Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A Critical Edition ANNOTATION
Omar Khayyam (1048-1122) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who was not known as a poet in his lifetime. These verses lay in obscurity until 1859, when FitzGerald published a free adapation of this Persian poetry. As a result, The Rubaiyat became one of the best-known and most often quoted English classics.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
An illustrated gift edition of the quatrains of Omar the tentmaker, which have more admirers today than ever before. Edward Fitzgerald's rendition stands as a monument to the translator's art.
Full-color photographs throughout
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Fitzgerald compulsively revised his translation of the
"Rubiyt," resulting in four published editions, all of
which are presented here with their original prefaces and notes,
along with all extant versions of FitzGerald's translation. Decker
supplies biographical and textual introductions that make use of
FitzGerald's correspondence to seek motives for his revisions, the
aim being to to unearth a full record of the poem's textual
evolution, to provide an interpretive context, and to illuminate the
complex process of revision.
Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Art & Photography
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