Tuesday Talk - April 7, 2020

A Loaf of Bread, a Jug of Wine, and Thou: the Victorian Cult of the Rubaiyat

Speaker: Rachel McDermott, Professor, Departments of Asian & Middle Eastern Cultures and Human Rights, Barnard College.

Not only was Fitzgerald's 'Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' published in more than three hundred editions, it also inspired a cult-like devotion in many Victorian readers. There were Persianized costumes, dinner menus, social clubs, paintings, imitations, tributes, and fan-fiction poetry in great abundance. What was it all about?