ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xvi. INTO SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES

 

ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS

xvi. IN SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

Among the works of classical Persian literature, Ferdowsi’s Šāh-nāma is the one best known in the Scandinavian countries. It has been repeatedly translated but never inextenso. In 1843, C. A. Holmboe (1796-1882) published the Norwegian translation of an excerpt, which is the first Šāh-nāma translation in a Scandinavian language. The following list comprises the translations that appear in the online-catalogues of the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish national libraries.

Bibliography:

Denmark. Arthur Christensen, Beschen og Menische: En episode af Schahname (Bijān and Maniža: A story from the Šāh-nāma), Studier fra sprog- og oldtidsforskning 46, Copenhagen, 1900.

Idem, Firdausis Kongebog: Udvalgte sagn af det persiske nationalepos i metrisk gengivelse med en indledning om digteren og hans værk (Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings: Selected legends from the Persian national epic in a rhymed version, with an introduction to the poet and his work), Copenhagen, 1931.

Norway. C. A. Holmboe, Prøve af Schahnameh (A sample of the Šāh-nāma), Christiania (Oslo), 1843.

Jafar Jafarnejad and Bjarne Slapgard, Den iranske kongeboka Shah-name: Et utdrag fra det iranskenasjonaleposet (The Iranian book of kings Šāh-nāma: An excerpt from the Iranian national epic), Trondheim, 1990.

Iraj Nouri, Zal den hvithårede (The white-haired Zāl), Oslo, 1998.

Idem, Zal og Rudabe (Zāl and Rudāba), Oslo, 2000. Idem, Rostœm (Rostam), Oslo, 2002.

Sweden. Eric Hermelin, Shāh-nāmah I-V, Stockholm, 1931.

Bo Utas, “Persisk litteratur” (Persian literature), in Lennart Breitholtz and Stig Wikander, eds., Orientalisk diktning, Litteraturens klassiker 16, rev. ed., Stockholm, 1970, pp. 59-110; on pp. 59-64 is a rhymed translation of Rostam’s duel with Sohrāb.

(Claus V. Pedersen)

Originally Published: July 20, 2005

Last Updated: July 20, 2005