Author Archives: Richard Jeffrey Newman

Attar in Progress: An Officer Falls in Love with a Prince

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I’ve been making steady progress working on Ilahi Nama, and I thought it might be interesting to post some of what I’ve done so far. The latest poem of which I have finished the first draft, for example–just about all … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Writing | 5 Comments

I Need Some Quick Help (If Possible) with Information about Rev. Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

For a talk I have been asked to give about the story I tell in this comment about the connection between Benjamin Franklin and the 13th century Persian poet Saadi, I am hoping someone can point me to some information … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

A Teaching Experience That Changed My Life

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I was cleaning out some files in my office at school the other day, when I found a copy of the introduction I gave in the spring of 2001 for two women who were doing an independent study with me … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues | 4 Comments

If You Like Chess….

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

…you should definitely check out Arunava Sinha’s translation of “The Game,” by Humayun Ahmed. Here’s an excerpt: At babu Nalini Ranjan’s farewell on the rainy July afternoon, therefore, the subject of chess cropped up repeatedly. And at the end Suruj Mian – … Continue reading →

Posted in Recommended Reading | 1 Comment

Why, After Jerry Sandusky and the Boy Scouts, is No One Asking “Why Boys?”

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

Author’s note: I have changed the title of the post so that the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is not included. Even though the majority of victims in that scandal were, as far as I know, boys, girls … Continue reading →

Posted in Men and masculinity, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues | 51 Comments

Farid al-Din Attar: A Reading Journal 2

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I remember once, when I was in college, talking about love with a man who was a kind of mentor to me. He was an artist and we were standing in his studio looking at some of his recent paintings. … Continue reading →

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Ozone Park has Published One of My Poems

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

Ozone Park, the literary journal published by the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College in New York City, has published my poem “I Fell in Love With All That Struggled in You Not to Drown,” Here’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Comments Off on Ozone Park has Published One of My Poems

Farid al-Din Attar: A Reading Journal 1

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

That mystical experience exists outside of language is axiomatic, and if it exists outside of language, then it also must exist outside the network of power relations, ineluctably embedded in language, that human beings navigate daily. Indeed, this is something … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Tagged , | 4 Comments

“My Face Became Eyes; My Eyes, Hands” – Translation Strategy and Metaphor

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I am on sabbatical this semester to work on a translation of Ilahi Nama, The Book of God, by Farid al-Din Attar. I’ve been working on this book in bits and pieces for the past couple of years, producing first … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Writing | 4 Comments

Our Loving Each Other Would Not Be Now The Obstacle That It Was Then

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

This article in The New York Times, by Choe Sang-Hun, fascinates me: [Jasmine] Lee, 35, who was born Jasmine Bacurnay in the Philippines, made history in April when she became the first naturalized citizen — and the first nonethnic Korean — to win … Continue reading →

Posted in Race, racism and related issues | 3 Comments