Americanization of Rumi: The Impact of Coleman Barks’s Appropriative Translations

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines the ways in which the Sufi scholar-poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273) is appropriated into a specific form of American religiosity through the intra-lingual “collaborative” translations of Coleman Barks. I argue that Barks’ attempt to reveal the universal message inherent in Rumi’s verses effectively de-Islamizes Rumi’s oeuvre and personality as his translation strategy entails elimination of particulars of Islamic culture and adaptation of the poems to the taste and sensitivities of the implied readers. In effect, Barks contributes to the Americanization of Rumi, which ultimately cast him as a “New Age guru” with romantic sensibilities.