TEHRAN -- John D. Yohannan’s “Persian Poetry in England and America”, translated by Ahmad Tayammomdari was reviewed during a session at Book City on September 18.

Tayammomdari opened the session by pointing out that scholars in European countries realized long ago that comparative literary studies opened large windows through which they could peruse the history and culture of other nations and it was by this means that they increased their knowledge of Persian literature.
“Persian Poetry in England and America” consists of 20 separate articles in which the author has reviewed the ideologies, beliefs and aesthetic aspects of Iranian literary works, he added.
He went on to mention that Yohannan has referred in his book to each Persian poet’s works as representing the essence of a particular philosophical school in England. For example, he considers the poetry of Hafez to be the epitome of the Romantic School and Saadi’s works to embody the School of Rationalism.
“I didn’t realize that Persian literature had affected English and American literary works to such an extent until I read this book,” he added.
Ali Abdollahi made a speech next, remarking that the relationship between Persian and German literature dates back 500 years. He cited Adam Olearius, secretary to the German ambassador to Iran in the Safavid era, who wrote a travelogue about the country.
Abdollahi continued by saying that Goethe had been inspired by the poetry of Hafez and Fredrich Ruckert had translated the Shahnameh and the Holy Quran into German. He went on to mention that Heinrich Heine and Nietzsche had also been much influenced by Persian culture and poetry.
He concluded by saying that many Persian poems by contemporary poets including Ahmad Shamlu, Forugh Farrokhzad and Sohrab Sepehri, have been translated into German.