The Madness of the Shepherd

Author:   Matthew Franklin Cooper
Publisher:   Wabasha Street Books
ISBN:  

9781601910677


Pages:   206
Publication Date:   01 March 2026
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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The Madness of the Shepherd


Overview

Kosta Levan Khetagurov (1859-1906) remains the towering figure of Ossetian literature and one of the most significant poets of the late Russian Empire. Writing in both Ossetian and Russian, he gave voice to the material suffering and political aspirations of a people caught between imperial exploitation and internal complacency... and did so with a range that moves from prophetic fury to black-comic fable. In The Madness of the Shepherd, Matthew Franklin Cooper applies the literary-functionalist methods of Trubetskoi and Jakobson to Khetagurov's lexical choices in both languages. Tracing key Ossetian terms (like фыййау 'shepherd, ' æгъдау 'honour, ' and зарæг 'song') back through their Iranian roots to the Avestā and the Nart Sagas, and examining how Arabic and Qur'ānic resonances inform the Russian-language epic Fatima, Cooper places Khetagurov in conversation with Ferdowsī, Gogol, Lu Xun, José Martí, Rubén Darío, and the Palestinian poets of exile. What emerges is a portrait of a poet whose shepherd is at once messiah, satirical fool, and rallying cry. Cooper's style is fresh and singular. With prophetic incision, he draws the reader into the living world of a 19th-century Caucasian poet...and then, without breaking stride, turns the same lexicographic blade on the present, holding his reader to account under the burden of current events in West Asia. Khetagurov's words, in Cooper's hands, are not museum pieces but loaded weapons aimed squarely at the complacencies of our own time. Fr Marc Boulos rector of St. Elizabeth OCA (St Paul, MN) host of The Bible as Literature Podcast, author of Rise, Andalus

Full Product Details

Author:   Matthew Franklin Cooper
Publisher:   Wabasha Street Books
Imprint:   Wabasha Street Books
Dimensions:   Width: 12.70cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 20.30cm
Weight:   0.209kg
ISBN:  

9781601910677


ISBN 10:   1601910673
Pages:   206
Publication Date:   01 March 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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