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Feb 09, 2021 | ISBN 9780143133995 Pre-Order
Feb 09, 2021 | ISBN 9780525505778 Pre-Order
Feb 09, 2021 | 420 Minutes Pre-Order
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Feb 09, 2021 | ISBN 9780143133995
Feb 09, 2021 | ISBN 9780525505778
Feb 09, 2021 | ISBN 9780593393482
420 Minutes
The Persian epic that inspired Eric Clapton’s unforgettable love song “Layla” and that Lord Byron called “the Romeo and Juliet of the East,” in a masterly new translationA Penguin ClassicThe iconic love story of the Middle East, by a twelfth-century Persian poet who has been compared to Shakespeare for his subtlety, inventiveness, and dramatic force, Layli and Majnun tells of star-crossed lovers whose union is tragically thwarted by their families and whose passion continues to ripple out across the centuries. Theirs is a love that lasts a lifetime, and in Nezami’s immortal telling, erotic longing blends with spiritual self-denial in an allegory of Sufi aspiration, as the amenities of civilization give way to the elemental wilderness, desire is sublimated into a mystical renunciation of the physical world, and the soul confronts its essence. This is a tour de force of Persian literature, in a translation that captures the extraordinary power and virtuosity of the original.
“A highly engaging tale of impossible love . . . The first verse translation of the 12th-century Persian poet Nezami . . . Davis’s rhythmic translation is full of lush imagery.” ―Publishers Weekly“Nezami . . . paints a visionary world full of erotic tension and trepidation which is both sublimated and enriched with psychological chiaroscuro.” ―Italo Calvino
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