Synopsis

The project A Worldwide Literature: Jāmī (1414-1492) in the Dār al-Islām and Beyond is an attempt to gather in one place a wide array of specialists dealing with the reception of a luminary of this period: ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Jāmī. We will provide an analysis of the reception of his works, not only in the Persian-speaking and -writing circles, but also in traditions using other languages as a means of literary expression. Jāmī’s works have been translated, imitated, adapted, commented on, and quoted in an impressive number of languages during the pre-modern and early modern periods. He may appear as one of the most widely read authors in Eurasia during the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries. Contributions on the reception of other contemporaries of Jāmī, such as the scholar Wā‘iz Kāshifī or the political figure, Sufi, and bilingual poet (Chaghatay and Persian) Nawā’ī will also be part of the project. Ultimately, at a more theoretical level, we hope to study the “Jāmī phenomenon” in the light of what Hans Robert Jauss called an ‘aesthetic of reception’ (Rezeptionsästhetik), that is, an approach which considers that literature is not only a social product but also a producer of society. If the poet is a typical representative of the Timurid court culture, his language, his style, and his views and values left a deep imprint on Muslim communities.
A first event took place in Chicago on October 18-19, 2012. The next event of the project will be held in Paris on November 14-15, 2013

More on this project here.

Program of the conference

November 14, 2013, University of Chicago, Paris Center

• 9.30 Welcoming coffee and address
• 10.00 Keynote: Francis Richard: Jāmī and his Immediate Success in the Middle East: the Rapid Diffusion of the Manuscripts of his Works

Jāmī and Islamic Mysticism Chair: Maria Szuppe

• 10.30 Alexandre Papas: Turkic Addenda to the Nafahāt al-Uns: Notes on Ottoman and Chaghatay Manuscript
• 11.00 Discussion
• 11.15 Break
• 11.30 Alexey A. Khismatulin: Jāmi’s Statement on Authorship of the Anis al-Tālibin
• 12.00 Marc Toutant: Evaluating Jāmī’s Influence on Nawā’ī’s Poetry: the Case Studies of the Khiradnāmah-i iskandarī and the Sadd-i iskandarī (part 2)
• 12.30 Discussion
• 12.45 Lunch Chicago Paris Center

The diffusion of Jāmī’s works from Middle East to China Chair: Thierry Zarcone

• 2.00 Ertuğrul Ökten: ‘Abd al-Rahmān Jāmī’s Conception of Language
• 2.30 Florian Schwarz: Teaching Jāmī between Kurdistan, Syria and the Haramayn
• 3.00 Rebecca Gould: Teimuraz I’s Iosebzilixiani and Georgian-Persianate Literary Culture
• 3.30 Discussion
• 3.45 Break
• 4.00 Ralph Kauz: ‘Abd al-Rahmān Jāmī in the Context of Sufi Missionary Work in Ming China
• 4.30 Yiming Shen: Introduction and Brief Comparison of Jāmī’s two Original Texts and their Chinese Translations
• 5.00 Discussion
• 5.15 Reception

November 15, 2013, Collège de France

Use and Usage of Jāmī’s Poetics Chair: Eve Feuillebois

• 9.30 Paul Losensky: Utterly Fluent, but Seldom Fresh: Jāmī’s Literary Reception among the Safavids
• 10.00 Justine Landau: Jāmi’s Views on Poetics and the Avicennian Legacy
• 10.30 Mikko Viitamakki: Selecting and Recreating Jāmīʼs Ghazals for Qawwali Performance
• 11.00 Discussion
• 11.15 Break
• 11.30 Franklin Lewis: To Round and Rondeau the Canon: Jāmī and Fānī’s Reception of the Persian Lyrical Tradition
• 12.00 Ryan Perkins: The Vernacularization of Persian into Pashto and Jāmī’s Yūsuf and Zulaikhā
• 12.30 Discussion
• 12.45 Lunch Kootchi

Maulānā Jāmī’ in South and South-East Asia Chair: Françoise ‘Nalini’ Delvoye

• 2.00 Muzaffar Alam: Jāmī in Indo-Muslim World, c. Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries
• 2.30 Ayesha Irani: When ʿIshq Met Prema: Jāmī’s Yūsuf va Zulaykhā in Early Modern Bengal
• 3.00 Thibaut d’Hubert: Foundational Mahabbat-nāmas: The Reception of Jāmī’s Yūsuf u Zulaikhā in Bengal (16th-19th c. A.D.) (part 2)
• 3.30 Discussion
• 3.45 Break
• 4.00 Luther Obrock: Creating a Śaiva Yūsuf wa Zulaykhā: Theology and Translation in Śrīvara’s Kathākautuka
• 4.30 Muhammad Nasrin: Abdul Rahmān Nūruddīn al-Jāmī in Sufi Writings in Malay
• 5.00 Paul Wormser: The Recreation of Jāmī’s Works in the Malay World in the 16th and 17th Centuries
• 5.30 Discussion
• 5.45 Final remarks
• 6.00 Reception Collège de France

Venue

University of Chicago, Paris Center6 rue Thomas Mann, 75013 Paris
Collège de FranceSalle Claude Lévi-Strauss, 52 rue Cardnal Lemoine, 75005 Paris