Persia and the Enlightenment ed. by Cyrus Masroori et al. (review)

• Published in: Eighteenth-century studies 2022-10, Vol.56 (1), p.132-134
• Main Author: Marchand, Suzanne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 16th century; 18th century; Age of Enlightenment; Essays; Historical text analysis; Islam; Jewish people; Missionaries; Muslims; Patriotism; Philosophy; Poetry; Politics; Said, Edward; Theology; Zoroastrianism
• ISSN: 0013-2586; 1086-315X; 1086-315X
• DOI: 10.1353/ecs.2022.0063

[...]there is always more to add to any collected volume, but Persia and the Enlightenment might have offered readers a fuller picture of what made up the "Persia" known to Europeans in this period had two further essays been included, one on the availability and circulation of Persian manuscripts and a second on Persian poetry in eighteenth-century Europe. [...]European travelers actually failed to make much of some episodes of Shi'ite persecution, Marshall argues, of Jews, Zoroastrians, and Armenians, the latter subjected to mass relocation from Julfa to New Julfa in Isfahan when Shah Abbas moved to secure greater state profits from the very lucrative silk trade in 1603–4 (65). [...]Whitney Mannies's "Persia in Diderot's Encyclopédie" makes the fascinating observation that the European narrative about the Orient's "backwardness" had its roots in discussions about the relationship between politics and the arts and sciences.