Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob

Abdolhossein Zarinkoob (in _fa. عبدالحسين زرين‌کوب, also spelled "Zarrinkoub") 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.

He died September 15, 1999 in Tehran.

Research works

Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub's solid research works made him a world class Iranologist and undisputed master of Persian literature. 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:

*"The Arab Conquest of Iran and its aftermath": in Cambridge History of Iran, Vol 4, London, 1975.
*"Persian Sufism in its historical background", Iranian studies III, 1970
*"Nizami, a lifelong quest for a utopia", 1977, Rome.

Literary criticism and comparative literature

Zarrinkoob boosted comparative literature and Persian literary criticism. His book entitled "Naghde Adabi" (Literary criticism) is a classic book on Persian literary criticism.

Rumi and Erfan

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.

History of Persia

Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub's classic book entitled "Two Centuries of Silence" [cite book|author=ʻAbd al-Ḥusayn Zarrīnʹkūb|authorlink=Abdolhossein Zarinkoob|title=Dū qarn-i sukūt: sarguz̲asht-i ḥavādis̲ va awz̤āʻ-i tārīkhī dar dū qarn-i avval-i Islām (Two Centuries of Silence)|location=Tihrān|publisher=Sukhan|year=1379 (2000)|id=OCLC|46632917, Listed Invalid ISBN|964-5983-33-6 ] 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.

ee also

*Persian literature
*Iranology
*Intellectual Movements in Iran

Other notable Iranologists:
*Alireza Shapour Shahbazi
*Richard Nelson Frye
*Ehsan Yarshater
*Ahmad Tafazzoli
*Mehrdad Bahar

References

External links

* [http://www.caroun.com/Research/Researchers/Iran/Zarrinkoub/ZarrinkoubContents.html Bio 1]
* [http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2389/html/panorama.htm#s94875 Bio 2]
*fa icon [http://www.persian-language.org/Group/Article.asp?ID=582&P=4 Bio 3]