'ATTAR For the Twenty-First Century

'ATTAR FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Selected Ghazals of 'Attar and Ghazals inspired by them by his Translator Paul Smith. Farid al-din 'Attar is seen with Sana'i and Rumi (who he met and influenced) as one of the three most important Sufi Poet-Masters of the 13th century. He composed over forty books mainly in the epic masnavi form, his most famous being The Book of God and The Conference of the Birds. He also composed many powerful mystical poems in the ghazal form that influenced Sadi and Hafiz and all who came later. 'Attar's powerful, honest and controversial ghazals remain as fresh today as they always were. With 'Attar the image of the 'rend'... the drunken debauchee, the thief of love, the carefree outsider, the honest scallywag, appears as the poet, the lover... the voice of the ghazal. The way of the malamati, or the path of 'no blame' has now stepped onto the stage of the play of the history of the ghazal and the story of the lover and beloved, the wine and the intoxicated, the Master and the devotee... will never be the same again! Here is a large translation of his ghazals in English in the correct-rhyme structure with the beauty and meaning and all with ghazals by his translator inspired by their first couplets that are in this ancient form but are for these times. Introduction: Life & Times and Poetry of 'Attar and essay on the Ghazal and its finest composers with examples. Selected Bibliography, Glossary. Large Print (14pt) & Large Format (8" x 10") Format Paperback. Pages 248. Comments on Paul Smith's Translation of Hafiz's 'Divan'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of works in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith (b.1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Mahsati, Lalla Ded, Makhfi, Ghalib, Iqbal, Rahman Baba, Bedil, Baba Farid, 'Iraqi, Ibn al-Farid, Nesimi, Amir Khusrau and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and 12 screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa