New Books in Western European Studies Sheiba Kian Kaufman, "Persian Paradigms in Early Modern English Drama" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Jan 11, 2026
Sheiba Kian Kaufman, Assistant Professor of English at Saddleback College and expert on Shakespeare and Persian culture, delves into her book on early modern English drama. She explores how Persian monarchs reflect concepts of cosmopolitanism and hospitality in literature. Kaufman discusses theatrical hospitality, interprets Edgar in *King Lear* as embodying Persian ethics, and analyzes Elizabethan plays that illustrate intercultural marriages and tolerance under Persian influence. Her unique perspective reimagines the narratives of tolerance and diversity in the Renaissance.
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Hospitality As Theory And Lived Practice
- Hospitality functions as both ethical theory and lived practice across global faiths and cultures.
- Theater stages hospitality vividly because it dramatizes the risks, rituals, and spatial arrangements of welcoming strangers.
Use Paradigms To Map Intercultural Thought
- Use 'paradigm' to trace intercultural analogies rather than only representational misreadings.
- Track intellectual histories (like hospitality and toleration) to reveal multiple early modern globalities.
Adab As A Lived Ethical Code
- Adab (refined manners and ethics) operates as a lived cultural code that shaped European readings of Persian rulers.
- English sources often absorbed these virtues from Xenophon and Persian poetry into portrayals of leaders.
