Preliminary material /ILYA GERSHEVITCH , MARY BOYCE , OLAF HANSEN , BERTOLD SPULER and MARK J. DRESDEN -- OLD IRANIAN LITERATURE /ILYA GERSHEVITCH -- MIDDLE PERSIAN LITERATURE /MARY BOYCE -- THE MANICHAEAN LITERATURE IN MIDDLE IRANIAN /MARY BOYCE -- DIE BUDDHISTISCHE UND CHRISTLICHE LITERATUR /OLAF HANSEN -- DIE HISTORISCHE UND GEOGRAPHISCHE LITERATUR IN PERSISCHER SPRACHE /BERTOLD SPULER -- SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF IRANIAN STUDIES: (Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Iranistik) /M. J. DRESDEN -- REGISTER /ILYA GERSHEVITCH , MARY BOYCE , OLAF HANSEN , BERTOLD SPULER and MARK J. DRESDEN.

Preliminary material /GEORGE MORRISON , JULIAN BALDICK and SHAFĪcĪ KADKANI -- FOREWORD /GEORGE MORRISON , JULIAN BALDICK and SHAFĪcĪ KADKANI -- MEDIEV AL ṢŪFĪ LITERATURE IN PERSIAN PROSE /GEORGE MORRISON , JULIAN BALDICK and SHAFĪcĪ KADKANI -- PERSIAN ṢŪFĪ POETRY UP TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY /GEORGE MORRISON , JULIAN BALDICK and SHAFĪcĪ KADKANI -- TIMURID PERIOD: (Period of riddle, artifice and repetition) /GEORGE MORRISON , JULIAN BALDICK and SHAFĪcĪ KADKANI -- INDEX /GEORGE MORRISON , JULIAN BALDICK and SHAFĪcĪ KADKANI.

Part 1. Poetry and poetics -- Part 2. Fiction and prose -- Part 3. Culture, criticism, and the problematics of translation.

Persian literature is the jewel in the crown of Persian culture. It has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India and Turkic Central Asia and been a source of inspiration for Goethe, Emerson, Matthew Arnold and Jorge Luis Borges among others. Yet Persian literature has never received the attention it truly deserves."A History of Persian Literature" answers this need and offers a new, comprehensive and detailed history of its subject. This 18-volume, authoritative survey reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian experience. It includes extensive, revealing examples with contributions by prominent scholars who bring a fresh critical approach to bear on this important topic.The first volume offers an indispensable entree to Persian literature's long and rich history, examining themes and subjects that are common to many fields of Persian literary study. This invaluable introduction to the subject heralds a definitive and ground-breaking new series.