The Oasis of Now
SynopsisPlot
Well-versed in Buddhism, mysticism, and Western traditions, Sepehri mingled Western concepts with Eastern ones, creating a poetry unsurpassed in the history of Persian literature. In Iran, his Persian verses are often recited in public gatherings and lines from them were used as slogans by the protesters in 2009. This first full-length American volume collects poems from three of Sepehri's most important books, including the highly acclaimed Water's Footfall. Sohrab Sepehri wrote the poems collected in The Oasis of Now after traveling through Japan, China, and India, where he was exposed to the arts of those countries as well as the spiritual disciplines of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. This book is crucial for anyone interested in Iranian arts and culture.
Story
About this book
Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980) is one of the most widely read Iranian poets of the twentieth century. The Oasis of Now is the first full-length American publication of his work, drawing poems from three of his major collections, among them the acclaimed Water's Footfall. Sepehri's Persian verses remain part of everyday cultural life in Iran, recited at public gatherings. Lines from his poetry were adopted as slogans by protesters during the 2009 demonstrations.
Sepehri traveled extensively through Japan, China, and India, and those experiences shaped his writing in visible ways. He studied Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu spiritual traditions alongside Western literary and philosophical ones. His poetry sits at a crossing point between these influences, folding ideas from different continents into the sounds and structures of Persian verse.
The collection offers English-language readers a chance to encounter a poet whose name is familiar across Iran but who has had limited book-length publication in the United States. His subjects often circle around nature, presence, and perception, filtered through the particular calm that his cross-cultural study brought to his writing voice.
