Sukhanvarn-i-rn dar 'ar-i ir. Poets and Poetry of Modern Persia, Vol. I by M.

Ishaque
Review by: V. Minorsky
Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1935), pp. 254255
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School of Oriental and African Studies
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254

REVIEWS

OF BOOKS

The Legacy of Islam (p. 252), the work bears the sub-title The
Commentary(tafsir) of Porphyry, and includes the statement that it
is a revised version made by al-Kindi. M. Madkourmentions the latter
fact (p. 135 note), but says nothing about the relation of the work to
Porphyry. I find it easier to believe that Neoplatonism was consciously fathered on Aristotle and a syncretism elaborated than that
al-Farabi had omitted to read the title of a work which so profoundly
influenced the course of his thought. It is possible that al-Kindi's
lost writings might throw more light on this question. However,
M. Madkour'sdiscussion of the problems at issue between the two views
of God and the Universe is of permanent value, and advances the
study of Muslim philosophy a further stage. His chapter on the theory
of the intellect is an outstanding example of the value of a study made
by a scholar who having been educated in the East has studied also
in the West.
Mindful of the unhappy divisions in Christianity which arose out
of the equivocating of substantia and natura and oo'ata and obras,
and 4;'1IJ
I am a little uneasy at the equivocating of oSb
"
"
"
de
and
nature
and
lui-meme
sa
",
nature," p. 60,
.
par
(" par
p. 65), especially in citations from Avicenna. Further, one notes
) "par
" par sa nature", and
nature"
3
p
;
and
78
,L:c.
79).
(pp.
The writer has consulted the best authorities on Western
scholasticism, a subject which naturally is only introduced in its
relation to al-Farabi's system. His work is rounded off with an Index
and a critical bibliography.
There can be no doubt that this book will at once take an honoured
place in the library of Muslim philosophy and theology.
ALFRED

GUILLAUME.

DAR 'ASR-I H.IAZIR. Poets and Poetry of Modern

Vol.
I.
Persia,
By M. ISHAQUE. pp. 7 + 455 + 19. Calcutta:
Oriental Publishing House. 25s.
Mr. Muhammad Ishbiq (Ishaque), lecturer at the Calcutta
University, presents in his anthology thirty-three modern Persian
poets whose activities stretch between the end of the last century and
A.D. 1933, and who are all connected with the great national movement
to which the final impulse was given in the years 1905-8. Each
item in the anthology consists of a biographical introduction and a
SUKHANVARAN-I-IRAN

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PERSIAN

LITERATURE

255

selection of poems. The sketches, written in good and direct Persian,

are a result of M. Ishaque's personal investigation, carried out on the
spot, during his visit to Persia in 1930. They will certainly form the
groundworkof the future histories of modern Persian literature. Their
value is enhanced by the accompanying portraits of the poets which
the author patiently collected in Tehran. As an example of the new
and valuable details found in M. Ishaque's book, suffice it to mention
his personal interview with the aged satirist Nasim-i Shimal (p. 146)
whom he discovered in his retirement, forgotten and pressed by many
cares. The illustrative poems have also been judiciously selected.
Even a few pages of texts enable the reader in many cases to perceive
the personality of the author. This is perhaps the greatest acquisition
of recent literature. With such honourable exceptions as Iraj-mirza
and Bahdr, the mastery of expression of our contemporaries may be
inferior to that of their predecessors of the classical period; the
antiquated tradition very often even hampers the spontaneous growth
of poetry, but there is one good trait about the modern authors. They
no more live out of Space and Time, remaining impervious to the outer
world. This intrusion of new impressions is rather fatal to lyrics and
mysticism. A romantic return towards the past and even downright
political tendencies prevail in recent Persian poetry and yet this is
still a way out of the impasse in which Persian poetry lingered since
the Safawi times.
E. G. Browne was the first to appreciate the importance of the new
turn of Persian poetry (Press and Poetry in Modern Persia, 1914).
A nicely written and appreciative booklet on the most recent Persian
literature was published in Russian by Chaykin in 1928, and now
M. Ishaque's anthology comes in time to set upon a firmer basis our
knowledge of the repercussions which the present eventful times had
on the most sensitive organs of the Iranian community.
It remains to add that the book of which the author is the editor
is very well printed and bound and that the complete work will comprise
two more volumes which will be impatiently awaited.
V. M.
PERSIANLITERATURE. A bio-bibliographical survey. Section II,
fasc. 1; A: General History; B: The Prophets and early
Islam. By C. A. STOREY. pp. 235. London : Luzac, 1935. 15s.
Professor Storey's work is destined not for "reading " but for
study and reference. It represents a most welcome addition to

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