Reading Mystical Lyric

Jalal al-Din Rumi, a towering figure in the Persian-speaking world, is currently the most widely published poet in English translation. Yet despite the popularity of his verse, the majority of scholarship on his work focuses not on Rumi's poetry but on his contributions as a mystic. Fatemeh Keshavarz's pioneering study is the first extensive critical examination of this vast, dynamic body of literature. Through close readings of the Divan, his collection of more than 35,000 lyric verses, she explores Rumi's extraordinary popular and critical literary success. Rather than simply catalogue the images and concepts used by Rumi, Keshavarz employs a new critical approach that she describes as "observing the poems in action." This approach, based equally on classical Persian sources and on modern western critical thought, demonstrates how the poet's use of paradox, manipulation of silence, innovation in rhythm, and experimentation with imagery result in a literary enactment of love rather than a mere portrayal of it.