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| Author | Elif Shafak |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Publication date | March 2009 |
| Publication place | Turkey |
| Pages | 354 |
| Awards | Prix ALEF* - Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère |
| ISBN | 9780141047188 |
The Forty Rules of Love is a novel written by the Turkish author Elif Shafak, Her interest in writing this book was influenced by the degree she received in Gender and Women’s Studies. The book was published in March 2009. It is about the Persian mystic poet Maulana Jalal-Ud-Din, known as Rumi and his companion Shams Tabrizi. This book explains how Shams transformed a scholar into a Sufi (mystic) through love. More than 750,000 copies of this book were sold in Turkey and France.
Synopsis
"A novel enclosed by a novel, The Forty Rules of Love tells two parallel stories that coincide each other across two very different cultures and seven intervening centuries." It starts when a housewife, Ella, gets a book called Sweet Blasphemy for an appraisal. This book is about a thirteenth century poet, Shams Tabrizi, who was the spiritual teacher to Rumi. The book presents Shams's Forty Love Rules at different intervals. Sweet Blasphemy was structured in a way to focus on the five elements of nature: Water, Air, Earth, Fire and Void. The chapters in each section revealed a story in line with the nature of each element. The story presented in the novel is based on "love and spirituality that explains what it means to follow your heart".
The letter "b"
Every chapter of the book starts with letter "b". It is because the secret of Quran lies in Surah Al-Fatiha and its spirit is contained in the phrase Bismillah ir Rehman ir Rahim (In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent and the most Merciful). The first Arabic letter of the Bismillah has a dot below it that symbolizes the Universe as per Sufism thoughts.
Reception
According to Book Marks, the book received "pan" reviews based on four critic reviews, with one being "positive" and three being "pan".
The Forty Rules of Love won Prix ALEF* - Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère. It was also nominated for the 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. On 5 November 2019 BBC News listed The Forty Rules of Love on its list of the 100 most influential novels. It was included in the "Love, Sex & Romance - February" category of Novels That Shaped Our World.
References
- “Our Compass” Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, “International Herald Tribune”, November 27, 2013
- "Looking for God: Following the Path of Love","alif.id", October 13, 2019
- "Books of the week: From Stephen King's The Institute to Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, our picks","www.firstpost.com", September 16, 2019
- Safak, Elif; Chancy, Myriam J. A. (2003). "Migrations: A Meridians Interview with Elif Shafak". Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. 4 (1): 55–85. doi:10.1353/mer.2004.0006. ISSN 1547-8424.
- “Analysis: The Forty Rules of Love” Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, “Analysis of Love”, 2010
- “The Forty Rules of Love – review” Archived 2016-09-13 at the Wayback Machine, “The Guardian”, December 5, 2014
- Rashid, Yamna."The Forty Rules of Love taught me What i know now, it's been my motivation, inspiration and has helped me become a better person and it holds a speshal place in my heart", "SHIFA KHAN (FUTURE BEST TIMESSELLER", June 1, 2017
- Kazim, Maisam. “Overview of Forty Rules of Love”, “Pamir Times”, March 3, 2018
- “Forty Rules Of Love by ELIF SHAFAK”, “lagazetteverdun”, November 29, 2016
- ^ “Elif Shafak” Archived 2018-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, “Literary Festivals UK”,
- ^ Alev Adil.“The Forty Rules of Love, By Elif Shafak” Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine,“The Independent”, July 9, 2010
- “Sham’s of Tabriz’s 40 Rules of Love”, “The Vision Weekly”, November 4, 2011,
- Imran Ali Buth."The Forty Rules of Love","www.greaterkashmir.com", May 4, 2017
- Wahab, Momina (2020-07-26). "The Forty Rules of Love — Book Review". Medium. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- "Five must-read books that help shape the way we think about the world","www.thenational.ae", June 7, 2019
- “Book Review: The forty Rules of Love by Elif Safak”, November 3, 2014
- Shweta. “Elif Shafak — Book Review of “40 Rules of Love”(Rumi & Shams of Tabriz )”, “Medium”, May 18, 2019
- "The Forty Rules of Love". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ “The Forty Rules of Love Reader’s Guide”, “Penguin Random House”,
- "100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts". BBC News. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
- "The Novels That Shaped Our World: BBC reveals 100-strong list","www.thebookseller.com", November 5, 2019
| Works by Elif Shafak | |
|---|---|
| Fiction |
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| Non-fiction |
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| See also | |