Sui presunti aspetti di misoginia nel Libro dei Re di Ferdowsi, poeta persiano dell’XI sec.

Abstract

This paper analyses some examples of alleged misogyny in the Shāh-nāmé (The book of Kings, of about 60, 000 couplets), the main work of Abu l-Qāsem Ferdowsi of Tus (XI sec.), the greatest Persian epic poet. The author examines some negati­ve statemen­ts about women scattered in the poem, distinguishing between the statemen­ts attributable to the writer and those uttered by various characters; some cases of obvious or suspected interpolation are also examined. Discriminating between gynophoby, as a collecti­ve and mostly unconscious cultural attitude, and misogyny, as an individual and often declared attitude, the author concludes that in Ferdowsi’s work it would be appropriate to speak of a clear reflection of the gynophobic background of a whole culture or age rather than of misogyny.

Keywords

• Ferdowsi, Shāh-nāmé, epic poetry, mathnavi, Persian literature, medieval culture, Islamic culture, gender studies, misogyny, gynophoby