Lewis, for decades an icon in Middle East studies, isn't as good a translator as he is a scholar, but only he could single-handedly assemble poems from so many languages and cultures into a coherent anthology. Divided into four linguistic sections--Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew--the poems span half the world and a millennium of history. Beginning in the seventh century and reaching to the eighteenth, Lewis selects from all the big names of Middle Eastern classical poetry, from Rumi to Omar Khayyam. The anthology's real strength, though, lies in its inclusion of poets rarely translated, especially Al-Hallaj, whose Arabic Sufi poems announcing the possibility of unity with God led to his assassination. Although translating from four languages, Lewis captures the rhythms and cadences of each admirably. Unfortunately, he furnishes little historical or religious context for the poems, which makes much of the verse obscure for those lacking knowledge of Islamic and Hebraic history. Still, fans of Rumi and other better-known Eastern poets should find several new and intriguing voices here.
John GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Library Journal
Edited and translated by Lewis, a well-known scholar of Arabic culture, this collection of 132 "classical" Middle Eastern poems dating from the seventh to the 18th centuries reveals the extensive heritage of Islamic poetry. The poems are divided into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew "rich and ancient" cultures that "reflect a wide variety of approaches and activities, from the pagan desert to the Muslim city." Showing how Islamic culture from antiquity has been composed of interrelated, "multiracial" groups, Lewis's erudite introduction discusses the emergence of Arabic languages and the status of poets and pays tribute to "the love of poetry and respect for poetry characteristic of Arab culture." Of various ethnicities, 54 predominantly male poets (Omar Khayyam and Rumi are the most familiar) living in diverse countries (e.g., Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, and Spain) express international cultural awareness centuries before the modern era. Sometimes humorous or mystical, the poems focus on family, love, and religion. Including biographies, illustrations, and an appendix of scripts of each source language, this collection is a fine historical document and anthology of eloquent poetry. For all academic and larger public libraries. Frank Allen, Northampton Community Coll., Tannersville, PA
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