Alexander is the hero of numerous legends and his life has been adjusted to the needs of each era and region. Of all peoples. the Iranians were those whose glorious empire was conquered by Alexander. The Muslim image of Alexander in the Iranian literary and popular tradition forms a substantial part of this dissertation which analyzes the Mandarntima (Book of Alexander), the oldest prose version of the Alexander Romance in the Persian tradition (eleventh century AD). Apart from the profile of Alexander in the Iskandarnama, there are various other points to be analyzed regarding the content, language and historical framework of this Persian account of the Alexander romance. Given the existing vacuum concerning the study of the Iskandarnama both in terms of content (stories, motifs, profile of the hero and general concepts concealed in the narrative) and in terms of connecting of the text with the historical periods in which it was compiled. This dissertation hopes to advance research on both of these areas. Emphasis is given to the literary connection between the Greek tradition of the Pseudo-Callisihenes romance and the 14andarndma. In terms of the historicity of the text, the Muslim image of Alexander in the narrative is an unexplored and important theme in order to comprehend the narrative and the messages which are transmitted in it. The topic of kingship is a significant theme covered and aims to provide reflections of Alexander as a ruler, revealing contemporary concepts about the role of kingship amongst the Iranians. Both of the previous topics, Muslim profile and kingship, act as preludes to the next and one of the main goals of this thesis, namely to date the narrative and generally associate it with the historical development during which it was compiled. The examination of the language of the narrative also contributes to setting the narrative in its linguistic, social and historical environment. Lastly, another goal of this research is to reveal some important literary themes and concepts unfolding in the narrative, such as those of Time and Fate and Love.

This thesis examines the 'presence' of Persia' in nineteenth-century English poetry. The focus is not on translations of Persian poetry as such, but on the ways in which knowledge of Persia, derived from a variety of sources including classical and biblical texts, history, and travel-writing, entered into English poetry in the period. Such knowledge may shape the structure of a poem, or Its verbal texture, and may do so at different levels of intensity and significance. This complex phenomenon cannot fully be covered by the term 'influence'; the term 'presence' encompasses a variety of . literary engagements including translation, imitation, interpretation, representation, conscious allusion, and indirect borrowing. The methodology of the thesis is neither that of conventional literary history, in which questions of influence and intertextuality are of primary concern, nor of cultural history, in which literature is seen as part of a broader analysis of the history of ideas. While recognising the importance of recent cross-cultural theories, notably Edward Said's Orientalism, it does not follow ,any theoretical model in its analysis of the poetic adaptation and appropriation of Persian stories, themes, and tropes. The poems themselves, whether considered in categories or as individual works, are the object of attention; particular emphasis is laid on elements that might be less 'visible' to English readers who lack knowledge of Persian literature in its original forms. The aim is to define the nature, and degree, of 'Persian-ness' in nineteenth-century English poetry. The term itself has multiple and shifting associations, but one strong connecting thread may be discerned in the poems discussed: the persistence, through a period in which British encounters with 'modem' Persia were increasing in the areas of diplomacy and trade, and in which knowledge of the country's history, language, and culture was becoming more exact and more detailed, of a fantasised 'Persia', or Persian 'imaginary', compounded of ancient and in some cases mythic elements. Structurally the thesis moves from context to text, and from general to specific: it begins with the provision of necessary contextual information about Anglo-Persian contacts before the nineteenth century, moves on to survey and classify the 'Persian tendency' in poetry of the period, and then offers case-studies of three central works: Matthew Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum (1853), Edward FitzGerald's Rubaiyat ofOmar Khayyam (1859), and Robert Browning's Ferishtah's Fancies (1884).

This thesis is divided into two parts. In the first it provides a first-line index of all known English translations of the poems of Hâfiz. The Variorum edition of Hâfiz' poetry, edited by Mas'ud Farzaad is used as a reference text. In the case of every poem in that collection of which one or more English translations have been discovered, the Persian first-line is presented (along with a transliteration in Roman script), followed by, in chronological sequence, the first lines of all English translations. Bibliographical references are provided for each of these translations. Where appropriate, brief notes by way of clarification are included. Part One is completed by an alphabetical list of translators, cross-referenced to the firstline index, and incorporating biographical information and brief critical assessment. Part Two consists of seven chapters, and two appendices. The first chapter introduces Hâfiz and the historical context of his poetry. The second considers some of the problems which face the English translator of Hâfiz and recounts some of the differing approaches and assumptions which characterise the work of various translators. Chapter three surveys the English translations of Hâfiz, with a view to distinguishing the methods of the chief translators. English 'imitations' of Hâfiz are the subject of chapter four, while chapters five and six deal, respectively, with Hâfiz' influence upon English Romanticism, and upon certain Victorian and later writers, notably Lord Tennyson. Chapter seven provides some brief concluding remarks.

