Paul Losensky :: Faculty
|
Associate Professor, Central Eurasian Studies Education
PhD, University of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1993 |
Research Interests
Persian literature and literary history, in particular the literature of the 16th and 17th centuries in Iran, India, and Central Asia; literature, architecture, and topography; Sufism and literature; comparative studies in the Baroque; translation and translation studies.
Courses Recently Taught
- Elementary, intermediate, and advanced Persian
- Research in Classical Persian Texts (various topics)
- Persian Mystical Literature (in English)
- Literature and Cinema of Modern Iran (in English)
- Poetics of Mysticism; History and Theory of Translation
Publication Highlights
Books
Welcoming Fighānī: Imitation and Poetic Individuality in the Safavid-Mughal Ghazal (Costa Mesa, CA, 1998)
Memorial of God’s Friends: Selected Biographies from Farid al-Din ‘Attār’s Tazkerat al-owliyā′, translated with an introduction and annotations (publication expected in 2008).
Selected articles
“The Palace of Praise and the Melons of Time: Descriptive Patterns in ′Abdī Shīrāzī’s Garden of Eden,” in Eurasian Studies 2 (2003): 1-29
“‘The Equal of Heaven’s Vault’: The Design, Ceremony, and Poetry of the ‘asanābād Bridge,” in Writers and Rulers: Perspectives on their Relationship from Abbasid to Safavid Times, ed. B. Grundler and L. Marlow (Wiesbaden, 2004): 195-216
“Words and Deeds: Message and Structure in ‘Attār’s Tadhkirat al-awliyā′,” in ‘Attār and the Persian Sufi Tradition, ed. L. Lewisohn and C. Shackle(London, 2006): 75-92; “Linguistic and Rhetorical Aspects of the Signature Verse (takhallus) in the Persian Ghazal,” in Edebiyat 8 (1997): 239-71.
Current Research Projects
- Representations of architecture and the natural environment in early modern Persian literature
- the life, times, and works of Sā′eb of Tabrizi (d. 1676)
- eros and poetics in two narrative epistles by Mohtasham of Kashan (mid 16th century)
