Book Description

Learned by heart and copied by hand in the Volga region for generations, Kyssa’i Yusuf (The Story of Joseph) is today the only surviving work by the founder of Bulgar-Tatar literature Kol Gali (1183–1236) and is here rendered into English for the first time in its entirety by Fred Beake and Ravil Bukharaev. Supporting the translation, which is fully annotated, are forty specially commissioned illustrations by one of Russia’s leading contemporary artists Azat Minnekaev. The volume also includes a facsimile of one of the newly discovered handmade copies of the nineteenth century, together with a full introduction presenting the historical and literary context of the work. Kyssa’i Yusuf, comprising over a thousand stanzas, is an Islamic version of the well known biblical tale, and is presumed to have been a ‘popularized’version based on an earlier Islamic narrative – not unlike the late-twentieth century ‘interpretation’ found in the popular musical Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat. The translation will be of special interest to biblical scholars as well as students of Islamic literature and those pursuing inter-faith studies.