Oral Literature of Iranian Languages : Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Ossetic, Persian and Tadjik

À signaler, bien qu'en anglais, mais c'est un livre important, le XVIIIème volet de A History of Persian Literature, malgré l'imbécillité du titre : Oral Literature of Iranian Language, qui n'est pas le fait des spécialistes de la langue kurde qui y ont contribué mais un choix qui semble bien chauvin de la part des Persans à la tête de ce projet : les littératures kurdes, pastho, baloutches, etc ne serait que des productions "orales", des patois, quoi, alors que le chapitre sur la littérature kurde s'ouvre par sa forme écrite...

Parti-pris absurdement contredit par le contenu, donc, dont voici la table des matières en ce qui concerne la littérature kurde :

CHAPTER 1 : WRITTEN KURDISH LITERATURE (J. Blau) :

1. Introduction.
2. Early Kurdish literature

• Gurani literature
• The beginning of Sorani as a literaty language
• The Kurdish press

3. Kudish literature after World War I

• In Armenia, 1921-89
• In Turkey, 1923-57
• In Iraq, 1919-57
• Prose literature
• In Iran, 1912-79
• In Iraq and Turkey, 1958-90
• In the Diaspora
• In Iran since 1979
• In Turkey since 1991
• In Iraq since 1991
• In independant Armenia

CHAPTER 2 : KURDISH ORAL LITERATURE (Ch. Allison)
1. Oral tradition in Kurdistan
2. The upheavals of the late twentieth century
3. Studies of Kurdish oral literature
4. Genre
5. Performers
6. Shared traditions
7. Kurdish traditions

• Mem and Zîn
• Dimdim

8. Kurdish lyrics
Lyrical love songs
Lamentation
9. The future of Kurdish oral literature

CHAPTER 3 : ORALITY AND RELIGION IN KURDISTAN : THE YEZIDI AND AHL-E HAQQ TRADITIONS (Ph. G. Kreyenbroek)
1. The Yezidis and Ahl-e Haqq

• Demography
• Religious affiliations
• History
• Some characteristic ideas and beliefs

2. Textual traditions of the Yezidis and Ahl-e Haqq
The absorption of outside influences
Storylines and sacred poems
Polyvalence
Characteristic topics

• Creation and the First Things
• Legends explaining the community's origins and affiliations
• Saints and Holy Men
• Mystica themes
• Philosophical themes : the implications of death

3. The sacred poems

• Formal characteristics
• Music
• Transmitters
• On the discovery of the sacred texts

4. Questions of orality and literacy in connection with the poems