being 14 years of age, liked it, although I think anyone with a bit of an understanding towards life would enjoy it. Being Persian myslef, and knowledgable towards the history of Omar Khayyam and his time,I read this book in Persian, English and French. Although I think that without doubt anyone who is able to should read the Persian edition, the English translation did not lose the touch and certain charm of the works. Don't underestimate your children either. I mean hey, give it a shot, they might like it!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Translating Khayyum, June 5, 2002
Many people accuse the Fitzgerald translation of deviating too much from the Persian original. Personally, I don't like to see poetry translated from one language to another in verse either, because I will always feel that something has been missed.

However, if it is not translated in verse, then it is no longer has the quality of the original poetry. So what shall we do here?

I think that Fitzgerald has done an excellent job in translating Khayyum. It is said that good poetry has a balance of two things - beautiful language and meaning. Ftizgerald has achieved this.

If you are looking for a more "literal" translation, to get exactly what Khayyum said and thought, then you are better to look to a word for word, unrhyming translation, that has taken care to keep the authentic quatrains only - not all the ones ascribed to him. The "Persian Heritage Series" has produced a good translation like this.

Also beware of "commentaries" telling you that Omar Khayyum was a sufi, mystic, or whatever... and that his verses have special meanings outside of the literal interpretation. It is true that poets in Persia used such imagery as "may" (wine), "maykhana" (tavern), "saqi" (cup-bearer), "yar-e nazanin" (lovely maiden) etc. etc. to bring across meanings of God, and heaven, though this doesn't mean that these things are always implied.

One of the qualities of poetry is that it is ambiguous. It must be recognised that people like Omar Khayyum and Hafez were living in times of religious persecution. If you said something against the established sect, then you could be accused of "kufr" (blasphemy) and punished accordingly. Khayyum himself was accused of kufr, as was Hafez in his time through a line of poetry he had written. Hafez protected himself through the ingenious adding of another line of poetry, clearing his name. Khayyum protected himself because he was a guest at the royal court.

:)

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Find a better translation than Fitzgerald's
Edward Fitzgerald was a mediocre Orientalist with a faulty command of Farsi, and his translations of Spanish poetry are forgotten. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Richard K. Woodward

4.0 out of 5 stars not bad
A little repetitive...

No point in worrying... enjoy life at the moment... can't control birth or death so lets get drunk and make love


But pretty.
Published 19 months ago by Genovive Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars Wine of Wisdom & Understanding
I'm new to the Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam, but I must say I throughly enjoyed this translation. It's great for reading alone, reading aloud and discussing with good... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Wobu Zhidao II

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential read for multi-cultural studies
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is almost certainly the most widely known work by an Islamic writer. It is the only non-western piece of literature that I was required to read when... Read more
Published on April 11, 2007 by Charles Ashbacher

5.0 out of 5 stars Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
I collect this work in different formats. This particular book is very good. I recommend everyone reading the Rubaiyat at least once in their lifetime. Read more
Published on March 1, 2007 by R. G. Jordan

4.0 out of 5 stars Illustrated Editions Company Review
There are so many editions of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat translations that have been published, with many being limited editions. Read more
Published on January 13, 2006 by Gregory Lewis

5.0 out of 5 stars Edward FitzGerald Gets Far Too Little Credit For this Translation
These verses, which we anglophones have come to intone as though they were scripture, are not those of Omar Khayyam (meaning Omar the tentmaker in Farsi), but those of a less... Read more
Published on December 7, 2005 by Ralph White

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Wisdom of the past has transcended time and is true today as it was 700 years ago. Verses are easy to memorize and the book could be like a bible by your night table. Read more
Published on October 14, 2005 by D. A. Ushakov

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry By And For A Hedonistic Skeptic
Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain--THIS Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has... Read more
Published on October 13, 2005 by Penny Dreadful

5.0 out of 5 stars No doubt the most famous translation
The style does justice to the spirit of the original work.
Published on September 30, 2005 by Monel Amin

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