[Marc Toutant]

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Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that my book is now out: Un empire de mots. Pouvoir, culture et soufisme à l’époque des derniers Timourides au miroir de la Khamsa de Mīr ‘Alī Shīr Nawā’ī from Peeters Publishers.

It is available from Peeters:

http://www.peeters-leuven.be/b<wbr />oekoverz.asp?nr=9977

Best wishes,

Marc Toutant

Un empire de mots. Pouvoir, culture et soufisme à l’époque des derniers Timourides au miroir de la Khamsa de Mīr ‘Alī Shīr Nawā’ī

Although Tamerlane’s heirs were not able to preserve the territorial extension of the empire they inherited, the Timurid century, which followed the conqueror’s death, has been regarded as one of an authentic Renaissance of arts and culture. At his court, the last great Timurid ruler Sultān Ḥusayn Bayqara could pride himself on having such talented artists as the miniaturist Bihzād and the poet Jāmī. There was yet another figure who has long remained unknown in the West and that made his mark on this time more than any other did. The statesman, patron and writer Mīr ‘Alī Shīr Nawā’ī (1441-1501) authored numerous works in Eastern Turkish, and was already considered to be the greatest representative of Chaghatay Turkish literature which, thanks to him, reached its apogee. The study of his works, and especially his masterpiece called Khamsa –an imitation of Nizāmī Ganjawī’s famous pentalogy– is fundamental for many reasons. In addition to being an embodiment of the aesthetics of the period and a reflection of the dynasty’s aspirations just before the Timurids were eclipsed, it also marked the first attempt to forge a distinctive Turkish speaking culture within a Central Asian world dominated by Persian civilisation.

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