Nizami Ganjavi

38 snips

Jan 2, 2025

Guest

Dominic Parviz Brookshaw

Guest

Narguess Farzad

Guest

Christine van Ruymbeke

Christine van Ruymbeke, a Persian literature expert from Cambridge, Narguess Farzad, a senior lecturer on Persian studies, and Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, a professor at Oxford, delve into the life and works of Nizami Ganjavi. They discuss his epic poems in 'Khamsa', highlighting the tragic love stories of Khosrow and Shirin and Layla and Majnun. The conversation also reveals Nizami's portrayal of strong female characters and his mastery of weaving philosophy and art, showcasing his enduring impact on Persian literature and culture.

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INSIGHT

Nizami's Praise of Poetry

Nezami's poetry often praises the art of writing and the role of poets.
He views discourse/poetry as enduring, unlike other aspects of human creation.

INSIGHT

Pre-Islamic Settings and Female Characters

Nizami's use of pre-Islamic settings allows him to develop stronger, more independent female characters.
This is evident in Shirin's portrayal and the story of the slave girl Azadeh in Haft Paykar.

ANECDOTE

Shirin's Moral Compass

In Khosrow and Shirin, Shirin's unwavering moral compass guides the often wayward Khosrow.
Her refusal to compromise her principles anchors their relationship.

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest romantic poets in Persian literature. Nizami Ganjavi (c1141–1209) is was born in the city of Ganja in what is now Azerbaijan and his popularity soon spread throughout the Persian-speaking lands and beyond. Nizami is best known for his Khamsa, a set of five epic poems that contains a famous retelling of the tragic love story of King Khosrow II (c570-628) and the Christian princess Shirin (unknown-628) and the legend of Layla and Majnun. Not only did he write romances: his poetry also displays a dazzling knowledge of philosophy, astronomy, botany and the life of Alexander the Great.

With

Christine van Ruymbeke Professor of Persian Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge

Narguess Farzad Senior Lecturer in Persian Studies at SOAS, University of London

And

Dominic Parviz Brookshaw Professor of Persian Literature and Iranian Culture at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Laurence Binyon, The Poems of Nizami (The Studio Limited, 1928)

Barbara Brend, Treasures of Herat: Two Manuscripts of the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Library (Gingko, 2020)

Barbara Brend, The Emperor Akbar’s Khamsa of Nizami (British Library, 1995)

J-C. Burgel and C. van Ruymbeke, A Key to the Treasure of the Hakim: Artistic and Humanistic Aspects of Nizami Ganjavi’s Khamsa (Leiden University Press, 2011)

Nizami Ganjavi (trans. P.J. Chelkowski), Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975)

Nizami Ganjavi (trans. Dick Davis), Layli and Majnun (Penguin Books, 2021)

Nizami Ganjavi (trans. Rudolf Gelpke), The Story of Layla and Majnun (first published 1966: Omega Publications, 1997)

Nizami Ganjavi (trans. Rudolf Gelpke), The Story of the Seven Princesses (Bruno Cassirer Ltd, 1976)

Nizami Ganjavi (trans. Julie Scott Meisami, The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (Oxford University Press, 1995)

Nizami Ganjavi (trans. Colin Turner), Layla and Majnun (Blake Publishing, 1997) Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, Hafiz and His Contemporaries: Poetry, Performance and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century Iran (Bloomsbury, 2019)

Julie Scott Meisami, Medieval Persian Court Poetry (Princeton University Press, 2014)

Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Layli and Majnun: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing in Nizami’s Epic Romance (Brill, 2003)

Kamran Talattof, Jerome W. Clinton, and K. Allin Luther, The Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love, and Rhetoric (Palgrave, 2000)

C. van Ruymbeke, Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia: The Botany of Nizami's Khamsa (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

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