Masnavi i Ma'navi: The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad RúmíThe legendary Greek figure Orpheus was said to have possessed magical powers capable of moving all living and inanimate things through the sound of his lyre and voice. Over time, the Orphic theme has come to indicate the power of music to unsettle, subvert, and ultimately bring down oppressive realities in order to liberate the soul and expand human life without limits. The liberating effect of music has been a particularly important theme in twentieth-century African American literature. The nine original essays in Black Orpheus examines the Orphic theme in the fiction of such African American writers as Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, James Baldwin, Nathaniel Mackey, Sherley Anne Williams, Ann Petry, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Gayl Jones, and Toni Morrison. The authors discussed in this volume depict music as a mystical, shamanistic, and spiritual power that can miraculously transform the realities of the soul and of the world. Here, the musician uses his or her music as a weapon to shield and protect his or her spirituality. Written by scholars of English, music, women's studies, American studies, cultural theory, and black and Africana studies, the essays in this interdisciplinary collection ultimately explore the thematic, linguistic structural presence of music in twentieth-century African American fiction. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 27
... Pharaoh both doers of God's will Man and wife types of the spirit and the flesh . Adam made superior to the angels Partial evil universal good STORY X. - The Man who was Tattooed . Submission to the Spiritual Director STORY XI . - The ...
... Pharaoh Lust compared to the snake • STORY V. - The Elephant in a dark Room Outward sense compared to the palm of a hand Noah and his son Canaan . Reconciliation of two traditions The bewilderment of love annuls thought STORY VI . - The ...
... Pharaoh The tradition , " I was a hidden treasure 19 Pious men ask not where heaven and hell are . Arguments of a Sunni and a Dahri . STORY VII . — The ungrateful Courtier Why some are made for destruction . STORY VIII . - The Prince ...
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Contents
Moses and Pharaoh | xxxii |
PROLOGUE | xxxiii |
The Mule and the Camel | xxxviii |
BOOK I | xli |
The Prince and the Handmaid | 4 |
The Vakil of the Prince of Bokhára | 5 |
The Jewish King and the Vazir | 10 |
The Lion and the Beasts | 17 |
The Lover and his Mistress | 127 |
The Old Man and his Sons | 133 |
The Men of Saba | 142 |
17 | 209 |
68 | 210 |
BOOK V | 221 |
18 | 222 |
The Arab and his | 227 |
Omar and the Ambassador | 24 |
Complaints of Gods harsh dealings | 30 |
The Harper | 33 |
The Man who was Tattooed | 44 |
The Prophets Scribe | 50 |
Alis Forbearance | 56 |
On blind imitation | 65 |
The King and his two Slaves | 72 |
Moses and the Shepherd | 81 |
The Gardener and the Three Friends | 88 |
The Old Man and the Physician | 100 |
The Deadly Mosque | 103 |
The Travellers who ate the Elephant III | 111 |
The Jackal who aped a Peacock | 120 |
The Man who claimed to be a Prophet | 234 |
Description of him who is made one with | 247 |
The Repentance of Nasúh | 249 |
24 | 252 |
continuedMahmud and Ayáz | 261 |
Description of one who trusts to the light of nature | 267 |
PROLOGUE | 275 |
28 | 300 |
The Three Travellers | 304 |
29 | 306 |
The Pensioner of the Prefect of Tabriz | 311 |
Note on Apocryphal Supplements to the Masnavi | 329 |