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The Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings

THE SHAHNAMEH (Book of Kings) is the national epic of Iran composed by the poet Ferdowsi between 980 and 1010 AD. It tells the story of ancient Persia, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab-Islamic invasion in the seventh century.

cover of The Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kingsauthor: Abolqasem Ferdowsi
ASIN or ISBN-10: 1933823410
binding: Hardcover
list price: $395.00 USD
amazon price: $395.00


At Home, and Far from Home: Poems on Iran and Persian Culture

Persian poetry, a literary heritage as rich as any in the world, found a brilliantly versatile voice when Dick Davis began his career as a translator several decades ago. Yet his English-language renderings ranging from epics such as The Shahnameh and Vis & Ramin to the concentrated wisdom of Rumi and Hafez--are just one measure of his gifts with words. Davis is also an acclaimed poet, with a voice and sensibility very much his own.

cover of At Home, and Far from Home: Poems on Iran and Persian Cultureauthor: Dick Davis
ASIN or ISBN-10: 1933823291
binding: Hardcover
list price: $29.95 USD
amazon price: $29.95


A Trick of Sunlight: Poems

In his new collection of poems, Dick Davis, the acclaimed author of Belonging, addresses themes that he has long worked with—travel, the experience of being a stranger, the clash of cultures, the vagaries of love, the pleasures and epiphanies of meaning that art allows us. But A Trick of Sunlight introduces a new theme that revolves around the idea of happiness—is it possible, must it be illusory, is its fleetingness an essential part of its nature so that disillusion is inevitable?

cover of A Trick of Sunlight: Poemsauthor: Dick Davis
ASIN or ISBN-10: 0804010897
binding: Paperback
list price: $14.95 USD
amazon price: $14.78 USD


The Legend of Seyavash (Persian Classics)

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.

cover of The Legend of Seyavash (Persian Classics)author: Abolqasem Ferdowsi
ASIN or ISBN-10: 0934211914
binding: Paperback
list price: $19.95 USD
amazon price: $18.76 USD


The Conference of Birds (Penguin Classics)

Composed in the twelfth century in north-eastern Iran, Attar's great mystical poem is among the most significant of all works of Persian literature. A marvellous, allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism an esoteric system concerned with the search for truth through God it describes the consequences of the conference of the birds of the world when they meet to begin the search for their ideal king, the Simorgh bird. On hearing that to find him they must undertake an arduous journey, the birds soon express their reservations to their leader, the hoopoe.

cover of The Conference of Birds (Penguin Classics)author: Farid ud-Din Attar
ASIN or ISBN-10: 0140444343
binding: Paperback
list price: $16.00 USD
amazon price: $14.42 USD


Epic and Sedition: A Case of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh

Iran's national epic, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, has traditionally been regarded by both Persians and Westerners as a poem celebrating the the central role of monarchy in Persian history. In this groundbreaking book, Dick Davis argues that the poem is far more than a patriotic chronicle of kingly deeds. Rather, it is a subtle and highly ambiguous discussion of authority, and far from being a celebration of monarchy, its most famous episodes and heroes amount to a radical critique of the institution.

cover of Epic and Sedition: A Case of Ferdowsi's Shahnamehauthor: Dick Davis
ASIN or ISBN-10: 1933823054
binding: Paperback
list price: $29.95 USD
amazon price: $22.74 USD


Lines For Turner Cassity

Lines For Turner Cassity

Librarian with military bearing,
You’ve left us poems critics call unsparing,

A wit not merely clever but hard-bitten.
Sometimes I hear you utter, “overwritten,”

And even at this distance, there’s no choice
But hear the word in that distinctive voice,

Not circumflexing drawl, dipthonged legato,
But southern, brisk particular staccato—

Inimitable voice—for never cruel—
Impatient only of the pompous fool

A. E. Stallings

A. E.

Two Are Four

Two Are Four

          Original English Poem
          by Turner Cassity

Night without attribute,
To which you bring all elements in turn:
Air intermittent in your throat;
Earth errant in your heart.
Bright water where your wet lips part
For fire I bring you, even as you burn.

 


 

Christophe Fricker

Christophe Fricker is the German translator of Edgar Bowers, Dick Davis, Timothy Steele, Joshua Mehigan, and other formalist poets. He is the author of one book of poetry, Das schöne Auge des Betrachters (The Beautiful Eye of the Beholder) which appeared with Johannes Frank in Berlin in 2008 and was awarded the Hermann Hesse Förderpreis 2009. His collection of travel writing, Larkin Terminal, appeared in 2009. Both books deal with linkages between friendship, travel, and language. Included in Larkin Terminal are essays on three formalist poets.

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