Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra (New York: Lea and Carey, 1832). Legend of the Arabian Astrologer. IN OLD times, many hundred years ago, there was a Moorish king named Aben Habuz, who reigned over the kingdom of Granada. He was a retired conqueror, that is to say, one who having in his more youthful […]
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Books
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Why some Sufis drink Wine
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain of the Day A search for good times isn’t why we drink: Wine’s not for going rogue or faithlessness. We sip to bring ourselves to selflessness; that is the secret of my drunkenness. trans. Juan Cole, (Whinfield 66) می خوردن من نه از برای طربست نز بهر فساد و ترک […]
Poetry of Uplift for our Plague Year: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Juan Cole’s New Translation)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Today my new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is out from I.B. Tauris/ Bloomsbury. I hope you all enjoy it! I make an argument in the historical epilogue to my translation that this volume is an anthology by many poets and that a custom had grown up of […]
A Malignant Contagion: Trumpism’s Mindlessness on Coronavirus and Albert Camus’ ‘The Plague’
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – Albert Camus’ The Plague evokes the malign contagion of Trumpism — the mindless death cult that contaminates America with its disdain for facts, science, experience, democracy and human life. In Camus’ 1947 novel, the plague begins with infected rats invading the Algerian city of Oran. Like the Nazis who […]
Nicola’s Books Staff Picks for Best New Reads – Support our Indie Bookstores, Stay Sane by Reading
Nicola’s Books | Ann Arbor’s Premier Independent Book Store | 734-662-0600 | info@nicolasbooks.com You need to read some books while sheltering in place to keep sane. Independent bookstores need to sell books to stay in business while their stores are shuttered. It is a match made in heaven. It may seem convenient to order books […]
For World Poetry Day: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Translated by Juan Cole From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Tonight, who brought you, tipsy, here to me? From there beneath the veil, whose hand brought you? –to one on fire because of your absence– one like a sirocco; who brought you here? (Whinfield 2) ( revised) N.B.: In April of 2020, Bloomsbury/ I. B. […]
Amos Oz, Renowned Israeli Novelist and Critic of Expansionist Right, Dies at 79
Jerusalem | AFP | – Amos Oz, who died of cancer Friday aged 79, was a celebrated Israeli novelist and passionate peace advocate whose stirring memoir “A Tale of Love and Darkness” became a worldwide bestseller. His daughter Fania Oz-Salzberger confirmed his death on Twitter, calling him “a wonderful family man, an author, a man […]
Why Kahlil Gibran is one of the Best-Selling Poets of All Time
By Antonia Pont | – (The Conversation) – Kahlil Gibran (original spelling at birth “Khalil”) is a strange phenomenon of 20th Century letters and publishing. After Shakespeare and the Chinese poet Laozi, Gibran’s work from 1923, The Prophet, has made him the third most-sold poet of all time. This slim volume of 26 prose poems […]
Informed Comment Fundraiser: Support Independent Journalism!
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Exciting news, folks: Informed Comment is in the midst of a major redesign and aims at becoming a magazine. The redesign is not cheap, and neither will be our plans to attract more writers for the site. And, we undertake this endeavor at a time when […]
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