Description:
Quatrains from Rumi's divine table for nourishing the heart & soul of humanity.
Brief description: Nevit O. Ergin (1928-2015) devoted himself to the same spiritual path as Rumi. He was born and raised in Turkey, but spent the majority of his life in the United States, first in Michigan, and then California. The last 25 years of his life were used to bring more of Rumi's poetry and more awareness of Rumi's message to the Western world. Ergin's English translations are from the Turkish translations of Turkish scholar Abdülbakî Gölpinarli and are inspired. He was able to capture the essence of every verse he translated... and he translated over 44,000 verses. As he liked to say, he spent 60 years of his life "trying to get rid of this earth before it gets rid of me."
Review Quotes:
This volume is the first of four compiling Rumi's complete quatrains (or rubais) in English for the first time as translated by Nevit O. Ergin (1928-2015), the original translator of Rumi's complete Divan-i Kebir in 22 volumes.
Ergin's Rubáiyát, compiled and edited by Millicent Alexander with Shahzad Mazhar, is invitingly direct in its language, making it edifying for browsers and completionists alike.... Ergin translated from Turkish to English, though Rumi wrote in medieval Farsi; Alexander makes the case that each of Ergin's quatrains is "matched in its essence" by Rumi's original... Ergin's verses still pulse with Rumi's passion and genius.
Takeaway: English translation of the complete quatrains of Rumi abounds in ecstasy and mystery.
BOOKLIFE
Even before opening Volume 1 of The Rubaiyat of Rumi, as it rested in my hands, I sensed an unusual heft to this book.
Nevit Ergin's translations of Rumi's quatrains have a sweetness that cuts to one's core. Love is not what we Westerners have been led to believe. Ergin's Rumi shows us the fruitlessness of seeking comfort and inspiration while yet clinging to our earthly Selves.
This Rumi quenches our thirst with fire rather than the water we hope for and expect from "spiritual" poetry We are meant to be demolished by these tiny gems. If you seek a spiritual path that pulls no punches, invest in these four volumes, companions for a lifetime.
MARY BOND