
Recite in the Name of the Red Rose
Poetic Sacred Making in Twentieth-century Iran
Fatemeh Keshavarz(Author)
University of South Carolina Press
Published on 28. May 2006
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-1-57003-622-4 (ISBN)
Description
Recite in the Name of the Red Rose introduces Western readers to constructions of the sacred in twentieth-century Iranian poetry. Sifting through the lives and writings of modern and classical poets, Fatemeh Keshavarz provides a systematic examination of the array of religious impulses in recent Persian verse. Viewing poetry as the site of the emergence of the self and the sacred, she confirms that sanctification is not static in its forms but continuously in flux and that the poetic modes used to articulate the sanctified are equally fluid. Keshevarz begins by introducing the core concepts that define and detach religion and secularity in contemporary Iranian society. By thoroughly discussing the nature of classical Persian poetry she makes clear that expressions of the sacred in verse have been open to negotiation and change even in the premodern period. However, in Iran's modern poetic landscape Keshavarz uncovers many new patterns of expressing the sacred. In individual chapters on the writings of Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967), Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1981), and Ahmad Shamlu (1925-2000), she discusses the paradigmatic ways prominent poets of the twentieth century have related to the sacred in a nation forging its vision of modernity. While most scholars perceive current Iranian culture to be sharply divided between literalist conservatives and secular progressives, Keshavarz identifies provocative shades of spiritual expression less rigidly defined and hence neglected by the established critical tradition. Bringing such expression to the fore of scholarly attention, her study invites a more nuanced appreciation of the crosscurrents of religion and literature in recent Middle Eastern culture.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
South Carolina
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
435 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-57003-622-4 (9781570036224)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
A native of Iran, Fatemeh Keshavarz is a professor of Persian and comparative literature and chair of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the author of Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi (USCP ISBN 1-57003-584-9).