| Abdolhossein Zarinkoob | |
|---|---|
Abdolhossein Zarinkoob |
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| Born | May 19, 1923 Borujerd, Persia |
| Died | September 15, 1999 Tehran, Iran |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Known for | A prominent scholar of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture and history |
Abdolhossein Zarinkoob (in Persian: عبدالحسين زرينکوب, also spelled Zarrinkoub) (May 19, 1923, Borujerd - September 15, 1999, Tehran) was a prominent scholar of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture and history.
He was born on March 19, 1923 in Borujerd, Iran, received his PhD from Tehran University in 1955 under the supervision of Badiozzaman Forouzanfar, and held faculty positions at prestigious universities such as Oxford University, Sorbonne, and Princeton University, among many others.
Due to his pioneering works on Iranian literature, literary criticism and comparative literature, he is considered as the father of modern Persian literature.
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Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub's solid research works made him a world class Iranologist and undisputed master of Persian literature and poet.He was known for his extreme precision and solid works. He was the author of dozens of books in Persian, French, and English, and published hundreds of articles.
Some of his more famous works in English are:
Zarrinkoob boosted comparative literature and Persian literary criticism. His book entitled "Naghde Adabi" (Literary criticism) is a classic book on Persian literary criticism.
Prof. Dr. Zarrinkoub is also known for his profound research on revered Iranian poet Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi (Rumi) and his works. Zarrinkoub's "Serr e Ney" (Secret of the Reed) and "Bahr dar Koozeh" (Sea in a Jug) are critical and comparative analysis of Rumi's Masnavi. "Pelleh Pelleh ta Molaghate Khoda" (Step by Step until Visiting God) is also a work he carried out on the same line.
Zarrinkoub's research works on Hafez and Persian mysticism resulted in several books: "Az Koocheie Rendan" and "Arzeshe Mirase Soofieh" are a few examples.
Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub's classic book entitled "Two Centuries of Silence" [1] is one the most reliable sources on the history of Persia after Islam. Zarrinkoub also published seminal articles and a few books on Islamic history.
Zarrinkoub wrote within a time of rising Iranian nationalism, which severely distorted his historical accounts on Iran's early Islamic history. Zarrinkoub's nationalist prejudice runs throughout his description of Arabs as uncivilized, brutal, and unsophisticated conquerors, while other prominent historians depict a more complicated relation between the Arab conquerors and Iranians. According to Homa Katouzian: The portrayal of an Iranian "period of silence" stems from modern Iranian nationalism, which contradict historical accounts. Despite the lack of an independent Iranian government for two centuries, Iranians actively participated in the new regime supporting cultural, economic, educational, and artisan expansion of the Islamic world and beyond [2]. Furthermore, with major parts of the Eastern Roman Empire unified with the Iranian/Persian Empire, the diversity in agriculture, science, trade, and culture laid the foundations for prosperity of Iranian cities and the flourishing of Iranian scientific, linguistic, and cultural endeavors.
Other notable Iranologists:
^ ʻAbd al-Ḥusayn Zarrīnʹkūb (1379 (2000)). Dū qarn-i sukūt: sarguz̲asht-i ḥavādis̲ va awz̤āʻ-i tārīkhī dar dū qarn-i avval-i Islām (Two Centuries of Silence). Tihrān: Sukhan. OCLC 46632917, ISBN 964-5983-33-9.