Surprisingly, then, he is hardly known or read in English. Little of his work resembles the pithy, malleable verse of Omar Khayyam, Rumi, Sa'di, or Hafiz, easily taken out of context. Nizami's work is generally more substantial, in bulk if not necessarily meaning. One work that would seem of natural interest to a Western audience is the Sikandar Nama , The Book of Alexander the Great . Offering an unusual perspective on the life of Alexander the Great Nizami's work is both biography as well as philosophical tome, a massive work written in verse.
Persian literature is perhaps the most underestimated in the English-speaking world.
A brilliant achievement, it was also far from a faithful translation. FitzGerald had little respect for the Persian authors. Never fluent in the language he nevertheless had no difficulty disparaging the great Persian authors. His criminal attitude to translation continues to poison to the present day as translators continue to follow his lead. Few are capable of it, and the mis-translations of other Persian authors now dominate the small bookshelves that their work can be found on.