ABSTRACT
In the Introduction, the author problematizes the question of translation as a textual activity that reveals patent and latent facts about language, culture, foreignness, and communication. He gives the phenomenon of the reception of Rumi by the West as an example of such activity that manifests not only the difficulties of linguistic and discoursive nature but the underlying factors that lead, in various epochs, to the adoption of particular approaches by translators and commentators. After a brief presentation of translation studies, its scope, methods, and a history of theoretical work on translation, the author outlines the methodology and objectives of the research. This section is followed by a discussion on mysticism in the Islamic and Iranian worlds, the origins of mystical thought, and some of the principles and key concepts in Sufism. Subsequently, Rumi’s life and mystical thought is summarily presented with the aim of singling out Rumi in the history of Persian mystical poetry. The last section of the introduction is dedicated to the presentation of Rumi’s major poetic and prosaic work as well as its reception in European and non-European languages throughout different periods.
