Research Catalog

Title

The Gulistan, rose garden of Sa'di : bilingual English and Persian edition with vocabulary / by Shaykh Mushrifuddin Sa'di of Shiraz ; new English translation by Wheeler M. Thackston.

Author

Saʻdī

Publication

Bethesda, Md. : Ibex Publishers, c2008.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Thackston, W. M. (Wheeler McIntosh), 1944-

Description

xi, 253 p.; 23 cm.

Summary

Shaykh Mushrifuddin Sa'di of Shiraz finished his collection of moral tales in 1258 AD, and over the centuries it has been one of the most widely read and influential books in the Persian sphere. The first English translation was during the 18th century; Wheeler M. Thackston (Persian, Harvard U.) presents a new edition and new translation on facing pages. Written by Sa'd of Shiraz (c. 1200-c.1290), the Gulistan is probably the best-known nonreligious text in all of Persian literature. A baggy collection of anecdotes, short didactic tales, maxims, and bits of wise advice, it is divided into eight broad chapters of mixed prose and verse that view life through an Islamo-Persian lens. Sa'd's fame is due less to the content, which is conventional wisdom, than to his brilliant style, which combines great concision with puns, rhymed prose, and wordplay exploiting the full range of Persian rhetoric in a manner that Persians call something like "impossible simplicity," irreproducible in English.

Series Statement

[Classics of Persian literature ; 7]

Uniform Title

• Gulistān. English & Persian
• Classics of Persian literature 7.

Alternative Title

• Gulistān.
• Rose garden
• گلستان سعدى
• Gulistān Saʻdī
• Gulistān-i Saʻdī

Subject

Persian poetry > 747-1500 > Translations into English

Genre/Form

Poetry

Note

• Series statement and numbering from vendor report.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 182-189).

Language (note)

• Text in English with Persian.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Gulistan: The conduct of kings. The character of Dervishes. The superiority of contentment. The benefits of silence. Love and youth. Feebleness and old age. The effects of education. The art of conversation -- Manuscript variants -- Glossary of proper names -- Bibliography -- Persian vocabulary -- Arabic vocabulary.

ISBN

• 158814058X (alk. paper)
• 9781588140586 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2007061330

OCLC

• 145379922
• SCSB-12756454

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library