Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2011

Poetics and Politics of Iran’s National Epic, the Sh?hn?meh

Palgrave Macmillan

Part of the book series: Literatures and Cultures of the Islamic World (LCIW)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Introduction

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 1-10
  3. At Home: The Shāhnāmeh in New Persian

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 47-61
  4. A Fierce Fidelity: Ferdowsi and His Archetype

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 63-69
  5. Why the Shāhnāmeh?

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 71-75
  6. The Man in the Myths

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 77-91
  7. The Poet, the Prince, and the Language

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 93-110
  8. Epic Unity: The Case Against Under-Analysis

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 111-131
  9. Sibling Rivalry

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 133-145
  10. Killing Demons, Deposing Kings: The Akvān Episode

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 147-151
  11. Of Lusting and Ousting

    • Mahmoud Omidsalar
    Pages 153-159
  12. Back Matter

    Pages 181-254

About this book

This book considers some of the Western interpretations of The Shahnameh - Iran's national epic, and argues that these interpretations are not only methodologically flawed, but are also more revealing of Western concerns and anxieties about Iran than they are about the Shahnameh.

Reviews

"Situating Western scholarship on the Shahnameh in the highly contested domain of modern political strife between Iran and the United States, Omidsalar insists on the singularity of this quintessential Iranian epic. His close textual analyses draw meticulously on a rich tradition of scholarship." - Nasrin Rahimieh, Maseeh Chair and director, Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, University of California, Irvine

"Omidsalar s book on the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran, and the most iconic text of the Persian language and literature, is a most welcome addition to the long line of works dedicated to explaining the Shahnameh, beginning with Nöldeke s Das iranische nationalepos. His book is distinguished by his profound study of the Shahnameh and its sources as well as by innovative ideas, which challenge some of the traditional and current assumptions about this epic." - Ehsan Yarshater, Director of The Center for Iranian Studies and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University

"In this wide-ranging and well-written work, the preeminent Shahnameh scholar Mahmoud Omidsalar considers Iran s national epic and its centrality to Iranians sense of cultural identity. Through a remarkably rich examination of the epic s influence and importance that extends beyond the borders of Iran and the limits of Persian literature, Omidsalar reassesses, challenges, and offers innovative ways to rethink a vast array oftextual, poetic, and historical approaches." - Susan Slyomovics, professor of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages & Cultures and director of the G. E. von Grunnebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA and author of The Merchant of Art: An Arab Epic Hilali Poet in Performance

About the author

MAHMOUD OMIDSALAR Librarian at UCLA, USA, and he received a PhD from Berkeley, USA.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access