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(Masood Mortazavi)


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20050829 Monday August 29, 2005

[ Philosophy ] May 18, 1048

A Sun friend just sent out a note on the birthday of Omar Khayyám. That date was the answer to one of the puzzles posed during a Berkeley showing of a recently released movie, The Keeper. (My Sun friend says the movie falls short of developing Khayyám's character to any significant extent, either through its script or through its motion. For a movie that relies on both to develop characters, including one character who barely talks, see Majid Majidi's Baran. So, it is not a matter of budget or ciematic tricks. It is a matter of artistic genius. For the music to Baran see here. Another recent, American movie that does the same, see Me and You and Everyone We Know.)

The year 1048 is the year the city of Oslo, the capital of present-day Norway, was founded, and the year when Benedict IX was driven out of Rome for the last time.

My friend's e-mail announcement of Khayyám's birthday amazed me, as it always has when I'm reminded of it.

Although Khayyám, the great poet, philosopher and mathematician was born on May 18, 1048, and although I might just be alive when his millennium returns, the greatest part of it all is that we, "modern" Persian speakers, can still read him in the original and revel in its multiple levels of meaning—conveyed through choice of words, phrases, rythms and rhymes. Through his poetry, Khayyám keeps twisting us into some kind of ancient mental yoga in order to bring us to a pure comprehension of our simple existence in this world.


Majid Majidi's Baran

I'll be writing a bit more here about Khayyám as time permits today and tomorrow. .

, .

2005-08-29 15:32:16.0 -- Comments [2] ; Permalink ; Trackback.

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