The Legend of Seyavash (Persian Classics) (Paperback)

by Abolqasem Ferdowsi (Author), Dick Davis (Translator)
Key Phrases: turning heavens, desperate tears, ivory throne, Prince Seyavash, The Turkish, Queen Sudabeh (more...)

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Product Description
The Legend of Seyavash comes from the middle section of the Shahnameh, Iran’s national epic by the poet Ferdowsi (c 940–c 1020) and presents a world of warfare, military prowess, romance, guile, and fierce tribal loyalty. Ferdowsi’s epic style and mastery of poetic organization, however, is matched by the psychological and ethical depth of his insight and his concerns for the primal struggle between good and evil, and man’s continual attempt to create justice and civilized order out of the chaos of human greed and cruelty.

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. On Seyavash’s return home Sudabeh, his stepmother, attempts to seduce him, and when he spurns her she accuses him of having attempted to rape her. He undergoes a trial by fire to prove his innocence, and goes on to battle successfully against Iran’s rival, Turan, concluding a truce 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. Dick Davis has made a masterful translation of the poem and written a penetrating introduction.

About the Author
ABOLQASEM FERDOWSI was born in Khorasan in a village near Tus, in 940. His great epic the Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his adult life, was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. During Ferdowsi’s lifetime this dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Turks, and there are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by the new ruler of Khorasan, Mahmud of Ghazni, in Ferdowsi and his lifework. Ferdowsi is said to have died around 1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, though confident of his and his poem’s ultimate fame.

DICK DAVIS was born in Portsmouth, England in 1945 and educated at King’s College, Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature), and at the University of Manchester (Ph.D. in Medieval Persian Literature). He is currently professor of Persian at Ohio State University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Mage Publishers; Revised edition (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934211914
• ISBN-13: 978-0934211918
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,157,012 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent full verse translation, January 6, 2003

By	Il Bruce - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Legend of Seyavash (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Dick Davis provides a full verse translation of one of the principle stories of the Shahnameh. This translation of the Legend of Seyavash is an excellent place to start into the Shahnameh.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shah Nameh (Shiavaksh episode) : English translation., February 26, 2005

By	Noshir M. Khambatta (DURHAM, NC, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dr. Dick Davis has once again provided us with an admirable translation of a section of the Shah Nameh in his latest publication: "The Legend of Seyavash". The Shah Nameh (literally meaning The Book of Kings) is the national epic of Persia/Iran and is an epic poem of roughly 50,000 lines, composed by one of Persia's greatest poet, Abulqasim Firdausi and completed in 1010 A.D. The "Shiavaksh Episode" translated in this monograph is a little over 2500 lines and thus represents a small fraction of the entire poem. The translation which covers 144 pages of this monograph is preceded by a 28-page penetrating and insightful "Introduction" followed by a "List of Characters". The "Introduction" is an erudite criticism and interpretation of the Shah Nameh, it's historicity and it's relevance to the Persian culture. The Shah Nameh is a national epic far vaster in scope than it's Western equivalents, concerned as it is with the history of Persia/Iran, from the time of the creation of the world to the Arab/Islamic conquest of that country around 640 A.D.
The Seyavash episode comprises the middle legendary section of the Shah Nameh and involves around a legendary prince named Seyavash as he struggles with his youth, his adulthood and with his father (the ruling monarch). His life is a constant struggle between the good and evil as he is a perpetual victim of the king's machinations, finally dying as a result of his father's actions.
The English translation is masterful, and very readable. With his previous translations of other portions of the Shah Nameh
already in print, Dr. Davis is now admirable poised to translate the complete Shah Namah in the English language, this time hopefully using the Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh edition, so that a millennium and a century later one may read a good English translation of the Shah Nameh.