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Love and Desire in Pre-modern Persian Poetry and Prose

As with many pre-modern literatures, love is a central theme in pre-modern Persian poetry and prose. The perils of ‘ishq or passionate love inspired pre-modern Persian poets to compose some of their most profound and lasting poetry, whether mystical, profane, or a subtle and complex blend of the two. With love comes yearning (most commonly ishtiyāq, but also shawq), both for the Divine beloved, and for His earthly counterparts or representatives, whether the Prophet, one of the imams, the royal patron, the idealized courtly beloved, or the alluring wine-server. Given the variety of possible beloveds, the lover’s desire as portrayed in pre-modern Persian literature can range from one of selfless devotion and yearning for (re-)union with God or the earthly beloved (vasl/visāl ), to a much baser, lustful desire for sexual gratification (shahvat), often with a social inferior. The articles in this special issue reflect this diversity in interpretation of love and desire as found in pre-modern Persian poetic and prose texts. Taken as a whole, this special issue examines the themes of love and desire in Persian texts spanning approximately eight centuries of Persian literary history (roughly early eleventh to late eighteenth centuries), and includes analysis of texts from eastern, western, and southern medieval Iran, medieval Muslim India, and texts from the early modern Safavid and Mughal periods. The variety of literary genres—from epic and romance, to ghazal, rubā ‘ı̄ and qası̄da, to satirical, erotic, and biographical prose—is as diverse as the analytical approaches adopted by the contributing authors. Four of the five articles published here (those by Alyssa Gabbay, Franklin Lewis, Sunil Sharma, and myself) are reworked versions of presentations made by those authors on one of two panels organized by me: one entitled, “Classical Persian Literature”, at the Sixth Biennial of Iranian Studies held in London in August 2006, and the other, entitled “Love and Desire in Pre-modern Persian Poetry” at the Seventh Biennial of Iranian Studies held in Toronto in July– August 2008. I have ordered the articles in a roughly chronological sequence. The first article (and the only one to focus solely on heteroerotic texts) is by Alyssa Gabbay. Gabbay examines male/female dynamics in three versions— those of Firdawsı̄ (d. 1010 or 1025), Nizāmı̄ Ganjavı̄ (d. ca 1209), and Amı̄r Khusraw (d. 1325)—of the story of the Bahrām Gūr and his slave girl. Gabbay argues that each successive version of the story provides a progressively more positive depiction of their relationship and, by doing so, comes closer to bridging the gender divide. Gabbay sees this as evidence for the emergence of Iranian Studies, volume 42, number 5, December 2009