In search of Omar Khayyam

The mystery of Omar Khayyam has long had a special fascination for readers in the West and for a century or more his poetry has enjoyed almost universal popularity. lndeed, Khayyam has been the subject of speculation on the part of literary critics ever since Edward Fitzgerald published his own highly personal version of the Rubaiyat in 1859. Strangely, however, it is only now, with L. P. Elwell-Sutton's translation of Ali Dashti's In Search of Omar Khayyam, that English readers have an opportunity to read a study of Khayyam by a Persian scholar.
An intractable problem faces anyone attempting to paint an objective portrait of the twelfth-century poet, namely, that there is no conclusive evidence to prove which of the many quatrains attributed to Khayyam are authentic. Ali Dashti therefore constructs a likeness of the poet from references found in the works of writers of his day or immediately after, and from Khayyam's own works on philosophy, mathematics and astronomy, of which the authenticity is not questioned. Khayyam emerges as a widely read and broadminded scholar, taciturn and introspective, deeply immersed in his own studies, cautious and moderate, averse to committing himself on controversial questions, constantly seeking after truth and deeply sensitive to the beauty of nature. Using this portrait as a touchstone, Dashti draws up a list of some hundred quatrains which are in keeping with Khayyam's character. They are given here in a new transIation which is both elegant and accurate. In the last part of the book the author approaches his subject from an even more imaginative point of view and skillfully throws light on the nature of Khavyarn's religious and philosophical beliefs. (Text from inside of dust jacket)

Introduction (11)
Note on transliteration (28)
Preface to the Persian second edition (29)

PART ONE: IN SEARCH OF OMAR KHAYYAM
Khayyam as poet (33-41)
Khayyam as seen by his contemporaries (42-53)
Meanness or common sense? (54-60)
Hero of martyr? (61-66)
A disoute with a prince (67-69)
Khayyam from his own writings (70-85)
Khayyam and sufism (86-98)
Khayyam and Isma'ilism (99-105)

PART TWO: IN SEARCH OF THE QUATRAINS
The key quatrains (109-128)
The axis of life and death (129-131)
Khayyam's literary style (132-140)
Khayyam and his imitators (141-154)
Khayyam's wine poetry (155-166)
Khayyam as seen by the West (167-184)
The selected quatrains (185-199)
Some Khayyam-like quatrains (200-205)

PART THREE: RANDOM THOUGHTS
'Whence we have come, and wither do we go?' (209-213)
'If it was bad, whose was the fault but His?' (214-226)
'A tiny gnat appears - and disappears' (227-234)
'The withered tulip never blooms again' (235-241)
'Whether this breath I will take will be my last' (242-242)

Appendix I. Biographical notes (250-261)
Appendix II. Glossary of technical terms (262-266)
Bibliography of works referred to in the text (267-270)
Index (271-276)