Translation by: Edward Fitzgerald
Well, the cover doesn't make the best blog graphic, but I'm surprised I even found a copy of it on the 'net. The book, I found this at a flea market down by the beach (beautiful edition from the 40s for 1 dollar), and my father seems to think that this was a book I had ought to have heard of- a book, he said, that my grandfather used to quote quite often.
The set of 100 quatrains that can be boiled down to "Carpe Diem" has been so thoroughly altered and augmented by Fitzgerald, that as this edition warns, it is no longer possible to determine where Khayyam ends and Fitzgerald begins- indeed, it is better to think of them as co-authors. It is odd, because this attitude of appropriation seems like it wouldn't be as happily accepted today.
The Rubaiyat would have been quite the heretical volume in its days- written by a man in an Islamic society in the 12th century and translated by one in a 19th century Christian society, the subject matter is that of enjoying your life since there is nothing when you're finished- eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die - that sort of thing. And the drinking theme is revisited a couple of times in fact. And despite the fact that it was appropriated and altered by someone else 700 years after it was first written, and despite the fact that the message is simple, it is quite an enjoyable and inspiring read. Highly recommended.
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