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Marta Simidchieva

PhD

Academic Profile

Marta Simidchieva has a PhD in Iranian Studies form the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (1989: Persian Didactic Prose from the 11th-12th cc. CE), and a BA in English Literature from the University of Tehran, Iran (1976), where she started her graduate work in Persian studies.

She teaches courses on history, religion, culture and civilization of the Muslim world at the Department of Humanities, York University, Toronto. She has also taught at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, and has worked as a translator and staff editor with the Encyclopaedia Iranica at the Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University. Before coming to Canada in 1991, she was an Assistant Professor of Persian literature and culture at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria.

Sample Publications

*"FitzGerald's Rubayyat and Agnosticism." In FitzGerald's Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam: Popularity and Neglect. Eds. Adrian Poole, Christine van Ruymbeke, William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. London, New York, Delhi: Anthem Press, 2011, pp. 55-72. *“Men and Women Together: Love, Marriage, and Gender in Forugh Farrokhzād’s First Collection, Asir,” in Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran: Iconic Woman and Feminie Pioneer of New Persian Poetry. Edited by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw and Nasrin Rahimieh, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2011, pp. 19-34. *“Sadeq Hedayat and the Classics: The Case of The Blind Owl”. In: Sadeq Hedayat: His Work and His Wondrous World. Ed. Homa Katouzian. London and New York: Routledge, 2008, pp. 20-43. * “Kingship and Legitimacy in Nizam al-Mulk’s Siyasat-nama, 5th/11th c.” In: Writers and Rulers: Perspectives from Abbasid to Safavid Times. Eds. Beatrice Gruendler and Louise Marlow. Literaturen im Kontext: Arabisch-Pesisch-Turkisch. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2004. Pp. 97-131.

Current Position

Assistant Professor SRC, York University, Toronto