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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Exquisite Things and Strange Wonders: In Defense of Persian Poetry

Exquisite Things and Strange Wonders: In Defense of Persian Poetry

Dihlavi, Amir Khusraw
Gabbay, Alyssa
Gabbay, Alyssa

Hardcover

Series: Murty Classical Library of India

Literary CriticismPoetry CriticismIndian & South Asian History

ISBN10: 0674301498
ISBN13: 9780674301498
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: Jun 30 2026
Pages: 352
Weight: 0.99
Height: 0.87 Width: 5.54 Depth: 8.21
Language: English

A defense of poetry from a towering figure of the medieval Persianate world.

Written in 1294 as the introduction to a book of poetry, the Dībācha-yi dīvān-i ghurrat al-kamāl became a lauded work in its own right. Its author, Amir Khusraw Dihlavi (1253-1325), was a poet, historian, courtier, Sufi, and musician whose influence still resonates. In this extraordinary text, he defends poetry against its critics, especially religious scholars, while offering a bold system for understanding its forms and for mastering the art. Blending manifesto and autobiography, Khusraw recounts personal struggles and triumphs in a voice by turns aggrieved, proud, and humble yet always commanding.

More than a defense of poetry, the work makes audacious claims about its cultural power and about the central place of Persian poets in India. One of the earliest examples of literary criticism in Persian, it challenges assumptions about poetry, religion, and authority while opening a window onto the world of the Delhi Sultanate. Presented here in a new English translation with the Persian text in the Naskh script, Exquisite Things and Strange Wonders offers readers a vivid portrait of a poet who helped define the literary and intellectual landscape of his time.

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