Vīs u Rāmīn a Parthian Romance

Abstract

The romance of Vīs and Rāmīn has many claims to our attention. Fakhr A al-dīn As'ad Gurgānī wrote his version of it some time between A.D. 1040 and 1054, almost nine centuries ago, and only half a century after Firdausī completed the Shāh-nāma. The poem is based on an old “pahlavī” tale vaguely reminiscent of Tristan and Isolde, King Mark and Brangane. Many of its episodes echo feelings and attitudes dissonant with the post-Islamic ideas of marriage, women, and love. The poetic gifts of Fakhr al-dīn Gurgānī are also beyond doubt. Whatever the inconsistencies in the presentation of characters, whatever the length of the dialogues and soliloquies of the two lovers, these defects are redeemed both by the purity of diction of the poet and by bis truly humane understanding of men's passions, soarings, and failures.

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