Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub (1923-1999)

Abdolhossein Zarinkoub (also spelled Zarrinkoob) was born in Borujerd. He was a prominent scholar of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture, and history. He received his Ph.D. from Tehran University in 1955 under the supervision of Badiozzaman Forouzanfar, and held faculty positions at prestigious universities such as Oxford University, Sorbonne, and Princeton University, among many others. Due to his pioneering works on Iranian literature, literary criticism and comparative literature, he is considered as the father of modern Persian literature. Zarrinkoub’s solid research works made him a world class Iranologist and undisputed master of Persian literature and poetry. He was known for his extreme precision and solid works. He was the author of many books in Persian, French, and English, and published hundreds of articles. Some of his more famous works in English are: “The Arab Conquest of Iran and its Aftermath” in Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, London, 1975; “Persian Sufism in its Historical Background,” in Iranian Studies III, 1970; and “Nezami, a Lifelong Quest for a Utopia,” 1977, Rome. One of his famous books entitled “Naghde Adabi” (Literary Criticism) is a classic book on Persian literary criticism. Zarrinkoub is also known for his profound research on revered Iranian poet Mowlana Jalaleddin Mohammad, aka “Rumi.” Zarrinkoub’s “Serr-e Ney” (Secret of the Reed) and “Bahr dar Koozeh” (Sea in a Jug) are critical and comparative analysis of Mowlana’s “Masnavi.” “Pelleh Pelleh ta Molaghate Khoda” (Step-by-Step until Visiting God) is also a work he carried out on the same theme. Zarrinkoub’s research works on Hafez and Persian mysticism resulted in several books: “Az Koucheh-ye Rendan” and “Arzesh-e Miras-e Soufi-yeh.” His classic history book, “Two Centuries of Silence” is one the most reliable sources on the history of Iran/Persia after fall of the Sasaninan Empire. This book is undergoing translation into English by Mazda Publishers and will be available in a near future.