Kamran Talattof, Nezami Ganjavi and Classical Persian Literature: Demystifying the Mystic. Literatures and Cultures of the Islamic World. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, xii, 284 pp.

Nezami Ganjavi (1140–1202) was a highly influential Persian epic poet and thinker. He is most known for his five books of narrative poetry, known as the Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) or the Khamsa (Quintet). Though there has been a considerable amount of study done about Nezami, this scholarship overwhelmingly views Nezami and his work through the lens of Islam or Sufism (Islamic mysticism). In this book, Talattof pushes back on the notion that Nezami must be read this way because to “take the easy road” would be to attribute the difficulty one might have with interpreting or translating Nezami’s work to “mystic secrets” or Sufi esotericism instead of “try[ing] to realize the unique inventive mind of the poet. It is the latter alternative that brings us closer not only to the poet’s meaning, but also to a state in which we can appreciate the poet’s remarkable and profound rhetoric and technique” (viii). Talattof, who has done much translation work himself and as such would be highly attuned to the challenges it brings, bolsters his theoretical approach by providing translations as literal as possible throughout the text in order to get as close to Nezami’s intended meaning as possible (ix).