Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob


Abdolhossein Zarinkoob (Luri/Persianعبدالحسین زرین‌کوب, also Romanized as ZarrinkoubZarrinkub) (March 17, 1923 – September 15, 1999) was a prominent scholar of Iranian literaturehistory of literature, Persian culture and history.

He was born on March 19, 1923, in BorujerdIran, received his PhD fromTehran University in 1955 under the supervision of Badiozzaman Forouzanfar, and held faculty positions at universities such as Oxford UniversitySorbonne, and Princeton University, among many others.

Because of his pioneering works on Iranian literature, literary criticism and comparative literature, he is considered the father of modern Persian 

Research works

Some of his more famous works in English are:

·                    The Arab Conquest of Iran and its aftermath: in Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, London, 1975.

·                    Persian Sufism in its historical backgroundIranian studies III, 1970

·                    Nizami, a Lifelong Quest for a Utopia, 1977, Rome.


Literary criticism and comparative literature

Zarrinkoob boosted comparative literature and Persian literary criticism. His book entitled "Naqda Adabi" (نقد ادبی, "Literary Criticism") is a classic book on Persian literary criticism.

Rumi and Erfan

Zarrinkoub is also known for his research on the Persian poet Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi (Rumi) and his works. Zarrinkoub's "Serr-e Ney" (سرّ نی, "Secret of the Reed") and "Bahr dar Koozeh" (بحر در کوزه, "Sea in a Jug") are critical and comparative analysis of Rumi's Masnavi. "Pelleh-Pelleh ta Mulaqat-e Khuda" (پله‌پله تا ملاقات خدا, "Step by Step until Visiting God") is also a work he carried out on the same line.

Zarrinkoub's research works on Hafez and Persian mysticism resulted in several books: "Az Kooche-ye Rendan" (از کوچهٔ رندان) and "Arzeshe Miras-e Soofieh" (ارزش میراث صوفیه) are a few examples.

History of Persia

Zarrinkoub's classic  book is titled "Two Centuries of Silence" (دو قرن سکوت) Zarrinkoub also published seminal articles and a few books on Islamic history.

Zarrinkoob’s other notable book is titled Rouzegaran, (روزگاران) (The Ages) (Iran's history from the beginning to the fall of the Pahlavi) which covers the 3, 000-year history of Iran, since the Aryans migrated to the Iranian plateau, giving it their name.

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