Wondrous Words: The Poetic Mastery of Jalal al-Din Rumi
Conference - Programme
13-15 September 2007
Clore Education Centre, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG
On the 800th anniversary of his birth, the Foundation and the British Museum have organised a conference that will focus on the poetic origins, quality, and impact of Rumi's writings, its sources of inspiration, and its echoes in Persian speaking parts of the world near and far.
Programme
Day 1: 13 September
| 9.30-10.30 | Registration, Coffee/Tea |
| 10.30-11.00 | Welcome note |
| 11.00-13.00 | Session 1: Telling the invisible - Voices and visions Chair: Leili Anvar-Chenderoff, INALCO, France |
| 11.00-11.40 | Unsilencing the sacred self: Moments of monajat in Rumi's Masnavi Fatemeh Keshavarz, Washington University in St. Louis, USA |
| 11.40-12.20 | Multilinguality: A dynamic and unique strategy for apophatic discourse Nargis Virani, New School, USA |
| 12.20-13.00 | Mowlana's mystical monologue as an escape from language Marek Smurzynski, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Poland |
| 13.00-14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00-17.10 | Session 2: Understanding the path - Rumi as spiritual master Chair: Carl W. Ernst, University of North Carolina, USA |
| 14.00-14.40 | Rumi's view of his predecessors Jawid Mojaddedi, Rutgers University, USA |
| 14.40-15.20 | The anagogic reality of the Guiding Intelligence in Rumi's Masnavi Leonard Lewisohn, University of Exeter, United Kingdom |
| 15.20-15.50 | Coffee/tea |
| 15.50-16.30 | Bursevi's interpretation of the Masnavi: Ruhu'l-Mesnevi and interpretative style Ismail Gulec, Sakarya University, Turkey |
| 16.30-17.10 | Ottoman-Turkish commentaries on Rumi's Masnavi and the lost commentary of Sudi Bosnavi (d. ca 1599) Slobodan Ilic, Eastern Mediterranean University, Turkey |
| 17.10-19.00 | Reception |
| 19.00-21.00 | An evening of poetry reading Listen to the reed Iraj Anvar, Independent scholar, USA and Leili Anvar-Chenderoff, INALCO, France accompanied by Arash Moradi (setar and tambour) and Fariborz Kiani (daf) |
Day 2: 14 September
| 09.30-13.20 | Session 3: Reading, adapting, translating - Rumi as inspirer Chair: Franklin Lewis, University of Chicago, USA |
| 09.30-10.10 | The gaze of desire: Visions of esoteric secrets in two medieval Persian miniature paintings of the Masnavi Mahdi Tourage, Colgate University, USA |
| 10.10-10.50 | To revere, revise, and renew: Sa'eb of Tabriz reads the ghazals of Rumi Paul Losensky, Indiana University, USA |
| 10.50-11.30 | The little black fish and the ocean of tales Christophe Balay, INALCO, France |
| 11.30-12.00 | Coffee/tea |
| 12.00-12.40 | Coleman Barks and Rumi's donkey Majid Naficy, Independent Scholar, USA |
| 12.40-13.20 | The essentialized Rumi, or the misadventures of Jalal ad-Din Barks Sheila Sheereen Akbar, Indiana University, USA |
| 13.20-14.20 | Lunch |
| 14.20-18.50 | Session 4: Weaving the narrative and the didactic - Rumi as story teller Chair: Fatemeh Keshavarz, Washington University in St. Louis, USA |
| 14.20-15.00 | A little indicates much: Structure and meaning in the prefaces to Rumi's Masnavi Carl W. Ernst, University of North Carolina, USA |
| 15.00-15.40 | Narrative structure and polyphonic discourse in the Masnavi Alan V. Williams, University of Manchester, United Kingdom |
| 15.40-16.20 | A study of the outer and inner structure in stories of the Masnavi Mahboubeh Khorasani, Azad University of Najafabad, Iran Hamidreza Sheshjavani, Nadjvan Research Institute, Iran |
| 16.20-16.50 | Coffee/tea |
| 16.50-17.30 | Dramatic potential in the Masnavi tales Ali Miransari, Independent Scholar, Iran |
| 17.30-18.10 | Poet and parrot: Rumi's didacticism at odds with the plot John R. Perry, University of Chicago, USA |
| 18.10-18.50 | Rumi: Lion or fox? A consideration of the way Rumi uses the Kalila wa Dimna fables in his discourse Christine van Ruymbeke, Cambridge University, United Kingdom |
Day 3: 15 September
| 9.30-10.30 | Keynote address session Chair: Leonard Lewisohn, University of Exeter, United Kingdom |
| 9.30-10.30 | Mirroring Shams: A study of Shams' influence on Rumi and Rumi's poetry Mohammad Ali Movahed, Independent Scholar, Iran |
| 10.30-13.40 | Session 5: New perspectives and poetic insights - Rumi as a lyric poet Chair: Leonard Lewisohn, University of Exeter, United Kingdom |
| 10.30-11.10 | Towards a chronology of the poems of Mowlana Rumi's Divan-e Kabir Franklin Lewis, University of Chicago, USA |
| 11.10-11.50 | An analysis of the symbolical aspects of Tabriz in the Divan-e Shams Mahmoud Ranjbar Fakhri, Iranology Foundation, Iran |
| 11.50-12.20 | Coffee/tea |
| 12.20-13.00 | Wondrous images: Surrealism and the imaginal in Rumi's poetic imagery Leili Anvar-Chenderoff, INALCO, France |
| 13.00-13.40 | In search of the inner meaning: Paradox and oxymoron in the Divan poetry of Rumi Muhammad Isa Waley, British Library, United Kingdom |
| 13.40-14.40 | Lunch |
| 14.40-17.50 | Session 6: Shaping the invisible - Rumi in performance Chair: Alan V. Williams, University of Manchester, United Kingdom |
| 14.40-15.20 | Echoes of the Masnavi on the Iranian stage Farah Yeganeh Tabrizi, University of Qom and Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Iran |
| 15.20-16.00 | Rumi and Persian music Farhoud Safarzadeh, Independent scholar, Iran |
| 16.00-16.30 | Coffee/tea |
| 16.30-17.10 | Rumi in the oral tradition of Badakhshan Gabrielle Rachel van den Berg, University of Leiden, Netherlands |
| 17.10-17.50 | Mowlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi's metaphor of sama Alberto Fabio Ambrosio, University of Paris (Sorbonne), France |
| 17.50-18.30 | Concluding remarks |