Lakhnavi, The Adventures of Amir Hamza

Lakhnavi, The Adventures of Amir Hamza

Arabia, Persia, and the Subcontinent Oral tradition dating back to the 7th century Illustrated manuscript commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, c. 1562Urdu version by Ghalib Lakhnavi, 1855Expanded by Abdullah Bilgirami, 1871    Ghalib Lakhnavi The Adventures of...
David of Sassoun (Sasna Tsrer)

David of Sassoun (Sasna Tsrer)

Armenia Oral tradition: c. 9th century CEFirst set to writing: 1874 The Daredevils of Sasun (Sasna Tsrer)   “David of Sassoun” is the Armenian national folk epic representing the ethos of the Armenian people in their age-old struggle for freedom from invasion and...
Granados Maldonado, La Zaragozaida

Granados Maldonado, La Zaragozaida

Mexico First published in 1904.     Francisco Granados Maldonado La Zaragozaida     Francisco Granados Maldonado is, to this day, the very definition of an obscure poet. We do not know when or where he was born; according to extant registers, he died in...
Pessoa, Mensagem

Pessoa, Mensagem

Portugal 1934   Francisco Pessoa, Mensagem Francisco Pessoa’s Mensagem (1934) is an esoteric national epic simultaneously steeped in reverential homage to the past while paving the way for what it means to compose an epic in the modern era. This duality can be...
Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

England First published 1954-1955 (written between 1937 and 1949)   J. R. R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, was first published in three parts—The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King—in...