The wine of wisdom

"Loved by the free-spirited, hated by his orthodox peers; a stranger in both his homeland and the West: the complexities and contradictions surrounding the life of Omar Khayyam are reconstructed for the first time in this new book." "This comprehensive study draws on a host of sources, placing Khayyam within the context of his own time, and exploring, through his philosophy and poetry, his lifelong preoccupation with such timeless themes as life and death, faith and reason, freewill and fate. Aminrazavi offers fresh insights, not only into the Ruba'iyyat, but also into Khayyam's lasting influence on Western literature from Mark Twain to T.S. Eliot, and his role in the creation of the Orientalist tradition."--Jacket.