 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
||
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
||
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
No writer’s work has been studied more
closely or often than the plays of William Shakespeare, that master of
language and peerless explorer of the human heart. Books about him number
in the thousands, yet Shakespeare, Persia, and the East brings
a truly fresh perspective to his genius. In the three dozen plays he composed
between 1590 and 1612, Shakespeare ranged far and wide in his imagination,
setting some of his tales in places as varied as Denmark, Venice and Athens—while
drawing on a rich array of imagery and lore from lands further east. This
remarkable book by a lifelong student of Shakespeare Cyrus Ghani reveals
how rich a source of inspiration those exotic Eastern realms were for the
playwright.
Elizabethan England was especially fascinated
by Persia, whose deep-rooted culture was then flourishing under the Safavid
dynasty. An Englishman first visited there in 1562, two years before Shakespeare’s
birth. More contacts between England and Persia followed, prompted by hopes
of a lucrative trading relationship and a possible military alliance against
the Ottoman Turks. A pair of English adventurers, Anthony and Robert Sherley,
spent years attempting to establish these ties, not always scrupulously,
and their story was well known to England’s greatest dramatist.
To illuminate the creative uses Shakespeare made of the East, this book
first looks at the life of the playwright himself, then at the dynasties
that did so much to shape England and Persia in that tumultuous age.
Other sections in the book profile key figures in the efforts to forge
a connection between the two lands, with particular focus on the colorful
Sherleys and their fatally ambitious sponsor, the Earl of Essex—a great admirer of Shakespeare. The final section of the book briefly describes the plays and cites their many allusions to the East—testimony
that this literary giant was very much a man of his time.
“The fruit of a lifetime’s
devotion to English and Persian literature – learned, lucid, and full
of unexpected insights into the Elizabethans’ fascination with the brave
new world of the orient and its impact on Shakespeare’s
unique imagination.”--Al
Alvarez
"Ghani (Iran
and the Rise of Reza Shah; Iran and the West),
a lawyer and Iranian scholar, here provides. . . a historical overview
of Shakespeare’s
Eastern inspirations. . . . The first four chapters provide historical
background, while the final chapter provides an extensive listing of
Persian and Eastern references in Shakespeare’s plays. . . a pleasant
read. . . takes on an aspect of Shakespeare studies that has not been
as extensively researched as some of the more mainstream topics."
--Library
Journal
| • |  |
| • |  |
| • |  |
| • |  |
