The romance of the Rubáiyát
The romance of the Rubáiyát. Edward FitzGerald's First edition reprinted with introduction and notes. A.J. Arberry
London, Allen & Unwin, 1959
243 p.
How did FitzGerald come to compose this great work? Professor A. J. Arberry, whose contributions to the study and interpretation of Omar Khayyám are well known, has now turned his attention to the origins of FitzGerald's Rubáiyát. He has been able to make use, for the first time, of a series of most important unpublished letters written by FitzGerald to his friend and Persian teacher Edward Cowell while the poem was actually in course of construction; he has also for the first time exploited the copies of the Persian original which FitzGerald employed and annotated in hls own hand. Professor Arberry thus enables us, so to speak, to look over FitzGerald's shoulder as he wrestled with his great task and to follow step by step the evolution of the Rubáiyát. Very rarely has any masterpiece of English literature been so minutely and sympathetically analysed and appraised. Neither is the story by any means lacking in human interest: the hackneyed term 'romance' is justly applied to a narrative which is as exciting as any adventure story.
Acknowledgements (7)
Preliminary essay (13)
Introduction (41)
Appendix (99)
The first edition of the Rubáiyát (149)
Table and notes (185)
Bibliography (240)
Index (243)