Product Description

Is the Gulistan the most influential book in the Iranian world? In terms of prose, it is the model, which all writers of Persian seek to emulate. In terms of moral, philosophical or practical wisdom, it is endlessly quoted to either illustrate or prove a point. Sir John Malcolm even relates being told that it is the basis of the law of the Persians. It also traveled abroad. Voltaire, Goethe, Arnold, Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Franklin discovered, read, and took inspiration from the work. Moreover, travelers to Iran have often point out that to understand the mind of the inhabitants, one should read the Gulistan.

Written some seven and a half centuries ago by Sa di of Shiraz the Gulistan or Rose Garden is a collection of moral stories divided into eight themes: The Conduct of Kings, The Character of Dervishes, The Superiority of Contentment, The Benefits of Silence, Love and Youth, Feebleness and Old Age, The Effects of Education, and The Art of Conversation. In each section stories are told from which the reader learns how to behave in a given situation. Sa di can be moral. Honesty gives God pleasure. I haven t seen anyone get lost on the right road. He may be practical. If you can t stand the sting, don t put your finger into a scorpion s hole. He is philosophical in these lines which are engraved at the entrance of the United Nations: The members of the human race are limbs one to another, for at creation they were of one essence. When one limb is pained by fate, the others cannot rest.

The Gulistan is considered the essence of elegant but simple Persian prose. For 600 years, it was the first book placed in the learner s hand. In Persian-speaking countries today, quotations from the Gulistan appear in every conceivable type of literature and is the source of numerous everyday proverbial statements, much as Shakespeare is in English.

This is the first complete English translation of the Gulistan in more than a century. Wheeler M. Thackston, Professor of Persian at Harvard University, has faithfully translated Sa di into clear contemporary English. To help the student, the original Persian is presented facing the English translation. A 3,600 word Persian-English and Arabic-English glossary is included to aide with the more difficult meanings.

The Gulistan is imbued with a practical wisdom of life. Sa di recognizes people for what they are. Every personality type that exists is found in the Rose Garden, the good, the bad, the weak, the strong, the pious, the impious, honest folk, and the most conniving of cheats. Hypocrites abound, foolish kings appear with their wily ministers, wise rulers vie with their malevolent courtiers, boastful young warriors turn tail and run. The beauty of Sa di s wisdom is that it is timeless. What is expressed is in a setting so close and familiar to the modern experience that it is as relevant today as it was six hundred years ago.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #469498 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

About the Author
Wheeler M. Thackston is Professor of the Practice of Persian at Harvard University where he has taught for more than 30 years. He is also the author of other books including: An Introduction to Persian; A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry; An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic; and An Introduction to Syriac.

Customer Reviews

Clear and Fluent Translation
The translation is clear and fluent. Having both texts and a vocabulary is very helpful for the student of Persian.
The previous reviewer seems to have a personal beef with Thackston. The only two books he has reviewed are by Thackston. You would figure if he didn't like one he wouldn't buy the other.

invaluable for students of farsi
I agree with 2 of the 3 previous reviewers who have given this book a very high rating. I have been studying farsi for the last 4 years, informally, but with the help of native speakers, and for the last few months I have been reading through the Gulistan with their help. It seems to me an excellent book. The translation strikes me as very readable and, as far as I am able to tell, quite accurate. There are a few spots where my teachers have taken issue with a particular rendering but I think this has more to do with the fact that the text is an ancient one and, at points, genuinely ambiguous. The one negative reviewer criticizes the small number of footnotes. More notes would have been helpful but that would have obviously made the book more expensive and cumbersome. The same reviewer also criticizes the lack of a grammatical commentary. This would be fine, of course, but, then, it would be a different kind of book. The only real criticisms I would have of the book is that for some reason, a number of uncommon words are missing from the glossary, which is generally excellent, and their could have been more entries on the meanings idiomatic expressions which are often impossible for a non-native speaker to unravel from the meanings of individual words. This edition has really helped my study of farsi. And, in general, I have really appreciated the window it has opened for me on a very wise and beautiful text.

Very much worth reading for world literature students
One of the most iconic books in the country of Iran, "The Gullistan of Sa'Di" is unknown to western readers, until now. W.M. Thackston brings western readers a direct translation of the text, each page side by side with both the Persian writing and English. For over seven hundred years, the book has influenced Persian writers as much as Chaucer or Shakespeare have influenced western writers in English. A key to understanding the Iranian culture, "The Gullistan of Sa'Di" is very much worth reading for world literature students and for community and college library world fiction collections.