This unique book is the first publication on the art of teaching Persian literature in English, consisting of 18 chapters by prominent early-career, mid-career and established scholars, who generously share their experiences and methodologies in teaching both classical and modern Persian literature across various academic traditions in the world. The volume is divided into three parts: the background to teaching Persian literature, teaching Persian literature: pedagogy, translation and canon, and thematic and topical approaches to the Persian literature class. It includes such topics as the history of teaching Persian literature, the traditional teaching of Persian literature, the political and ideological intentions revealed in the formation of the Persian literature curriculum, the necessity to include marginalized modern Persian literature, such as women’s or diaspora literature, and more applied approaches to curriculum development and teaching.
Contributors Manizheh Abdollahi, Samad Alavi, Natalia Chalisova, Cameron Cross, Dick Davis, M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Persis Karim, Sooyong Kim, Daniela Meneghini, Jane Mikkelson, Amir Moosavi, Evgeniya Nikitenko, Austin O’Malley, Farideh Pourgiv, Nasrin Rahimieh, Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi, Farshad Sonboldel, Claudia Yaghoobi, and Mohammad Jafar Yahaghi.
Franklin Dean Lewis was Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. He is the author of
Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. The Life Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi (2000, 2008), ),
Rumi: Swallowing the Sun (2007), and the translator of
Things We Left Unsaid (2012).
Asghar Seyed-Gohrab is Professor of Iranian and Persian Studies at Utrecht University. He is the author of
Martyrdom, Mysticism and Dissent: The Poetry of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) (2021),
Laylī and Majnūn: Love, Madness and Mystic Longing in Niẓāmī’s Epic Romance (2003), and the editor of
Metaphor and Imagery in Persian Poetry (2012).
Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi is a literary translator and Instructional Professor of Persian at the University of Chicago. She is the author of
Translation Metacognitive Strategies (2009) and
Processing Compound Verbs in Persian: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Complex Predicates (2014). She has also published several translations, such as
The Eight Books: A Complete English Translation (2021).
Contributors Manizheh Abdollahi, Samad Alavi, Natalia Chalisova, Cameron Cross, Dick Davis, M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Persis Karim, Sooyong Kim, Daniela Meneghini, Jane Mikkelson, Amir Moosavi, Evgeniya Nikitenko, Austin O’Malley, Farideh Pourgiv, Nasrin Rahimieh, Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi, Farshad Sonboldel, Claudia Yaghoobi, and Mohammad Jafar Yahaghi.
All interested in Persian literature, and anyone involved in the teaching and learning of Persian literature as well as libraries.