The Poetics of Spiritual Instruction - (Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture) by Austin O'Malley (Paperback)

About the Book

Examines ʿAttar's didactic poetry in historical context from a rhetorical, reader-centered perspective

Book Synopsis

Much Persian sufi literature is explicitly didactic, aiming to instruct its readers and motivate pious reform. Moving beyond a recapitulation of religious content, The Poetics of Spiritual Instruction investigates the performative function of didactic poetry for mystical audiences, focusing in particular on the verse of Farid al-Din ʿAttar, a central figure of the tradition best known for long narrative poems imbued with edifying sufi themes. Through a series of sensitive and creative readings, O'Malley shows how ʿAttar uses frame-tales, metapoetic commentary and allegories to think through his relationship with his readers, imagine and guide their reactions to his work and perform his instructive authority. By teasing out this implicit, recipient-centred poetics, O'Malley recovers sufi didacticism's participatory, interactive character and shows how the act of reading was invested with ritual significance as a spiritual exercise aimed at the purification of the soul.

Review Quotes

Austin O'Malley's work breathes new life into this 13th-century Persian poetry, of which 'Attar is one of the most illustrious representatives.--Marc Toutant, National Centre for Scientific Research "Journal of Sufi Studies"

The Poetics of Spiritual Instruction provides a new perspective on the didactic poetry of 'Attar of Nishabur by looking at the textualisation of the ritualistic aspects of these poems. A welcome addition to the growing body of works on 'Attar.

--Fatemeh Keshavarz, University of Maryland

Speech is medicine. Starting with this metaphor, The Poetics of Spiritual Instruction shows how 'Attar's poetry treated his readers' spiritual malaise by putting contemporary Sufi teaching practices into textual form. Emphasizing the performative aspects of 'Attar's writing, Prof. O'Malley's clearly written study makes a ground-breaking contribution not only to the study of the poet but to our understanding of the vast corpus of didactic poetry in Persian.

--Paul E. Losensky, Indiana University

O'Malley's monograph is a brilliant contribution to the intersecting fields of Persian literary studies and medieval Sufi traditions.--Axel Takacs, Molloy University "Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations"