ISBN: 9781909942820
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Gingko Library (15 Sept. 2015)
Language: English, Arabic and German
Product Dimensions: 27.4 x 1.9 x 24.6 cm
As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe considered his own West-Eastern Divan incomplete , a group of literary grandees have accepted the challenge and will attempt a New Divan. This volume is meant to be only a foretaste of what is to come, namely an assembly of Dichter und Denker, of poets and scholars writing in Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and the Turkish languages. Hafiz, Goethe and the Gingko: Inspirations for a New Divan is therefore an Anthology of poetry presented in their language of composition, along with an English poetic translation, as well as a discussion of the background to the poetry and the challenges of translation. It is a book in four languages – English, German, Persian and Arabic – and like the Gingko leaf it has two beginnings and no end, or as Goethe would have said: one yet two .