Persian Literature in Western Culture - Rumi and The Sufist Genre

Rumi and The Sufist Genre

Sufi ideas and literature gained interest in the west particularly after the first world war, beginning with non-cultist Sufis like Henry Wilberforce-Clarke and Sir Richard Burton, as well as scholars such as Maurice Nicholl, Kenneth Walker, and philosophers Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. Writings of Attar, Jami, Hafiz, Shabistari, and Rumi came to influence a whole generation of writers.

Since the beginning of 21st century, Persian poet and philosopher Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi (Rumi) has appeared as the most popular poet worldwide. His works, which have been partly translated to English, attracted attention of numerous thinkers and artists.

These, and subsequent works leads one to conclude that the influence of Persian literature extends beyond what was written in the Persian language to encompass works by those who thought in Persian when it came to literature, metaphysics, and philosophy, irrespective of their native tongues and ethnic origins.