ABSTRACT
Persian literature enjoys a rich and highly sophisticated poetic heritage. After the Arab conquest of Iran in AD 651, Iranian culture and civilization mingled with Arabic tradition and Islamic spirit and produced a magnificent poetic tradition unprecedented in the history of Iran. This period of classical Persian poetry started roughly with Rudaki and continued until the fourteenth century in diverse forms and genres. Complete collections or selections of the poetry of prominent classical Persian poets such as Ferdowsi, Hafez, Sa’di, Attar, Rumi, Nezami, Jami, Gorgani, Sanaei, Anvari, and ‘Ubayd-e Zakani have been translated into several languages, among which English is the most common. Imbued with an extraordinary rich cultural and poetic heritage, classical Persian poetry is multilayered and polysemous. This multiplicity is mainly due to the profound mystical coloring, cultural allusions, and metaphoric and esoteric nature of classical Persian poetry. Due to this rich cultural heritage, translators have tried many approaches to the translation of classical Persian poetry into English. These translations vary from literal and word-for-word to free and liberal translations, and from prose to poetic ones. Depending on the translator’s intention and translation strategies, these translations have created different images of these Persian poets in world literature. The echo of different interpretations in the original language can also be observed in different English translations. This chapter aims to examine the status of classical Persian poetry in world literature with an emphasis on the works of Hafez (AD ca. 1320–ca. 1390). To achieve this aim, the chapter is divided into three parts. The first part explains the concept of world literature; the second part discusses different translation strategies; and the third part discusses the application of different translation strategies in classical Persian poetry, with special emphasis on selected ghazals by Hafez, as the emblem of Persian culture, in general, and classical Persian poetry, in particular. Thus, the chapter is an attempt to illustrate the success and reputation of Hafez’s ghazals in English translations and demonstrate their survival and continued life in world literature.
