The Cambridge History of Gay and Lbian Lerature - November 2014
Contents:
MORN GAY PERSIAN POETRY ABOUT LOVE
HOMOSEXUALITY iii. HOMOSEXUALITY. A sharp ntrast exists between the treatment of homosexualy Islamic law, on the one hand (see ii.
From the dawn of Persian poetry the nth century all through to the twentieth century, not only was homosexualy ndoned Persian poetry, but fact homoeroticism formed almost the only amatory subject of Persian ghazals (short son-like lyrics) and the ma topic of much of Persian love poetry.
In later tim, when polil and social circumstanc changed and slav were not as readily available as durg the ontier wars, boys different walks of life bee the targets of homoerotic love. Novic workg unr master craftsmen, errand boys (šāgerds) shops, and youths workg at different tras were now mostly the targets of homoerotic love poems, although ls equently qasidas than ghazals, quatras, and ocsnal piec (qetʿas). An stctive example of the variety of the subjects of homoerotic love is a number of short poems the genre of Šahrāšub by Masʿud Saʿd [d.
GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE
The ḵaṭṭ is scribed varly as green (ḵaṭṭ-e sabz), st-lored (ḵaṭṭ-e zangāri), mk-lored (ḵaṭṭ-e moš-k), buddg ḵaṭṭ (ḵaṭṭ-e now-damida), etc., but most often upled wh ḵāl (bety spot) on acunt of their homonymy. In Persian love lyrics, however, one n hardly fd the kd of homosexual relatnship that is unrstood the morn Wt; love is a one-sid and asymmetril affair. Therefore, should be characterized more properly as pedophilia, and s physil aspect as perasty, rather than scribed unr the more nebulo ncept of homosexual love.
In many poems the poet-lover scrib himself as a fatherly figure to the beloved, and ed a homosexual may take a tame to his home and re for his well-beg and tn (actg as a ‘sugar daddy’).