Ferdowsi’s <i>Shāhnāma</i> Narratives as Epic Episodes: A Case Study

Abstract The article begins with a recapitulation of attention to the Shāhnāma in America and proceeds to an overview of the Shāhnāma in the context of the epic species of narrative, with attention to Hamid Dabashi’s critique in The Shahnameh: The Persian Epic as World Literature of Western writing on world literature and Ferdowsi. The article also here reviews Amin Banani’s much reprinted essay first called “Ferdowsi and the Art of Tragic Epic.” There follow a suggestive list of Shāhnāma parts and a conclusion that, as a whole, it seems not to function as a single narrative, but rather as a collection of epic episodes. As an illustration, the article turns to the story of Rustam and Suhrāb. First comes a cursory American formalist analysis of “The Tale of Sohrab” in Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings translated by Dick Davis. Then comes a discussion of poetic features and effects in Mujtabā Mīnuvī’s edition called Dāstān-i [story of] Rustam va Suhrāb az Shāhnāma.