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Omar Khayyam�s Rubaiyat - an Antidote for Islamic Fundamentalism
by Norman Berdichevsky
Who, as a teenager seeking the heady blend of hedonism, old-world sophistication and erotica has not thrilled to the immortal lines of…. “A Jug of Wine, A Loaf of Bread and Thou… Oh Wilderness were Paradise enow!"? I recall my own teenage fascination with The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (variously spelled Kayyam) and practiced reciting many of the quatrains until I knew them by heart in hope of becoming a real life Valentino style Desert Sheik. Undoubtedly, it is Edward Fitzgerald’s (1809-1883) brilliant English language translation (first version published in 1859) of The Rubaiyat that won greater immortality for him than any of his own original works. Other English translations have also been published, but Fitzgerald’s still remains the most famous. more...