The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam

Khayyam, Omar: Translated by Avery, Peter & Heath-Stubbs, John

ISBN 10: 0713911344 / ISBN 13: 9780713911343

Published by Allen Lane, 1979

About this Item

Fading to D/J spine. Some spotting to page edges. Light shelf wear to extremities.

Seller Inventory # 727078

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam
• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication Date: 1979
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0713911344
• ISBN 13: 9780713911343
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good/Price Clipped
• Seller catalogs:
  • POETRY

About this title

Synopsis

The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam is generally known in the translation(s) created by Edward FitzGerald in the nineteenth century. It is generally acknowledged that, for all their capturing the spirit of Khayyam's originals and so on, they are not truly faithful to the Persian verses. In addition, FitzGerald worked from a specific manuscript, which included verses that are now considered certainly not to have been by Khayyam. In an attempt to offer a truer picture of Khayyam's poetry Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs presented this version in 1979. It differs from FitzGerald's in that it contains considerably more verses (235 quatrains, as opposed to less than half as many in Fitz's versions), that the order differs (making comparison difficult), and that they try to be more faithful to the original Persian. This book also offers a thirty page introduction by Peter Avery, addressing many of the questions about the ruba'i form, Omar Khayyam, and his times, though many questions we had remained unanswered there. In particular, there is little explanation of their differences with FitzGerald, which we would have found useful. The translation itself seems fairly uneven. While some of Khayyam's fine and clever thoughts are expressed well the language -- consciously modern, especially in comparison to FitzGerald's version -- is often ineffective. Indeed, some of the phrasing and some of the words give an oddly dated feel to this 1979 translation. The language of the day disappears too quickly, apparently. Avery and Heath-Stubbs make no effort to rhyme the poem (as FitzGerald gamely does), which is certainly acceptable. However, they do not manage much lyricism in their poetry, and that is already a failing. The inconsistency in any sort of metre or style also proves to be irritating. With lines varying in length between six and twenty syllables much of the collection simply does not read well. Khayyam's fine poetry, and many of his clever thoughts do shine through this less than ideal translation. It is an interesting complement to FitzGerald's version, giving a fuller picture of Khayyam's work, though it pales poetically beside that far greater rendering. There is enough in here to satisfy the curious, but it is not a necessary collection.

Review

'I found Robert Wilson's 'Omar Khayyam' very readable. It will stand well in print in Scotland' EDWIN MORGAN The Rubaiyat of Omar... takes on a contemporary gloss in a rumbustious reworking in Scots of the literal text of the Persian poet. THE HERALD --The Herald