Persophilia: Persian Culture on the Global Scene Persian Culture on the Global Scene

From antiquity to the Enlightenment, Persian culture has been integral to European history. Interest in all things Persian shaped not just Western views but the self-image of Iranians to the present day. Hamid Dabashi maps the changing geography of these connections, showing that traffic in ideas about Persia did not travel on a one-way street. Whence The Origin And Wherefore The Destination Of The European And Thence Global Fascination With Things Persian? In This Book, The Author Reveals The Landscape Of A Spectacular Circulation Of Ideas Between 'east' And 'west' That Posits A Global Scene Upon Which Persian Culture Was Staged. From The Biblical Stories Of Esther And Mordechai To Xenophon's Cyropaedia, From Hegel's Philosophy Of History To Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, From Mozart's Magic Flute To Handel's Xerxes, From Matthew Arnold's 'sohrab And Rostam' To Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam, From Montesquieu's Persian Letters And Goethe's West-Östlicher Diwan To Gauguin And Matisse's Fascination With Persian Paintings, From The Rise Of The European Enlightenment And Romanticism To The Height Of American Transcendentalism, Dabashi Maps Out A Geography Of European Social, Intellectual, And Artistic History In Which Persia And Persian Culture Were Definitive, And Which In Turn Went Back To Iran And Its Persianate Continental Context To Cause Groundbreaking Historical Changes. The Result Is An Epistemically Provocative Reading Of World History. The Book Seeks To Alter Our Conception Of The European And Therefore Global Fascination With Persian (and By Extension Oriental) Culture By Locating It On The Transnational Bourgeois Public Sphere And Thus Shows It To Be Definitive To The Social And Intellectual Movements Of The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries--from The Enlightenment And Romanticism To The American And French Revolutions. In Addition, It Explores How Persophilia Plays A Transformative Role In The Course Of Postcolonial Nation-states, Production Of A Transnational Public Sphere, And The Formation Of The Postcolonial Subject--provided By Publisher. Distant Memories Of The Biblical And Classical Heritage -- Montesquieu, The Bourgeois Public Sphere, And The Rise Of Persian Liberal Nationalism -- Sir William Jones, Orientalist Philology, And Persian Linguistic Nationalism -- Goethe, Hegel, Hafez, And Company -- From Romanticism To Pan-islamism To Transcendentalism -- Nietzsche, Hafez, Mozart, Zarathustra, And The Making Of A Persian Dionysus -- Edward Fitzgerald And The Rediscovery Of Omar Khayyam For Persian Nihilism -- Matthew Arnold, Philosophical Pessimism, And The Rise Of Iranian Epic Nationalism -- James Morier, Haji Baba Of Ispahan, And The Rise Of A Proxy Public Sphere -- Picturing Persia In Visual And Performing Arts -- E.g. Browne, Canonization Of Persian Literature, And The Making Of A Transnational Literary Public Sphere -- Persica Spiritualis : Nicholson, Schimmel, Corbin, And Their Consequences. Hamid Dabashi. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Introduction -- Orientalism -- Panning to "the East"--Persophilia -- Decentering "the West" -- Liberating a World -- The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere -- Chapter 1. Distant Memories of the Biblical and Classical Heritage -- Cyrus and Thomas Jefferson -- What's Cyrus to him or he to Xerxes? -- Inventing the Persians -- Verities of Orientalist Behavior -- The Pre- and Post-Westphalian Worlds -- The Floating Cylinder -- Chapter 2. Montesquieu, the Bourgeois Public Sphere, and the Rise of Persian Liberal Nationalism -- The Persian Letters in French -- Akhondzadeh and a Transnational Public Sphere -- The Paraphrased Persians -- The Fall and Rise of Cultural Hegemonies -- Chapter 3. Sir William Jones, Orientalist Philology, and Persian Linguistic Nationalism -- The Origin of Persian Linguistic Nationalism -- Structural Transmutations of the Bourgeois Public Sphere -- Latinizing the Persian Script -- Persian Linguistic Nationalism -- Chapter 4. Goethe, Hegel, Hafez, and Company -- European Enlightenment and Persian Humanism -- Paraphrased Persian and British Colonialism -- Goethe, Romanticism, and Hafez -- Hegel, History, and Persophilia -- Romanticism, Mysticism, Fascism -- The Moving Specter of Fascism -- Chapter 5. From Romanticism to Pan-Islamism to Transcendentalism -- The Center Cannot Hold -- The Widening Gyre -- Muhammad Iqbal and Pan-Islamism -- Emerson and Transcendentalism -- Circulatory Capital and Its Cultures of Resistance -- Chapter 6. Nietzsche, Hafez, Mozart, Zarathustra, and the Making of a Persian Dionysus -- Hafez as Nietzsche's Dionysus -- Nietzsche, Zarathustra, Hafez, and Mozart -- Dionysus at Large -- Chapter 7. Edward FitzGerald and the Rediscovery of Omar Khayyám for Persian Nihilism -- The Three-Dimensional Subject -- The Elliptical Curve Scope and content: "Whence the origin and wherefore the destination of the European and thence global fascination with things Persian? In this book, the author reveals the landscape of a spectacular circulation of ideas between 'East' and 'West' that posits a global scene upon which Persian culture was staged. From the Biblical stories of Esther and Mordechai to Xenophon's Cyropaedia, from Hegel's Philosophy of History to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, from Mozart's