- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; 1st edition (22 Jan 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 019954297X
- ISBN-13: 978-0199542970
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
66,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #82 in Books > Fiction > Poetry & Drama > Poetry > By Period > Classical, Early & Medieval
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Review
Handsome, richly illuminating - and keenly priced. (Boyd Tonkin, The Independent )
Product Description
'The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.' In the 'rubáiyát' (short epigrammatic poems) of the medieval Persian poet, mathematician, and philosopher Omar Khayyám, Edward FitzGerald saw an unflinching challenge to the illusions and consolations of mankind in every age. His version of Omar is neither a translation nor an independent poem; sceptical of divine providence and insistent on the pleasure of the passing moment, its 'Orientalism' offers FitzGerald a powerful and distinctive voice, in whose accents a whole Victorian generation comes to life. Although the poem's vision is bleak, it is conveyed in some of the most beautiful and haunting images in English poetry - and some of the sharpest-edged. The poem sold no copies at all on its appearance in 1859, yet when it was 'discovered' two years later its first readers and admirers included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Swinburne, and Ruskin. By the end of the century it was one of the best-known poems in the English language. Daniel Karlin's richly annotated edition does justice to the scope and complexity of FitzGerald's lyrical meditation on 'human death and fate'.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best edition yet,
By
This review is from: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Oxford World's Classics) (Hardcover)
I've loved Fitzgerald's Omar ever since I bought a remaindered World Books' edition for one shilling in 1969. That had an introduction by Laurence Housman, younger brother of the poet, which, for me, has always been a model of expository clarity, with one exception: no mention was made of Fitzgerald's seemingly repressed homosexuality which, in some ways, was the begetter of his translation. Daniel Karlin's sensitive, beautifully written introduction remedies this, and provides the best short summary of the poem's genesis, writing, and meaning that I have read (and I've read quite a few). The text of the first edition is used (Fitzgerald produced five versions over 30 years, the last - published immeduately after his death - containing very minor revisions) and is very well presented; but the great strength of this book lies in the other material. As well as the previously mentioned introduction, there's a chronology, a publication history, a bibliography, Fitzgerald's own notes, notes on variant readings, some early critical responses to the poem - including Tennyson's poem "To E Fitzgerald" - and Karlin's very full notes on the text. And if all this sounds dry - it isn't. I found it quite enthralling. If you already know the Rubaiyat then you need this volume; if you don't yet know it, treat yourself. You won't regret it.One thing missed - Karlin notes how Fitzgerald would "alter" poems, plays and prose written by others; he believed he was making them more readable, cutting out the padding. He physically altered books in his own library, cutting out chunks he didn't like and having the books re-bound. Not so well known is that he did the same with paintings - he would overpaint parts of pictures in his collection so that they accorded more with his taste. Odd but true.
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good,
By
This review is from: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Oxford World's Classics) (Hardcover)
Nice edition, beautiful, lots of notes providing background and explanation, which enriches the experience of the Rubaiyat, particularly as I was new to it when I bought this. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sheer delight,
By
This review is from: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Oxford World's Classics) (Hardcover)
This delightful book makes a great gift. It is like jumping into a bowl of peaches; although you need to time to digest its contents! A brilliant translation - a chequer board of nights and days...
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