Co-Sponsored Symposium and Workshop: Nezāmi and the Iranian World

Nezāmi and the Iranian World

November 21–22, 2024 | UCLA Royce Hall 306

A symposium and workshop convened by

Domenico Ingenito (University of California, Los Angeles)

Morning Refreshments at 8:30am

Conference beings at 9:00am

“Nezāmi and the Iranian World” is a two-day conference (November 21–22, 2024) that brings together specialists of Persian literature, junior faculty, and graduate students to facilitate in-depth conversations on Nezāmi in a stimulating intellectual environment at UCLA.

Nezāmi Ganjavi’s five romances in verse, collectively known as the Quintet (Khamsa), are regarded as the most precious examples of medieval Iran’s literary refinement. Drawing upon a vast repertoire of didactic, romantic, epic, folkloric, philosophical, and scientific materials that circulated in ancient and medieval Iran, and Central and West Asia, Nezāmi’s stylistically impeccable narrative poems constitute a masterpiece of world literature. Like all classics, Nezāmi’s Khamsachallenges every generation of scholars to re-read its fictional worlds through new critical lenses and in connection with emerging theoretical paradigms.

In the interest of promoting cross-generational and interdisciplinary conversations, “Nezāmi and the Iranian World” approaches the study of Nezāmi’s poetry through close readings and critical analyses that, while building on previous scholarship, shall also highlight aspects of the Khamsa little explored heretofore. By studying Nezāmi “against the grain” of previous interpretations, invited speakers shall explore the complex thematic, aesthetic, and ethical ambivalence of Nezāmi’s poetry as a powerful source of literary creativity that defies generic conventions, as well as fixed hermeneutical categories.

On the first day of the conference, “Rediscovering a Persian Treasury of Global Literature,” invited speakers will deliver lectures that offer insights on the most recent developments in current approaches to the study of Nezāmi’s poetry. On the second day, a workshop, entitled “Recrafting Nezāmi Studies between the Real and the Imaginary,” will offer UCLA graduate students the opportunity to discuss new trajectories in the field of Persian literary studies in unison with Nezāmi specialists.

The two-day conference “Nezāmi and the Iranian World” is organized under the auspices of the Yarshater Center for the Study of Iranian Literary Traditions and the UCLA Program of Iranian Studies, in partnership with the Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World, and convened by Domenico Ingenito. We also would like to acknowledge the co-sponsorship of the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies.

Schedule of Speakers

Day 1

Symposium: Rediscovering a Persian Treasury of Global Literature

Leili Anvar (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris)

Layli and Majnun and the Divan

Paul Losensky (Indiana University)

Tents, Fortresses, and Caves: Literary Architectures in Nezami’s Eskandarnama

Alexandra Hoffmann (University of British Columbia)

Masculinities in Layli and Majnun

Jane Mikkelson (Yale University)

The Reality Shimmer: Hearing Voices in Nezami’s Layli and Majnun

Reading of Nezāmi’s Selected Works

Day 2

 Workshop: Recrafting Nezāmi Studies between the Real and the Imaginary 

Sahba Shayani (University of California, Los Angeles)

Shirin: From Ferdowsi to Nezami

Domenico Ingenito (University of California, Los Angeles)

“As Fast as the Intellect”: Nezami’s Meräj Narratives, Architectural Wonders, and Poetic Inspiration

Ashkaan Kashani (University of California, Los Angeles)

Emergence of the New: Negation and Transformation in the Haft Paykar

Allison Kanner-Botan (University of California, Los Angeles)

Fiction and Ethics: Nezami’s Responses to Ferdowsi

Charlotte Howley (University of California, Los Angeles)

Sacred Geometry and Celestial Domes: The Architectural Dimension of Nezami’s Haft Paykar in Its Historical Context

Azeem Malik (University of California, Los Angeles)

Yusof and Zoleykhä between the White Dome and the Seventh Heaven: Reading Jämi alongside Nezami’s Seven Figures

Click here to register for the event.

Click here to download the PDF of the program.