Rumi Past and Present, East and West (Hardcover)

~ Franklin Lewis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who is the bestselling poet in the United States? Allen Ginsburg? Robert Frost? Walt Whitman? How about Jalal al-Din Rumi? Rumi-mania has struck hard, inspiring rock bands, high fashion, modern dance, and opera. All this from the son of an Islamic preacher born in the foothills of the Pamir Mountains in 1207. If you'd like to separate the hype from the facts, look no further than Franklin Lewis's pièce de résistance, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West, the last word in Rumi scholarship. The first half is a biography of sorts, in which Lewis examines the available information about Rumi's father, his mentors, their teachings, and Rumi's own activities. In the second half, he takes up Rumi, himself, his writings, his message, and the Mevlevi order that grew up around him. He summarizes Western scholarship on Rumi, and perhaps most interesting for the poetry lover, he evaluates translations of Rumi, going back as far as the early 19th century and right up to Coleman Barks and Deepak Chopra. For an academic, Lewis writes with a refreshing swiftness, aplomb, and wit--characteristics Rumi would appreciate. --Brian Bruya

From Library Journal

Jal?l al-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Persian Muslim scholar and Sufi mystic, has been a best-selling poet in America in recent years. While his name is commonly associated with images of Whirling Dervishes (practitioners of the Sufi order known as the Mawlawi, which he founded), Rumi was also a professor of several medieval sciences. And he taught tolerance. In fact, when the United Nations declared 1995 "A Year of Tolerance," it cited Rumi's calls for tolerance among people of all persuasions and races. Indeed, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists attended Rumi's funeral. His inspiring mystical odes also transcended boundaries, especially his main work, Mathnawi, which highlights aspects of Sufism and how they relate to the world. In this excellent book, Lewis (Middle Eastern studies, Emory Univ.) presents a comprehensive overview of the Sufi poet-philosopher and his influence, past and present. He includes a wealth of information about Rumi's teachers, followers, writings and teachings, and influence in the Muslim world and in the West, as well as new translations of his poetry and prose. This definitive biography of an already well-documented figure is highly recommended for all collections.
-Ali Houissa. Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851682147
• ISBN-13: 978-1851682140
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,184,847 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rumi: the man behind the mystic poet., November 3, 2001

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Light a fire of love within your soul," Rumi tells us, "burn up these thoughts and words from head to toe" (p. 400). In his impressive, 686-page scholarly study of Jalal al-Din Rumi, Persian scholar Franklin Lewis illuminates the man behind the thirteenth century mystic poet and preacher. Through his meticulous research, Lewis, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, offers us "a glimpse" into Rumi's life, as well as new insights into Rumi's teachings, widely-popular poetry, and modern influence.

"Three short phrases tell the story of my life," Rumi said, "I was raw, I got cooked, I burned" (p. 404). Many of the biographical details of Rumi's life remain unknown. ""Most of what we know about Rumi," Lewis writes, "comes to us clouded by a heavy mist of myth and legend" (p. 272). We follow Rumi from his birth to an Islamic preacher in September, 1207 (p. 272) to his death on December 17, 1273 (p. 276). Along the way, Lewis reveals that his subject married at a young age, about seventeen (p. 320), fathered two children, pursued legal and religious studies in Aleppo and Damascus (p. 273), became a lawyer or professor of law (pp. 123, 274), married again (after his first wife died) and fathered at least two more children (p. 320) before his death. Lewis also examines Rumi's relationship with Shams al-Din Tabrizi, the encounter that transformed Rumi's spirituality; "he became more ecstatic in his worship, expressing his love for God not only in a careful attitude of self-renunciation and control, but also through the joy of poetry, music and meditative dance" (p. 274). Rumi and Shams became "Sufi Bohemians," tasting life for themselves. Their path involved "disciplining and training one's soul, watching over one's heart and concentrating the mind on God" (p. 34). Rumi tells us that "the law of religion is like a candle that shows us the way; without that candle we cannot even set foot on the spiritual path. Once the way is lit with the light of the law, the wayfarer begins his spiritual quest" (p. 37). When Shams disappeared mysteriously, we witness Rumi's "frenetic quest to recover the vision of this spiritual guide turned inward" to the point where Rumi discovers Shams "within himself" (p. 275). Inspired by this remarkable relationship, Rumi composed more than 60,000 lines of verse (p. 314). Lewis includes a sampling of fifty Rumi poems in his book.

Lewis tells us that his book should be considered a starting point, at best, for understanding Rumi. Although it should not be considered "the final and definitive biography of Rumi," Lewis writes, it is "intended, then, as a kind of Rumi bible, a manual for anyone interested in the life, poetry, teachings and influence of Jalal al-Din Rumi, who has been called the greatest poet of mankind. The whirling dervishes plant one foot on the floor with their toes fixed around a wooden peg and turn in Rumi's memory. In like manner, I hope this book will help ground all lovers of Rumi as they circle, moth-like, around the flame of his works" (pp. 8-9).

G. Merritt

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough Biography, New information on Rumi, April 15, 2000

By	"drplw" (La Jolla, CA United States) - See all my reviews

A friend of mine loaned me this book last week to read. Being a great lover of Rumi's poetry, I was ecstatic to have a look at it. The author covers the early life of Rumi, his life in Konya, the great masters who taught him. I was stuck by the copious scholarly notes, the accumulated detail of Mr. Lewis' sources, all annotated.

There is a full chronology of the author's life, his family, his Sufi roots, his writings. There exists a number of pages of pure poetry in clear, modern, unrhymed translations. Examples from the Mithwani, Rumi's epic, and the lyric poetry. But make no mistake, this is not a book about only the poetry, it is, without a doubt, the finest scholarly approch to Rumi's life, filled with Persian accents on proper names, sometimes a little difficult to get through, but these were the names. I advise taking notes on the proper names because they appear often and are unusual to the English reader.

There is no finer book on this subject and must be read by anyone who loves Rumi. It is not easy reading, yet beautifully printed in the British style. Gorgeously done.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lewis Excels, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

Franklin Lewis's scholarly approach to the life, teachings, and poetry of Rumi is quite refreshing in this New Age era. The summary above includes my general sentiments, although I found the accents helpful in learning to pronounce the proper names. My favorite part of the book was the analysis of the Rumi "translations." I also enjoyed the fresh translations included in this book and would like to see more. Overall, an A+ approach for those of you who want a serious Rumi work.