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Document Details :

Title: The Mystery of the White Hand
Subtitle: Šaraf al-dīn Rāmī on the Art of Deciphering Poetry
Author(s): CHALISOVA, Natasha
Journal: Persica
Volume: 17    Date: 2001   
Pages: 11-25
DOI: 10.2143/PERS.17.0.496

Abstract :
When dealing with Persian Poetry I sometimes ask myself: do I like this poetry as it is or do I just create my own phantasies about it? As A. L. Beelaert in her dissertation on Ḫāqānī's Tuḥfat al-'Irāqayn has so nicely put it, “paradoxically we like them (i.e. the texts of “the great classics”) because — historically we misunderstand them. The danger is the greater in texts which are emotionally charged; love poetry in particular erroneously seems to transcend the centuries”.

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