Odd Bits
Two Poets, Eight Centuries, One Poetic Masterpiece
Save Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is one of those books that some scholars love to be snotty about. Literary critics of a certain stamp dismiss it as bad poetry, apparently on the grounds that people love it who don’t otherwise read poetry.* Persian linguists rightly point out that Fitzgerald’s translation…
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My Gettysburg Address
WARNING: SELF-PROMOTION ALERT Let me say it flat out: next Saturday, July 2, at 9:30 am I’m going to be the first speaker at this year’s Gettysburg Sacred Trust Talks and Book Signing at Gettysburg National Military Park. I’m thrilled! So thrilled that I’d put an entire row of exclamation points at the end of…
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In Memoriam: Eleanor Zelliot and Gujurati Special Railway Tea
When people ask me what led me to study South Asian history, the first thing I always tell them I fell in love with Rudyard Kipling’s Kim when I was eight. The second thing I tell them is that I had a wonderful professor at Carleton who inspired me. Eleanor Zelliot’s memorial service is today.…
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