FitzGeralds Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: Popularity and Neglect

Adrian Poole, Christine van Ruymbeke, William H. Martin, Sandra Mason

Anthem Press, Nov 1, 2013 - Literary Criticism - 296 pages

This volume of essays is based on a conference held in July 2009 at Trinity College, Cambridge to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Edward FitzGerald (1809) and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of his ‘Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám’ (1859). The ‘Rubáiyát’, loosely based on the verses attributed to the eleventh-century Persian writer, Omar Khayyám, has become one of the most widely known poems in the world, republished virtually every year from 1879 (the year of FitzGerald’s fourth edition) to the present day, and translated into over eighty different languages. And yet, with a few exceptions, it has been systematically ignored or at best patronized by the academic establishment. This volume sets out to explore the reasons for both the popularity and the neglect. Broadly speaking, the essays are divided into two main blocks. The first six chapters focus primarily on the poem’s literary qualities (including consideration of its place in the tradition of verse translation into English, the idea of ‘nothingness’, and ‘syntax and sexuality’), the last five on aspects of its reception (including essays on the late-Victorian Omar Khayyám Club, on American parodies, and on the many illustrated editions). They are linked by three essays that address key ‘facilitators’ in the poem’s transmission (including the significant but neglected issue of cheap reprints).

Contents

• Chapter 1 EDWARD FITZGERALD OMAR KHAYYÁM AND THE TRADITION OF VERSE TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH: 1
• Chapter 2 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING IN THE RUBÁIYÁT: 15
• Chapter 3 COMMON AND QUEER SYNTAX AND SEXUALITY IN THE RUBÁIYÁT: 27
• Chapter 4 A VICTORIAN POEM EDWARD FITZGERALDS RUBÁIYÁT OF OMAR KHAYYÁM: 45
• Chapter 5 FITZGERALDS RUBÁIYÁT AND AGNOSTICISM: 55
• Chapter 6 THE SIMILAR LIVES AND DIFFERENT DESTINIES OF THOMAS GRAY EDWARD FITZGERALD AND A E HOUSMAN: 73
• Chapter 7 THE SECOND 1862 PIRATE EDITION OF THE RUBÁIYÁT OF OMAR KHAYYÁM: 93
• Chapter 8 EDWARD HERONALLEN A POLYMATHS APROACH TO FITZGERALDS RUBÁIYÁT OF OMAR KHAYYÁM: 109
• Chapter 9 UNDER OMARS SUBTLE SPELL AMERICAN REPRINT PUBLISHERS AND THE OMAR CRAZE: 127
• Chapter 10 THE IMAGINED ELITES OF THE OMAR KHAYYÁM CLUB: 147
• Chapter 11 LE GALLIENNES PARAPHRASE AND THE LIMITS OF TRANSLATION: 175
• Chapter 12 SOME FOR THE GLORIES OF THE SOLE THE RUBÁIYÁT AND FITZGERALDS SCEPTICAL AMERICAN PARODISTS: 193
• Chapter 13 THE VOGUE OF THE ENGLISH RUBÁIYÁT AND DEDICATORY POEMS IN HONOUR OF KHAYYÁM AND FITZGERALD: 213
• Chapter 14 THE ILLUSTRATION OF FITZGERALDS RUBÁIYÁT AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO ENDURING POPULARITY: 233
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: 249
• INDEX: 263

About the author

Adrian Poole is Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Christine van Ruymbeke is Soudavar Lecturer in Persian Studies at the University of Cambridge, and was formerly Lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). William H. Martin and Sandra Mason are independent researchers with a long-standing interest in FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Bibliographic information

• Title: FitzGeralds Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: Popularity and Neglect; Anthem Nineteenth-Century Series
• Editors: Adrian Poole, Christine van Ruymbeke, William H. Martin, Sandra Mason
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Anthem Press, 2013
• ISBN: 1783081015, 9781783081011
• Length: 296 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / Poetry