.jpg "A bust of Khayyam is on display in the courtyard of his mausoleum.")
TEHRAN -- A book of Persian-English selections from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which has been published for UNESCO, was unveiled during a ceremony in Tehran on Friday evening.
The Iranian National Commission for UNESCO hosted the ceremony, which was attended by translator Saeid Saeidpur, Persian calligrapher Hamid Ghabranejad, commission Director Mohammadreza Saeidabadi, and a number of other people who made contributions to the publication of the book, the Persian serviced of the ISNA reported on Saturday.
UNESCO has proclaimed 2013-2022 an international decade for the rapprochement of cultures, Saeidabadi said during the ceremony.
“We can use this opportunity to introduce our luminaries such as Khayyam, Hafez and many others to the world. This book could help rapprochement of cultures,” he added.
“Khayyam is a wonder in the world of poetry,” translator Saeidpur said.
“Because, due to the lower volume of his works, the influence of his words, his oratory, and thoughts are equal to many other eminent luminaries of Iran and the world,” he added.
The book is composed of 104 quatrains, which have been embellished with Persian miniatures.
Saeidpur has also written a preface illustrating the place of Khayyam in modern poetry and in the history of poems in the world.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam had previously been translated into English by the English writer Edward FitzGerald in 1859.
Edward Henry Whinfield also published an initial series of 253 quatrains in 1882, as “The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam”.
Saeidpur is currently working on a comparative study of Shakespeare and Hafez poems, which will be published in a book.
MMS/YAW
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