Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by fbahram
The Essential Rumi - reissue: New Expanded Edition by John Moyne, A.J. Arberry, Coleman Barks, Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, Rumi
5.0
I love Rumi. I am Persian and so was he, although the comparison stops there. Rumi was brilliant.
In September of 2012, I created a photographic gallery of Rumi quotations and used a few of the quotes from Coleman Bark's book with direct permission from the author - I thought it was so cool that he emailed me back and was gracious about it. This book has been sitting on my nightstand for months. I pick it up in between other books, read a page or two, let it sink and then go back to it a few nights later .... it's been slow.
The translation is great but the content is very hard to put into context.... it's like reading about another person's dreams.... they make very little sense except a few moments in time when something clarifying and brilliant happens. That's how I feel about this book. I enter a convoluted dream of someone else and emerge with maybe a few words of wisdom. I attribute it mainly to my own lack of appreciation and understanding of Rumi and wish I could grasp it even more but I will keep reading it. Among all Rumi books, I do believe this is one of the best ones from all the reviews but you be the judge.
Here's one of my most favorites quotes by Barks from his translations: "What you seek is seeking you." Beautiful!
I love that when I contacted Mr. Barks to get his permission to use some of his quotations on my own Rumi book (on Amazon), he gave me full support in a personal email.
In September of 2012, I created a photographic gallery of Rumi quotations and used a few of the quotes from Coleman Bark's book with direct permission from the author - I thought it was so cool that he emailed me back and was gracious about it. This book has been sitting on my nightstand for months. I pick it up in between other books, read a page or two, let it sink and then go back to it a few nights later .... it's been slow.
The translation is great but the content is very hard to put into context.... it's like reading about another person's dreams.... they make very little sense except a few moments in time when something clarifying and brilliant happens. That's how I feel about this book. I enter a convoluted dream of someone else and emerge with maybe a few words of wisdom. I attribute it mainly to my own lack of appreciation and understanding of Rumi and wish I could grasp it even more but I will keep reading it. Among all Rumi books, I do believe this is one of the best ones from all the reviews but you be the judge.
Here's one of my most favorites quotes by Barks from his translations: "What you seek is seeking you." Beautiful!
I love that when I contacted Mr. Barks to get his permission to use some of his quotations on my own Rumi book (on Amazon), he gave me full support in a personal email.