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Mantiq al-tayr (The Conference of the Birds) — Attar

Written work · Essential works

Mantiq al-tayr (The Conference of the Birds)

منطق‌الطیر (Mantiq al-tayr), también مقامات الطیور (Maqamat al-tuyur)

La asamblea de las aves
byAttar

A masnavi of several thousand couplets and Attar's masterpiece. The birds of the world gather to choose a king; the hoopoe, Solomon's messenger, proposes that they seek the Simorgh. Each bird excuses itself with a human weakness (the nightingale's love for the rose, the parrot's longing for immortality, the peacock's paradise) and the hoopoe answers with stories, among them that of Shaykh San'an in love with a Christian girl. Those who set out cross seven valleys: quest, love, knowledge, detachment, unity, bewilderment, and poverty and annihilation. Only thirty arrive, and they discover that the Simorgh is their own reflection: *si morgh*, 'thirty birds'. The frame story comes from the Ghazalis' *Risalat al-tayr*.

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Read the full textEditions and translations · 14

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Authorship note

Authentic: Attar lists it among his works in the prefaces to the *Mukhtar-nama* and the *Khusraw-nama*. With the *Divan*, it is the only work confirmed by contemporary sources (Tusi). A closing line, absent from some manuscripts, dates it to 573/1177.

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

  • The Conference of the Birds — Attar

    The Conference of the Birds

    W. W. Norton, 2017

    Translation: Sholeh Wolpé

    ISBN 9780393292183

    View in store · W. W. Norton
  • The Speech of the Birds: Concerning Migration to the Real — Attar

    The Speech of the Birds: Concerning Migration to the Real

    Islamic Texts Society, 1998

    Translation: Peter Avery

    ISBN 9780946621699

    Traducción completa en prosa.

    View in store · Islamic Texts Society
  • The Conference of the Birds — Attar

    The Conference of the Birds

    Arkana, 1985

    Translation: C. S. Nott

    ISBN 1850630135

    Versión de 1954 hecha a partir de la francesa de Garcin de Tassy.

  • The Conference of the Birds (Penguin Classics)

    Penguin Books, 1984

    Translation: Afkham Darbandi y Dick Davis

    ISBN 9780140444346

    Traducción en pareados rimados; reimpresiones frecuentes.

    Buy the book · Amazon (amazon.com)View in store · Penguin Books

  • Bird-Parliament

    Macmillan (Letters and Literary Remains, vol. II), 1889

    Translation: Edward FitzGerald

    Versión libre y abreviada compuesta en 1862 y publicada póstumamente; dominio público.

Français

  • Mantic uttaïr ou le langage des oiseaux

    Imprimerie impériale, 1863

    Translation: Joseph Garcin de Tassy

    Primera traducción europea completa (texto persa, 1857). Dominio público.

  • La Conférence des oiseaux — Attar

    La Conférence des oiseaux

    Seuil, 2002

    Translation: Henri Gougaud

    ISBN 9782020415019

    Adaptación libre en verso, no traducción literal.

  • Le Cantique des oiseaux

    Diane de Selliers, 2012

    Translation: Leili Anvar

    ISBN 9782364370036

    Edición ilustrada con pintura del Oriente islámico, comentarios de Michael Barry.

    View in store · Éditions Diane de Selliers

  • Le langage des oiseaux (Manteq ut-Tayr)

    Éditions du Cerf, 2012

    Translation: Manijeh Nouri

    ISBN 9782204096362

    Prefacio de Shafii-Kadkani.

    Buy the book · Amazon (amazon.fr)View in store · Éditions du Cerf

Persa · فارسی

  • Mantiq al-tayr

    Teherán, 1963

    Translation: Sadeq Gowharin (ed.)

    Edición de referencia antes de la de Shafii-Kadkani; Mashkur la había editado en 1962.

  • Mantiq al-tayr

    Sukhan, 2005

    Translation: Mohammad Reza Shafii-Kadkani (ed.)

    ISBN 9789643720636

    Edición crítica con introducción y notas; reimpresa con frecuencia.

Español

  • La asamblea de los pájaros

    Troquel, 1994

    ISBN 9501602273

    Edición argentina; traductor no indicado en el catálogo.

  • Conferencia de los pájaros

    Gaia, 2003

    Translation: Raficq Abdulla (adaptación)

    ISBN 9788484450450

    Recreación ilustrada en verso libre, no traducción íntegra.

  • El lenguaje de los pájaros: la conferencia de las aves — Attar

    El lenguaje de los pájaros: la conferencia de las aves

    Editorial Humanitas, 2007

    ISBN 9788479104245

    Traductor no indicado en el catálogo.

    Buy the book · Amazon (amazon.es)

Other works by Attar

Sources

  • Reinert, Bernd. «ʿAṭṭār, Farīd-al-Dīn». Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. III, fasc. 1, pp. 20–25. Publicado el 15-12-1987.

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