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Abstract
I have previously debated Nezami's religiosity in my work. In response to the growing literature that compares Nezami's work with other religious authors to emphasize the poet's piety, here, I will challenge the notion, advocated by many, that Nezami and Dante share similar views on love and religiosity. Nezami Ganjavi (1141-1209) and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) do in fact share unique, creative imaginations and eloquence. Dante's enduring literary portrayals in his Divine Comedy exhibit fictional and fantastical qualities akin to Nezami's various portrayals of the "Story of Ascension" and other tales in his Seven Beauties. In particular, both authors display a fascination with the portrayal of love and a remarkable ability to construct vivid allegories. However, Dante's Divine Comedy is an extensive allegory that conveys commentaries on religion, politics, and love, while Nezami's allegories serve as literary constructs that enrich his storytelling. What I have conceptualized as Nezamian Pictorial Allegories are short and differ from the conventional double meaning of this literary device. This presentation reviews the allegorical and metaphorical aspects of Nezami's "Story of Mahan" to illustrate how these two poets differ and how the burgeoning comparison of Nezami's work with religious texts has impeded a fuller understanding of Nezami's worldview and poetry.
Bio
Professor Kamran Talattof (Ph.D., University of Michigan) holds the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Chair in Persian and Iranian Studies and is the founding director of the Roshan Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Persian and Iranian Studies at the University of Arizona. His interdisciplinary research and teaching focus on the intersections of ideology, gender, and textuality in Iran and the broader Near East. He has published numerous articles and books, including three award-winning monographs: The Politics of Writing in Iran: A History of Modern Persian Literature and Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran: The Life and Legacy of a Dancer, both published by Syracuse University Press, as well as Nezami Ganjavi and Classical Persian Literature: Demystifying the Mystic by Palgrave Macmillan. He has also published several seminal edited volumes. The Handbook of Ancient, Classical, and Late Classical Persian Literature and The Handbook of Post-Classical and Contemporary Persian Literature, both published by Routledge Academic Press in 2024, are notable for their extensive coverage of subjects and authors.