Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: The Making of a Literary Humanism -- 1. The Dawn of an Iranian World in an Islamic Universe The Rise of Persian Language and Literature (632-750) -- 2. The Persian Presence in the Early Islamic Empires Resisting Arabic Literary Imperialism (750-1258) -- 3. The Prose and Poetry of the World The Rise of Literary Humanism in the Seljuqid Empire (1038-1194) -- 4. The Triumph of the Word The Perils and Promises of the Mongol Empire (1256-1353) -- 5. The Lure and Lyrics of a Literature The Center and Periphery of the Timurid Empire (1370-1506) -- 6. The Contours of a Literary Cosmopolitanism Treading over Multiple Empires (1501-1732) -- 7. The Dawn of New Empires Literary Humanism in Search of Itself (1736-1924) -- 8. The Final Frontiers New Persian Literary Humanism (1906 to the Present) -- Conclusion: Literary Humanism as an Alternative Theory to Modernity -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index.