1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910819114403321

Autore

Tourage Mahdi

Titolo

Rumi and the hermeneutics of eroticism / / by Mahdi Tourage

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden ; ; Boston, : Brill, 2007

ISBN

1-281-93965-X

9786611939656

90-474-2273-2

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (274 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Iran studies, , 1569-7401 ; ; v. 2

Disciplina

891/.5511

Soggetti

Sex in literature

Eroticism in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-242) and index.

Nota di contenuto

The Bawdy tales of the Mathnawi in the context of Persian mystical poetry -- The nexus between esotericism and eroticism -- Phallocentric esotericism in the tale of the slave girl who satisfied her sexual urges with her mistress's donkey -- The phallus and the subject -- The hermeneutics of eroticism -- Visions of esoteric secrets in two miniature paintings of the Mathnawi's Bawdy tales.

Sommario/riassunto

This is the first systematic examination of the esoteric significance of the bawdy tales and explicit sexual passages present in Rūmī’s (d. 1273) Mathnawī , a masterpiece of medieval Perso-Islamic mystical literature and theosophic teachings. Using the relevant features of postmodern theories as strategic conceptual tools, and drawing on the recent interpretations of medieval kabbalistic texts, it is a fascinating examination of the link between the dynamics of eroticism and esotericism operative in Rūmī’s Mathnawī . In some of these bawdy tales, the phallus is used as an esoteric symbol. The book concludes that these tales are used primarily to communicate esoteric secrets, particularly when this communication is contemplated along gender lines, mediated through erotic imagery, or expressed in sexual terms.