The authorship of the poem ‘Ushshaq-nama from the prospect of academic orientalist studies and modern computer technologies

The poem ‘Ushshaq-nama by Fakhr ad-Din ‘Iraqi (610–688 / 1213–1289) is the first poetical writing on the subject of mystical love in Persian literature. ‘Iraqi’s authorship of this work has never been questioned by researchers. However, the English orientalist J. Baldick 1973 cast a doubt on ‘Iraqi’s authorship of this poem. The article examines in detail the arguments of J. Baldick both from the point of view of the context of the creation of the poem, as well as the methods of the latest computational methods, in particular stylometry. Boldik's arguments concern both the historical and religious context in which ‘Iraqi lived and the peculiarities of his works, primarily the poem‘Ushshaq-name. The paper demonstrates that this computational method may be used for the study of the features of the style of Persian poetry and the confirmation of the authorship of doubtful Persian writings. Further expert decision full-field by Artjoms Šeļa based on stylometric methods for the establishment of the poem ‘Ushshaq- nama is expounded. While the results of the analysis of the historical and religious contexts of the poem may serve as confirmation of the authorship of ‘Iraqi and the refutation of the Baldick hypothesis, the results of the stylometric analysis do not give an unambiguous answer to the question of its authorship.

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