Persian Parables: Form as Philosophy - Paperback

$50.40

Persian Parables: Form as Philosophy - Paperback

Name: Persian Parables: Form as Philosophy - Paperback
Brand: BooksCloud
SKU: 9780691269894
Price: 50.40 USD
Availability: InStock

by Hamid Dabashi

$50.40

Book Overview

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by Hamid Dabashi (Author)

A major reassessment of the parable in Persian literature and its contribution to philosophical and creative thinking

In this book, Hamid Dabashi offers a radical reconsideration of the parable in Persian literature, arguing that parabolic thinking is a mode of philosophical reflection. Dabashi eschews the conventional focus on the supposed moral or political allusions in these parables--the "moral of the story"--to allow the radical surfaces of their poetic disposition to reveal themselves. He turns his attention instead to what Kafka called "the fabulous yonder" as the defining moment of the parable. Focusing on a sustained course of Persian parables through the ages, Dabashi shows that the genre is not limited to masterpieces by such iconic poets as Sa'di, Rumi, Attar, and Sana'i. In fact, he argues, parabolic thinking has a much wider domain in Persian literature and philosophy and plays a distinct role within Persian and Islamic traditions.

The cumulative result of these parables spread across Persian prose and poetry is an alam al-mithal, a parabolic world--a world of parables, similitudes, and verisimilitudes. Dabashi points to the moment in these works when life is absorbed into the formal fabric of the stories, erasing the borderline between fact and fantasy, history and story, the living and the dead, the real and the unreal--and life itself, as we live it, becomes a strange and captivating parable. With this circular self-referentiality, parables enable a way of thinking as a philosophical form.

Author Biography

Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of The World of Persian Literary Humanism, Persophilia: Persian Culture on the Global Scene, Iran without Borders: Towards a Critique of the Postcolonial Nation, and other books.

Number of Pages: 216

Dimensions: 0.5 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN

Publication Date: August 25, 2026

ISBN	9780691269894
Author	Hamid Dabashi
Publisher	Princeton University Press
Genre	Education and Literature
Format	Paperback
Published	August 2026
Language	ENG- English
Pages	216
Weight	1.0 lb
Target Audience	Adults
Print Size	Standard Print