Persian and Indo-Persian for Reading
PERSIAN 110
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
South Asia has been a major center of Persian language and literature for nearly a millennium. This course is an introduction to the Persian literary writings from South Asia, often referred to as Indo-Persian. We will focus on different genres of Indo-Persian writing, including formal letters, imperial biographies, personal memoirs, scriptural commentaries, Sufi hagiographies, poetry, and literary criticism. We will explore Indo-Persian’s relationship to other South Asian languages such as Urdu, as well as consistently engage Persian writings from the broader Persianate world. This course pairs discussions of the original Persian with lessons on grammar, prosody, and reading techniques, while complementing the primary sources with secondary scholarship as well as a wide range of audio-visual resources, including music, digital archives, recitation, and documentaries. Students can expect to become deeply familiar with major styles of Indo-Persian writing, while gaining knowledge about the historical, cultural, and political contexts in which Persian thrived in South Asia.
Course Notes
No auditors are permitted. Enrolled students must take the course for a letter grade.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
