Bruijn - General introduction to Persian literature

JOHANNES THOMAS PIETER DE BRUIJN is Professor Emeritus of Persian at the University of Leiden. is publications include Of Piety and Poetry, Persian Sufi Poetry, an anthology of classical Persian poetry and numerous articles on Persian literature and the history of Persian studies in Europe. He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Encyclopaedia Iranica, the Consulting Editor of the latter for Persian Classical Literature, and the Vice-Chairman of the Editorial Board of A History of Persian Literature.

A History of Persian Literature
Volume I

Volumes of A History of Persian Literature

Published in 2009 by I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd

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Copyright 2009 The Persian Heritage Foundation

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A History of Persian Literature: I

ISBN: 978 1 84511 886 0

eISBN: 978 0 85773 650 5

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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A History of Persian Literature

Editorial Board

MOHSEN ASHTIANY

J. T. P. DE BRUIJN (Vice-Chairman)

DICK DAVIS

WILLIAM HANAWAY, Jr.

AHMAD KARIMI-HAKKAK

FRANKLIN LEWIS

WILFERD MADELUNG

HESHMAT MOAYYAD

EHSAN YARSHATER (Chairman)

Late Member: ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

CONTENTS

CONTRIBUTORS

Iraj Afshar, Professor Emeritus of Tehran University, has been a tremendous force in promoting the causes of librarianship, bibliographical research, and collection and publication of historical Persian documents, particularly of the Qajar period. He has been the author or editor of many works, and initiator and general editor of several series of books. He has been the editor, at different times, of the journals: Mehr, Sokhan, Ketbh-ye mh, Rhnem-ye ketb, yande (2nd period), among others. He is the founder of the Farhang-e Irn-zamin periodical (1952) in which many Persian texts have been published. Among the positions he has occupied were the Librarian of Tehran Teachers College, the Director of the National Library, the head of University of Tehran's Central Library, and the President of the Iranian Librarian Association. He has been a Consulting Editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica for Bibliography and the Director of the Foundation of Dr. Mahmud Afshar, which has published a considerable number of books in Iranian studies and offers prizes to, and honors qualified Iranologists.

Johannes Thomas Pieter de Bruijn is Professor Emeritus of Persian at the University of Leiden. His publications include Of Piety and Poetry (1983, on San'i of Ghazne), Persian Sufi Poetry (1997), a Dutch translation of Sa'di's Golestn (1997); an anthology of classical Persian poetry (2002), and articles on Persian literature and the history of Persian studies in Europe. He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Encyclopaedia Iranica, the Consulting Editor of the latter for Persian Classical Literature, and the Vice-Chairman of the Editorial Board of A History of Persian Literature.

Frangois de Blois has worked on a broad range of topics in the fields of Iranian, Semitic, and Near Eastern studies, and taught at the University of Hamburg in the academic year of 20034. He is currently working at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, on a research project about the Bactrian documents. Among his publications are Burzoy's Voyage to India and the Origin of the Book of Kalilah wa Dimnah (1990), and Persian Literature. A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. V: Poetry of the pre-Mongol period (199297, second revised edition 2004). He is co-author of the forthcoming Dictionary of Manichaean Texts. Vol. II: Texts from Iraq and Iran. He has been a contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Encyclopaedia Iranica, and a number of scholarly journals. He is a member of the Editorial Board of A History of Persian Literature.

Natalia Chalisova is a Leading Research Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Cultures, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow. Among her publications are: Rashid al-Din Vatvt, Sady volshebstva (1985, on Had'eq al-sehr fi daq'eq al-she'r), Shams-e Qeys Rzi, Svod pravil persidskoy poyezii (1997, on Al-Mo'jam fi ma'yir ash'r al-Ajam), and Persian Poetics: The Conventions of The Description of Beauty (2004, on the Anis al-oshshq by Sharaf al-Din Rmi). She is also the author, with M. Rusanov, of a forthcoming study on Nizmi's Leyli and Majnun.