The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of The Poetry of Ālam-Tāj Zhāle Qā'em-Maqāmi, Mirror of Dew, translated and with an introduction by Asghar Seyed-Gohrab.
This is an Ilex Foundation publication (which at least means it is distributed by heavyweight Harvard University Press) -- and it's a pretty big deal. Author Ālam-Tāj Qā'em-Maqāmi doesn't even make Wikipedia's List of Persian poets, and there seems some general confusion about even just her name -- not helped by her basically not having published during her lifetime, her use (sort of -- she didn't publish, after all ...) of a pen name ('Zhāle'), and the in(s)anity that is translaiteration (ʻĀlamtāj Qāʼimʹmaqāmī, says the Library of Congress; Alamtaj Ghaemmaghami others suggest; my favourite: Flipkart's listing, which has her undiacritcally as 'Lam-T J Zh Le Q 'Em-Maq Mi').
Even those who praise her aren't necessarily helpful: Azar Nafisi extols her (scroll down) -- but refers to her as: 'Alamtaj Esfehani'; anyone looking her up under that name is unlikely to find much of use/interest.
Noted Persian translator and scholar Dick Davis similarly doesn't get beyond identifying her as 'Alam Taj' (though at least he doesn't add the spurious 'Esfehani'), quoted as saying:
Strong, impressive, discussion-worthy stuff -- I hope people pay attention.
This is an Ilex Foundation publication (which at least means it is distributed by heavyweight Harvard University Press) -- and it's a pretty big deal. Author Ālam-Tāj Qā'em-Maqāmi doesn't even make Wikipedia's List of Persian poets, and there seems some general confusion about even just her name -- not helped by her basically not having published during her lifetime, her use (sort of -- she didn't publish, after all ...) of a pen name ('Zhāle'), and the in(s)anity that is translaiteration (ʻĀlamtāj Qāʼimʹmaqāmī, says the Library of Congress; Alamtaj Ghaemmaghami others suggest; my favourite: Flipkart's listing, which has her undiacritcally as 'Lam-T J Zh Le Q 'Em-Maq Mi').
Even those who praise her aren't necessarily helpful: Azar Nafisi extols her (scroll down) -- but refers to her as: 'Alamtaj Esfehani'; anyone looking her up under that name is unlikely to find much of use/interest.
Noted Persian translator and scholar Dick Davis similarly doesn't get beyond identifying her as 'Alam Taj' (though at least he doesn't add the spurious 'Esfehani'), quoted as saying:
Another influential poet was Alam Taj. "She's one of the most interesting poets I know of, and she is virtually unknown," Davis said.With the great backstory -- she essentially didn't publish during her lifetime (ca. 1883-1946), her poems discovered between the pages of books in her library after her death -- and the jaw-droppingly forthright verse itself, this is yet again a failure of contemporary mainstream publishing. I know poetry barely and rarely sells, but this is the kind of stuff that a major publisher, or at the very least a major university press should have picked up; Harvard University Press distribution means there's some hope this won't go entirely unnoticed, but this is the sort of stuff that should be getting major attention (well, you know -- major for poetry ...). With its critique of the treatment of women under Islam it's also very contemporary -- and it shouldn't take much to make Qā'em-Maqāmi a feminist icon.
Strong, impressive, discussion-worthy stuff -- I hope people pay attention.