COLUMBIA
COLUMBIA
AN INTRODUCTION TO PERSIAN LITERATURE
Reuben Levy
This work is the first to appear in English in the UNESCO Introductions
to Asian Literatures. It also constitutes an introduction to the Persian Heritage
Series sponsored by UNESCO and the Royal Institute of Translation and Pub–
lication of Teheran.
The Persian Literature treated is written in modern Persian, the language
which developed after the Muslim Arab invasion of Persia in the seventh cen–
tury. Professor Levy begins with the historical setting, discussing the various
geographical, political, and religious forces that influenced the development of
Persian literature. He then examines the main trends of that literature from its
ancient beginnings to its recent currents, illustrating with his own translations
many of its forms.
PLATO: Dramatist of the Life of Reason
John Herman Randall Jr.
$6.00
In this book, John Herman Randall Jr. offers a personal statement of what
he has found to be not merely the significance for the present day, but the
eternal and ever-renewed significance of Plato. In his analysis, the dialogues
emerge not as programs of action, but as dramatic portrayals of the life of the
mind-of the follies, contradictions, and greatness of human thinking as beheld
by a detached and ironic intelligence.
The emphasis is on Plato as a dramatist and poet rather than as an architect
of a rigid system of interlocking ideas.
$7.50
ICONS OF JUSTICE: Iconography and Thematic Imagery
in Book V of The Faerie Queene
Jane Aptekar
This study provides a new reading of Book V of
The Faerie Queene,
and
it suggests a new approach to all of Spenser's poetry. Mrs. Aptekar's demonstra–
tion of Spenser's subtle use of iconography supports the recently growing con–
viction that Spenser is a naturally ironic poet who manipulates his iconographical
allusions and allegorical effects to explore conflicting philosophies of justice and
to
create a great and complex poetic harmony. This work should be of interest
to students of the Renaissance since
it
illustrates some traditional and orthodox
patterns of belief in that period. The thirty-seven illustrations provide a rich
visual context for the author's discussion.
A Clarke F. Ansley Award winner.
$9.50
[!J
~U"'IJ'
(.,
+
"1
----------------------------~ .~~~ ~------------------------------
