An Investigation of Nezami's Works Translated in the West (France, England, and Germany)

Abstract

European orientalists paid much attention to Nezami’s works in the middle of 1700s and tried to present his biography and extracts from his works to European readers. It was started by D’Herbelot, a French orientalist and was completed by Von Hammer Purgstall at the beginning of 19th century. In1710, Petis de Larcroix translated “Tourandokht Tale” from Nezami’s “Haft Paykar” into French, which underlain the works of Gozzi, Schiller, and Puccini. In 1786, in Calcutta, a book, entitled “Asiatic miscellany” was printed that included twenty tales (anecdotes) from Nezami’s Makhzan-Al- Asrar. This translation was done by Sir William Jones, the first author who introduced Nezami to the English. But the first familiarity of the German with Nezami backed to 1809. In this year, Von Hammer Purgstall wrote a play in two volumes, ‘Shirin’, adopted from Nezami‘s “Khosrow and Shirin”. In nineteenth century, a movement appeared in translating Nezami's works and Nezami's manzoomeheha (narratives in verse/ long poems) were introduced to the European. Consequently, Nezami’s works became a source of inspiration for some of the western poets, playwrights, and musicians.