Magic Flute to Handel's Xerxes, from Matthew Arnold's 'Sohrab and Rostam' to Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, from Montesquieu's Persian Letters and Goethe's West-Östlicher Diwan to Gauguin and Matisse's fascination with Persian paintings, from the rise of the European Enlightenment and Romanticism to the height of American Transcendentalism, Dabashi maps out a geography of European social, intellectual, and artistic history in which Persia and Persian culture were definitive, and which in turn went back to Iran and its Persianate continental context to cause groundbreaking historical changes. The result is an epistemically provocative reading of world history. The book seeks to alter our conception of the European and therefore global fascination with Persian (and by extension Oriental) culture by locating it on the transnational bourgeois public sphere and thus shows it to be definitive to the social and intellectual movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries--from the Enlightenment and Romanticism to the American and French revolutions. In addition, it explores how Persophilia plays a transformative role in the course of postcolonial nation-states, production of a transnational public sphere, and the formation of the postcolonial subject"--Provided by publisher From the Biblical period and Classical Antiquity to the rise of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, aspects of Persian culture have been integral to European history. A diverse constellation of European artists, poets, and thinkers have looked to Persia for inspiration, finding there a rich cultural counterpoint and frame of reference. Interest in all things Persian was no passing fancy but an enduring fascination that has shaped not just Western views but the self-image of Iranians up to the present day. Persophilia maps the changing geography of connections between Persia and the West over the centuries and shows that traffic in ideas about Persia and Persians did not travel on a one-way street. How did Iranians respond when they saw themselves reflected in Western mirrors? Expanding on Jurgen Habermas s theory of the public sphere, and overcoming the limits of Edward Said, Hamid Dabashi answers this critical question by tracing the formation of a civic discursive space in Iran, seeing it as a prime example of a modern nation-state emerging from an ancient civilization in the context of European colonialism. The modern Iranian public sphere, Dabashi argues, cannot be understood apart from this dynamic interaction. Persophilia takes into its purview works as varied as Xenophon s Cyropaedia and Nietzsche s Thus Spoke Zarathustra , Handel s Xerxes and Puccini s Turandot , and Gauguin and Matisse s fascination with Persian art. The result is a provocative reading of world history that dismantles normative historiography and alters our understanding of postcolonial nations. " From the Biblical period and Classical Antiquity to the rise of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, aspects of Persian culture have been integral to European history. A diverse constellation of European artists, poets, and thinkers have looked to Persia for inspiration, finding there a rich cultural counterpoint and frame of reference. Interest in all things Persian was no passing fancy but an enduring fascination that has shaped not just Western views but the self-image of Iranians up to the present day. Persophilia maps the changing geography of connections between Persia and the West over the centuries and shows that traffic in ideas about Persia and Persians did not travel on a one-way street.How did Iranians respond when they saw themselves reflected in Western mirrors? Expanding on Jürgen Habermas's theory of the public sphere, and overcoming the limits of Edward Said, Hamid Dabashi answers this critical question by tracing the formation of a civic discursive space in Iran, seeing it as a prime example of a modern nation-state emerging from an ancient civilization in the context of European colonialism. The modern Iranian public sphere, Dabashi argues, cannot be understood apart from this dynamic interaction.Persophilia takes into its purview works as varied as Xenophon's Cyropaedia and Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Handel's Xerxes and Puccini's Turandot, and Gauguin and Matisse's fascination with Persian art. The result is a provocative reading of world history that dismantles normative historiography and alters our understanding of postcolonial nations. Contents Introduction 1. Distant Memories of the Biblical and Classical Heritage 2. Montesquieu, the Bourgeois Public Sphere, and the Rise of Persian Liberal Nationalism 3. Sir William Jones, Orientalist Philology, and Persian Linguistic Nationalism 4. Goethe, Hegel, Hafez, and Company 5. From Romanticism to Pan-Islamism to Transcendentalism 6. Nietzsche, Hafez, Mozart, Zarathustra, and the Making of a Persian Dionysus 7. Edward FitzGerald and the Rediscovery of Omar Khayyám for Persian Nihilism 8. Matthew Arnold, Philosophical Pessimism, and the Rise of Iranian Epic Nationalism 9. James Morier, Hajji Baba of Ispahan, and the Rise of a Proxy Public Sphere 10. Picturing Persia in the Visual and Performing Arts 11. E. G. Browne, Persian Literature, and the Making of a Transnational Literary Public Sphere 12. Persica Spiritualis: Nicholson, Schimmel, Corbin,and Their Consequences Conclusion Notes Acknowledgments Index