It is the purpose of this thesis to trace and enumerate the specific influences upon English literature and thought of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries emanating from Persian literature during the golden epoch of literature and philosophical achievement which began in the seventh century of the Christian era and came to a sad termination during the last decade of the fourteenth' century. The task has not been free from difficulties. First there has been the difficulty of assigning within the volume of Islamic literature the part which can be proved to be exclusively Persian, either in origin or in character. To surmount this, it-has become necessary to allocate a chapter to "The Case for Persian Literature", the reason being that in this particular instance no logical development of the subject can be expected before it is proved that the subject exists. The second difficulty concerned the confinement of the period within certain dates either on the Iranian side or on the English, because literature has never been the legacy or outcome of a particular year.

No history of Persian literature would be complete if it failed to take into consideration the numerous Persian works produced in India during the five centuries since the first permanent establishment of the Muhammadan power there. Although most of the Persian writers and poets who flourished in India were of Persian extraction, they had, in the Indian atmosphere, developed a certain style of their own. This Indian style, as we may call it, certainly has its on peculiarities, but this does not diminish the historical importance and literary value of the vast Indo-Persian literature. Few European scholars have taken any interest in this literature and therefore the Indians themselves, who generally derive their inspiration from the Western Orientalists, have also ignored it. I propose to compile a History of Persian Literature in India from the earliest times down to the advent of the Mughals, for the works produced daring these three centuries have every interest and importance for the students of Persian literature. There exist numerous works on various subjects, among which histories and poetical works, as well as those dealing with mysticism, are the most important.

The Persian legend of Tekandar, which belongs to the family of the romances of Alexander of Macedon, integrates several streams which flowed out of a common source. -the history of Pseudo-Callisthenes. Extraneous elements are also present. This amalgam was put Into verse, among others, by Firdawsi in the Shah-nämah, Nizäm1 in the Iakandar-namah and Jämi in the Khirad-nämah-i-Sikandar1. Certain conceptions held in common inspired the three poets. The most important. of these were that the world is evil, because it condemns all living beings to death, and, stated approximately, that man enacts freely a pre-determined pattern, Nevertheless, the treatment of the legend is different in each one of the three works. In the Shah-namah the legend is narrated mainly in a romanesque manner, and Iskandar is pictured as a avänmard, the mediaeval Persian equivalent of a preux chevalier. The Isksndar_nämah of Nizämf is inspired by the Muslim scholastic ideal of moderation and presents Iskandar as a just king, whose task it is to re-establish in Persia the old social order, but who is, nevertheless, tainted with guilt through his condonation of the murder of the Persian King. (The style of Nizämi is studied in two appendices, one of which provides a traduction raisonnee of a complicated passage of the Iskandar-namah.) Jämi considered the legend as a memento mori, teaching that the most powerful man who had ever lived could not escape death. His Khirad-nämah is a work of Sufi propaedeutics and, as such, is largely free from mystical elaborations: its purpose is to convince the reader of the vanity of this world; mystical pleasure cannot be enjoyed until this conviction is acquired. This thesis attempts to elicit the personal contribution of the three poets to a common tradition over a span of almost five centuries These contributions are discovered to be very elusive and differences of temperament rather than of ideals are found to lie behind many differences of treatment

