Jahan Malek Khatun

Jahan Khatun was a fourteenth-century Persian princess who lived through tumultuous political upheavals: her father was murdered when she was a teenager, eleven years later her family's dynasty was overthrown and all her male relatives were killed, and once her family had lost all their political power she suffered imprisonment and exile. Despite all this her poems give us a charming portrait of someone eagerly grasping for whatever pleasures she could salvage from life. Only one thing seems to have defeated her apparently indomitable spirit, the death of her infant daughter Soltan Bakht. She mentions her family's and her own political setbacks in her poems, but not often and only briefly; for her daughter though she wrote twenty three heartfelt, despairing elegies, and it is clear that the death of her young child was the one disaster in her life that she found impossible to deal with. This little book contains verse translations of all twenty three elegies, rendered into English for the first time.

DIVAN OF JAHAN MALEK KHATUN Persia's Great Female Sufi Poet. Translation & Introduction Paul Smith. Daughter of the king of one of Shiraz's most turbulent times (14th century) Masud Shah; pupil and lifelong friend of the world's greatest mystical, lyric poet, Hafiz of Shiraz; the object of crazed desire by (among others) Persia's greatest satirist, the obscene, outrageous, visionary poet Obeyd Zakani; lover, then wife of womaniser Amin al-Din a minister of one of Persia's most loved, debauched and tragic rulers Abu Ishak; imprisoned for twenty years while her daughter mysteriously died; open-minded and scandalous... the beautiful, petite princess who abdicated her royalty twice; one of Persia's greatest classical lyric Sufi poets... whose Divan is four times the size of Hafiz's, Jahan Malek Khatun. Correct rhyme-structure is kept and beauty and meaning of these often mystical, poems... including ghazals, ruba'is, qit'as, elegies for her daughter and a famous tarji-band (strophe poem). Largest ever translation. Long introduction is on her Life, Times & Poetry and there is a unique Preface by herself, a chapter on the forms of poetry she used. Selected bibliography. Large Print (14pt) & Large Format Paperback (7" x 10") 329 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 into Persian 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). Paul Smith (b.1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Ghalib, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Lalla Ded, Mu'in, Seemab, Jigar, Abu Nuwas, Ibn al-Farid, Iqbal and others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, twelve screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa New Humanity Books

Acclaimed translator Dick Davis breathes new life into the timeless works of three masters of fourteenth-century Persian literature. Together, Hafez, a giant of world literature; Jahan Malek Khatun, an eloquent princess; and Obayd-e Zakani, a dissolute satirist, represent one of the most remarkable literary flowerings of any era. All three lived in the famed city of Shiraz, a provincial capital of south-central Iran, and all three drew support from arts-loving rulers during a time better known for its violence than its creative brilliance. Here Dick Davis, an award-winning poet widely considered 'our finest translator of Persian poetry' (The Times Literary Supplement), presents a diverse selection of some of the best poems by these world-renowned authors and shows us the spiritual and secular aspects of love, in varieties embracing every aspect of the human heart. A Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title for 2013Dick Davis is a translator, a poet, and a scholar of Persian literature who has published more than twenty books. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Ohio State University. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

A giant of world literature, an eloquent princess, a dissolute satirist -- these are the three voices translated from fourteenth-century Persian by Dick Davis in Faces of Love. Together, they represent one of the most remarkable literary flowerings of any era. All three -- Hafez, Jahan Malek Khatun, and Obayd-e Zakani -- lived in Shiraz, a provincial capital in south-central Iran, and all drew support from arts-loving rulers at a time better known for invasions and political violence. Love was a frequent subject of their work: spiritual as well as secular, in varieties embracing every aspect of the human heart. They could hardly have been more different. Hafez -- destined to win fame throughout the world -- wrote lyrical poetry that was subtle, elusive, and rich in ambiguity. Jahan -- largely forgotten until recent decades -- was a privileged princess who could evoke passion, longing and heartbreak with uncanny power.(As Davis says: "To have this extraordinary poets fascinating and often very beautiful poems emerge from six hundred years of virtual oblivion seems almost miraculous") Obayd -- a satirist and truth-teller -- celebrated every pleasure of the flesh in language of astonishing and occasionally obscene honesty.