General Introduction to Persian Literature

Johannes Thomas Pieter de Bruijn is Professor Emeritus of Persian at the University of Leiden. Ehsan Yarshater is the Director of the Center for Iranian Studies and Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies, Columbia University and the Founding Editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica.

• Foreword Chapter 1: Classical Persia n Literature as a Tradition (J. T. P. de Bruijn) 1. Preliminary Remarks 2. Documentation 3. The Birth of a Tradition 4. Writers, Poets, Minstrels and Patrons Writers Poets Minstrels Patronage Alternatives to Court Poetry 5. Religious Inspiration 6. The Transmission of Literature 7. The Individuality of the Writer and the Poet 8. Views on Poetry CHAPTER 2: THE OR IGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LITER ARY PERS IAN (J. Perry) 1. The Fall of Middle Persian and the Rise of Persian 2. The Language Arena, ca. 570-900 3. Pârsi and Dari4. Arabic and Persian: A Fortunate Conjunction 5. Building a Literary Language 6. Expansion and Standardization 7. Classical Persian Chap er 3: the history of literature (W. Hanaway) Chap ter 4: Prosody : mete r and rhyme (B. Utas) 1. Meter in Persian Poetry 2. Rhyme in Persian Poetry 3. The Pre-Islamic Prosodic Heritage 4. Khalil’s Analysis of Arabic Metrics 5. The Persian Version of the aruz System 6. Scansion 7. Caesura 8. Pitch and Stress 9. Special Features of Persian Rhyme and Verse Forms 10. The robâ’i and the Prosody of Folk Poetry 11. The Role of Meter and Rhyme in PersianPoetical Genres Chapter 5: Traditional Literary Theory: The Arabic Backg round (G. J. Van Gelder) . . . . 1. Arabic Theory and Persian Literature2. Origins and Early Developments 3. The Scholastic Study of balâgha 4. From Arabic Legacy to Persian Theory 5. The Deficiencies of Arabic Theory Chapter 6: Persian Rhetoric: Elme badi ’and elme bayân (N. Chalisova) 1. The Persian Theory of Rhetoric Embellishment 2. Râduyâni’s Tarjomân al-balâgha 3. Vatvât’s Hadâ’eq al-sehr 4. Shamse Qeys’ Mo’jam 5. The qaside-ye masnu’ 6. Commentaries of the Hadâ’eq 7. Hoseyni’s Badâye’ al-sanâye’ 8. Postclassical Treatises9. Concluding Remarks Chapter 7: Poetic Imagery (R. Zipoli) Inventory of Persian Poetic Imagery The Natural World Animals Plants and Flowers Precious Substances The Sky, Planets, Stars, and Constellations Other Natural Elements Colors The Measurement of Time The Human World The Body Other Bodily Components Actions and Emotions The Social Context Life at Court War Feasting Games Hunting Fabrics and clothes Perfumes and cosmetics Wounds and medicine Various objects Writing Numbers Characters Places around the Court Countries and Peoples The Cultural Tradition Islam Characters and Motifs Mentioned in the Qor’an Other Characters from the Qor’an Other Characters and Motifs from Islamic Culture Ritual Elements Ancient Persian Traditions Flouting Islamic Values Chapter 8: Genres of Court Literature J. Meisami) Introduction 2. Panegyric and Related Types of Poetry 3. “Informal” Lyrics 4. History 5. Epic and Romance 6. Wisdom Literature; Mirrors for Princes 7. Didactic, Religious and Philosophical Poetry and Prose 8. Epistolography and Works on Style 9. Satire and Humorous Writing 10. Conclusion Chapter 9: Genres of Religious Literature N. Pourjavady) 1. Commentaries on the Qor’an and Stories of the Prophets2. Manuals 3. Short Works on Mystical States and Stages nd on Spiritual Conduct 4. Hagiographies 5. Sermons 6. Allegories 7. Treatises on Love 8. Didactic and Theoretical Works in Prose 9. Didactic Mathnavis Chapter 10: Ri ddles (G. Windfuhr) 1. Pre-Islamic Period 2. The Islamic Period 3. Loghaz and mo’ammâ 4. Indigenous Tradition and Scholarship 5. Modern Scholarship 6. The Theory of the mo’ammâ 7. Hesabe abjad 8. Târikh 9. The Gnostic-Mystical Factor Appendix Chapter 11: Pre-Islamic Iranian and Indian Influences on Persian Literature (F. de Blois) . 1. Kalile and Demne 2. The Book of Kings 3. The Book of Sendbâd 4. Belawhar and Budhâsaf 5. Vis and Râmin6. The Letter of Tansar Chapter 12: Hell enistic Influences in Classical Persia n L