A History of Persian Literature

A History of Persian Literature has been designed as a comprehensive and richly documented work, based on original sources with illustrative examples and a fresh critical approach.

need alt
"Buzurjmihr Explains the Game of Backgammon (Nard) to the Raja of Hind", Folio from the First Small Shahnama (Book of Kings)
On This Page

An Authoritative Reference

The Yarshater Center at UCLA would strive to complete the extraordinary undertaking initiated by Ehsan Yarshater in editing A History of Persian Literature. Of the 20 envisaged volumes, nine have been published (2009-2023). It is proposed to complete the project within 10 years.

As a collaborative international venture written by prominent scholars in the field, A History of Persian Literature should serve as an accessible, lively account of Persian literature, as well as a scholarly and authoritative reference work.

Featured Article

The Significance of Persian Literature

The demand for informative sources on Persian literature and the need for readable translations have assumed a new urgency. A History of Persian Literature will provide a much-needed resource given this need.

Read More
need alt
Featured Article

Persian Poetry

Of all the literary and artistic accomplishments of the Persian civilization in its long history, by far the most significant and outstanding is Persian poetry. The jewels in the crown of Persian cultural achievements are the great classical Persian poets Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Nezami, Rumi, Sa’di and Hafez.

Read More
need alt

Scope

Of the 20 envisaged volumes of A History of Persian Literature, nine have been published (I, II, III, V, IX, X, XI and XVII, XVIII, 2009-2023). It is proposed to complete the project within 10 years.

Volume Titles

  1. I. General Introduction to Persian Literature (Ed. J.T.P. de Bruijn, 2009)
  2. II. Persian Lyric Poetry in the Classical Era, 800-1500: Ghazal, Panegerics and Quatrains (Ed. Ehsan Yarshater, 2019)
  3. III. Persian Narrative Poetry in the Classical Era, 800-1500: Romantic and Didactic Genres (Ed. Mohsen Ashtiany, 2023)
  4. IV. Heroic Epic: The Shahnameh and Its Legacy
  5. V. Persian Prose (Ed. Bo Utas, 2021)
  6. VI. Religious and Mystical Literature
  7. VII. Persian Poetry, 1500-1900: From the Safavids to the Dawn of the Constitutional Movement
  8. VIII. Persian Poetry in the Indian Subcontinent: Divans, Biographical Anthologies and Literary Criticism
  9. IX. Persian Literature from Outside Iran: The Indian Subcontinent, Anatolia, Central Asia, and in Judeo-Persian (Ed. John R. Perry, 2018)
  10. X. Persian Historiography (Ed. Charles Melville, 2012)
  11. XI. Literature of the Early Twentieth Century: From the Constitutional Period to Reza Shah (Ed. Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, 2015)
  12. XII. Modern Persian Poetry, 1940 to the Present: Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan
  13. XIII. Modern Fiction and Drama
  14. XIV. Biographies of the Poets and Writers of the Classical Period
  15. XV. Biographies of the Poets and Writers of the Modern Period; Literary Terms
  16. XVI. General Index

Companion Volumes

  1. XVII. Companion Volume I: The Literature of Pre-Islamic Iran (Ed. Ronald E. Emmerick & Maria Macuch, 2009)
  2. XVIII. Companion Volume II: Oral Literature of Iranian Languages: Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Ossetic, Persian and Tajik (Ed. Philip G. Kreyenbroek & Ulrich Marzolph, 2010)

Anthologies

  1. XIX. Anthology I: A Selection of Persian Poems in English Translation
  2. XX. Anthology II: A Selection of Persian Prose in English Translation

More Research Initiatives