This thesis addresses the question of how Shah Muhammad Sagir's Yusuf Zulaikha and Alaol's Padmavatl were influenced by Persian literary tradition. Beginning with a study of historical and cultural relations between Bengal and Persia, the thesis focuses on the process of development of the stories along with their background and source materials. Through a reading of selected literary works, manuscripts and rare books, it uses comparative and intertextual methods to examine how many existing theories and observations, especially regarding the influence, dating, sources and patrons of the poets, are contradictory and in some instances unfounded. With regard to Sagir's poem, the thesis investigates how the story of Joseph in the Bible and of Yusuf in the Quran was transformed into a romantic love story Yusuf va Zulaikha by Persian poets, and how Sagir transformed it into Bengali with a local flavour. It also addresses how Perso-Arabic literary and Sufi tradition, especially the Yusuf va Zulaikha of Firdausi, the tradition of commentaries on the Quran (Ta/sIr) and tales of the prophets (Qi~a~), influenced Sagir's poetic thoughts. Regarding Alaol's Padmavatl, after looking at the process of development of the story by analysing ancient and medieval local and foreign elements such as drama, fables, Sufi love poems and mythology, it assesses how Alaol transformed Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Hindi poem Padmavatl into Bengali. It examines how Perso-Arabic literary and Sufi themes, especially fana, annihilation, and baqa, subsistence, in Attar's Man!iqu'!- fair, influenced Jayasi in writing the Hindi poem Padmavatl and Alaol in transforming it into Bengali. The thesis also addresses the Persian lexical influence on Sagir's YusufZulaikha and Alaol's Padmavatl. The thesis concludes that Sagir developed Yusuf Zulaikha by taking elements and materials from Perso-Arabic multiple sources, especially Firdausi's poem of the same title and Ghazzali's commentary on the Quran (XII). With regard to Alaol's translation, his curtailment of the episodes in Jayasi's poem and additions from Persian and local historical and cultural traditions, as well as his Sufi interpretation, glorify his Padmavatl as an independent creation rather than a mere translation of Jayasi.

The main subject of this study is the analysis of the effect of Ḥāfiẓ’s poetic language, thought, philosophy and teachings on nineteenth and twentieth-century Persian poets and writers. By placing Ḥāfiẓ in economic and sociopolitical context, the research examines and compares the work of contemporaries with that of Ḥāfiẓ. This study juxtaposes verses of selected poets of Qājār and Pahlavi Persia, and expands the examination as far back as the fourteenth century. It offers insight into the sociopolitical milieu of the home city (Shīrāz) of the poet and examines his relation with the court, kings and rulers of his time and the influence he had on them, as well as on the poets and the scholars who were contemporary to him. This research reveals many unanswered questions and examines information that has not been discussed before, such as Ḥāfiẓ’s influence on certain poets and scholars who openly denied this fact. I have made a case that Ḥāfiẓ’s poetic language is such a deep and integral part of Persian, the national language of Iran that it would be an impossible task to separate the two. The influence of Ḥāfiẓ on Persian political and cultural writings during the nineteenth and twentieth century is also discussed, taking into account the critical views of contemporary Iranian scholars such as ʿAlī Dashtī, ʿAbdul Ḥusayn Zarrinkūb, Bahāʾ al-Dīn Khurramshāhī, Muḥammad Istiʿlāmī, Manūchihr Murtaḍavī and Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī-Kadkanī. The research demonstrates the reasons this fourteenth-century classical Persian poet had such a profound influence on contemporary Iranian culture and society. By providing ample comparative statements, the thesis concludes that most poets of nineteenth and twentieth-century Iran have, in one way or another, been influenced or inspired by Ḥāfiẓ.

No description available.

This thesis is primarily centered on the textual analysis of ten Persian travel narratives composed during the Safavid age (1501-1736), when Shiite Islam emerged as the official religion of Iran, or more precisely, during what I define as the discursive Safavid period, which begins in 1505, a few years after the establishment of the Safavid rule, and ends in 1741, nearly a decade after their decline and eventual fall. I explore Safavid travel writing in the context of other literary texts, as well as jurisprudential treatises that were produced for the purpose of officially delineating the tenets of the newly established religion. The largely theo-political shift that demarcated the Perso-Shiite identity, from, predominantly, the Sunni and non-Iranian Other, contributed to the realignment of Iran's literary and cultural landscapes. In this light, the thesis investigates the portrayal of the Safavid Persian/Iranian Shiite identity in Persian travel narratives through the intersections of gender, travel practices that shape individual and communal sense of autonomy, homeland and sense of belonging, and poetry, as the creative expression of the language of self-reference and self-inscription. The immediate focus of this study is to inform and challenge notions of Iranian-ness and Shiite-ness, past and present, through exploring Iran's history of alternative methods of cultural production, creative expression and diverse definitions of mobility, and the Safavids' relationship to identity construction and formation in the trajectory of contacts and encounters with non-Iranians. By exploring complex relationships between mobility and identity in the ten Safavid Persian travel narratives, five of which were composed in verse, what this thesis hopes to accomplish is an exercise in rethinking Iranian identity, that is not so much defined in terms of or against Western paradigms of Iranian-ness, but rather in terms of Iranian travel culture and the history of self-inscriptions and selfhood.