Introduction
The work in question is entitled “Hamzanama” or “Dastan-e Amir Hamza.” From Urdu, the title translates as “The Adventures of Amir Hamza” (Lakhnavi & Bilgrami 2012). The book is an old Persian dastan – a heroic story usually told orally. The manuscript is known to be accomplished as late as the mid-16th century.
Remarkably, the book draws a visible connection between the cultures that begot the contemporary Western and Eastern ones. “Hamzanama” is often referred to as the Persian “Iliad and Odyssey” (Mahvesh, 2014). Heroic affairs aside, the dastan is characteristic for its episodes of sheer bawdiness and impudence – the features one can encounter in Rabelaisian texts. Atypically vivid for a work of epos, the book encompasses a range of topics, which can facilitate a better understanding of contemporary Middle Eastern cultures and its descendants.
Hamzanama: A work of epos and more
Sooner or later, a well-read person learns to regard every text they read as a construct: the set of characters, actions, events, and settings form a comprehensible, predictable layout. With Hamzanama, the experience was somewhat different because the book incorporates many motives that are not quite compatible with the genre of heroic epos. Although the main character is – typically – strong, brave, bold, and handsome, there is something utterly troubling with his whole demeanor. Making one’s way through a work of epos, one expects to encounter a hero that is perfect in all respects.
In Hamzanama, the reader gets a hero that can be cowardly, lame, and mean – and villains capable of kindly and wholehearted actions. The book might be the first in its kind prototyping despicable heroes and loveable, charismatic villains.
Not surprisingly, it is much easier to relate to a hero who gets out of character than to a bunch of stereotypically good traits. In this respect, the book is a unique example of how a fictional character can come alive.
At the same time, Hamzanama is a valuable source of cultural specificities common for peoples of the Middle East. Stylishly playful and brassy at times, the text nevertheless favors values such as faith, bravery, honor, and the power of the spirit. This, and some other aspects of the dastan, can provide an in-depth view of the cultural legacy of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey natives.
Hamzanama and cultural holism
The literature of the Middle East calls up the colors, the fragrance, and the unbelievably rich mythology; Hamzanama is no exception, with its jinns, ghouls, and all other sorts of phantasmagoric creatures. Its lavishly embroidered textual canvas, however, is full of motives permeating the global literary tradition: quest, trickery, capture and rescue, crime and punishment, home and family, bodily voluptuousness, and everlasting love. Values and motives common for all humans make “Adventures of Amir Hamza” a part of the global literary legacy and stand for a culturally holistic approach.
Conclusion
Generations of Middle East natives have been brought up on Hamzanama, intoxicated by the spirit of adventure. Faiths and settings differ but the omnipresent values of justice, spirit, and a good laugh are present in Hamzanama. Thus, the dastan teaches the reader to see culture as an all-encompassing phenomenon and simultaneously allows for an insightful cultural perspective. This, in turn, will enable me to acknowledge the cultural background of the Middle East natives I can meet in the course of work and understand them better.
References
Lakhnavi, G., & Bilgrami A. (2012). The Adventures of Amir Hamza: Special abridged edition. (Musharraf Ali Farooqi Trans.). New York, NY: Modern Library.
Mahvesh, M. (2014). Under the Radar: The Adventures of Amir Hamza. Web.