April 2002 - Nr. 4
Goethe’s West-Oestlicher Diwan Appears in Persian
TWIG - For the first time since its publication in 1819, Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s verse cycle West-Oestlicher Diwan (West-Eastern Divan) has been translated into Farsi, the language of the Persian master poet who was its primary inspiration. The translation was sponsored by DaimlerChrysler as a contribution toward intercultural understanding. Company representative Matthias Kleinert handed a first edition of the book to Iranian president Mohammad Khatami Tuesday (March 12) during a state visit in Vienna.
Goethe’s point of departure for West-Oestlicher Diwan was his reading of Iran’s most revered poet, the 14th-century mystic Shams al-Din Muhammad, known as Hafiz. He conceived the volume as a bridge between occident and orient, and its appearance opened a new chapter in German literature by directly borrowing themes from an Islamic author. In 2000, a monument commemorating the spiritual bond connecting the two literary giants was erected in Weimar. A pair of granite chairs cut from the same stone stands over a bronze plate bearing lines of verse by both poets, a symbol of intimate exchange between distant cultures.
