FIRDAUSI... SHAHNAMA (Book of Kings) & Other Poems: New Humanity Books

FIRDAUSI: SHAHNAMA (Book of Kings) and Other Poems, Translation & Introduction Paul Smith. Firdausi (941-1021) is Persia’s (Iran’s) national poet, known throughout the land and many others as the creator of the 60,000 masnavi couplets called the ‘Book of Kings’, Shahnama. His Shahnama which the previous poet Daqiqi had begun took thirty years to complete and he was only paid 20,000 dirhams of the 50,000 promised to him by Sultan Mahmud. This led him after fleeing with the book and being hunted down, to compose a satire in masnavi form on Sultan Muhmud (here included). ‘If it is epic poetry that recalls to the memory of a folk the greatness of its pristine fame, the Shahnama does this for Persia as its epic poem paramount, and Firdausi's masterpiece enters at the same moment into the list of the great heroic poems of the world...’ A. V. Williams. Introduction: On Persian Poetry: A New Beginning, Life & Times of Firdausi, two other chapters. A Selection of his Ruba’is, Ghazals, Qita & Masnavis. Literal Trans. of Shahnama. Large Print (14pt) and Large Format Paperback (7” x 10”). 311 pages. Comments on Paul Smith’s translation of Hafiz’s ‘Divan’. “It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished..” Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. “Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith.” Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator and knower of Hafiz’s Divan off by heart. “Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz.” Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). “I was very impressed with the beauty of these books.” Dr. R.K. Barz. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, ‘Attar, Sana’i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu’in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Shah Latif, Bulleh Shah, Khushal Khan Khattak, Mahsati, Lalla Ded, Iqbal, Ghalib, Rahman Baba and many others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children’s books and a dozen screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa Read more