Resistance in an age of confusion. (c2008)

Abstract

This study traces the distinctiveness of three nineteenth- and twentieth-century English and Arabic versions of Omar Khayyam's eleventh-century Persian Ruba 'iyyat. In this thesis, I argue that Edward Fitzgerald's, Ahmad Najafi's and Ahmad Rami's versions of the Ruba 'iyyat are products of their socio-political contexts and individual creative works despite the fact that they were categorized at the time of their publication as mere translations. This thesis argues that Khayyam's Ruba 'iyyat as well as, the British and Arab poems resist numerous aesthetic, political and social aspects of their ages. Fitzgerald's quatrains spoke against the excesses of nineteenth-century industrialization and called for a slowdown and a reconsideration of prevalent values. Najafi and Rami, in Iraq and Egypt respectively, voiced through their work strong opposition to colonial hegemony in the twentieth century. Each, however, employed a different means of "recapturing" a lost Arab identity. Najafi's ruba 'is promoted a return to the ancient literary glories of the Abbasid period while Rami's ruba 'is proposed a refuge in religious fervor. The dual political and poetic elements of these poems suggest that the importance of this study lies at least partly in its breaking down of the distinction between the categories of "resistance" and "aesthetic" poetry.