Classical Persian literature

Abstract

The Study of Classical Persian Literature Can be Separated from the study of modern Persian literature for heuristic reasons—one can be emphasized more than the other in teaching, and the path away from classicism to modernism and beyond can be charted—but it is impossible to draw a decisive line dividing the two. The modern develops out of the classical and constantly interacts with it. The two may be separated, but in the end Persian literature is one and is best thought of as such. The present review, in which classical literature will be the focus, is one such heuristic occasion.This review will survey the field in terms of the major concerns of literary scholarship that are affected by the work of the Encyclopaedia Iranica and will try to illuminate the role of this reference work as a source of, and an aid to, literary scholarship.