Rumi and the hermeneutics of eroticism / by Mahdi Tourage.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tourage, Mahdi.

Series:

Iran studies ; v. 2.

Iran studies, 1569-7401 ; v. 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana, 1207-1273. Mas̲navī.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana, 1207-1273--Criticism and interpretation.

Sex in literature.

Eroticism in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This is the first systematic examination of the esoteric significance of the bawdy tales and explicit sexual passages present in Rūmī’s (d. 1273) Mathnawī , a masterpiece of medieval Perso-Islamic mystical literature and theosophic teachings. Using the relevant features of postmodern theories as strategic conceptual tools, and drawing on the recent interpretations of medieval kabbalistic texts, it is a fascinating examination of the link between the dynamics of eroticism and esotericism operative in Rūmī’s Mathnawī . In some of these bawdy tales, the phallus is used as an esoteric symbol. The book concludes that these tales are used primarily to communicate esoteric secrets, particularly when this communication is contemplated along gender lines, mediated through erotic imagery, or expressed in sexual terms.

Contents:

The Bawdy tales of the Mathnawi in the context of Persian mystical poetry

The nexus between esotericism and eroticism

Phallocentric esotericism in the tale of the slave girl who satisfied her sexual urges with her mistress's donkey

The phallus and the subject

The hermeneutics of eroticism

Visions of esoteric secrets in two miniature paintings of the Mathnawi's Bawdy tales.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-242) and index.

ISBN:

1-281-93965-X

9786611939656

90-474-2273-2

OCLC:

311317661

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004163539.i-260 DOI