Congratulations to graduating Comparative Literature major Elmira Louie, who has been awarded the 2019 UO Libraries Undergraduate Research Award for her paper: Sa’di and the Safavid: The Material Culture of a Treasured Persian Manuscript Now at UO. 

Louie, one of four UO students recognized with this prestigious award, developed this paper based on research she conducted with COLT friend Vera Keller (HIST) on the material history of color in books and manuscripts. The “treasured Persian manuscript” analyzed in the paper is the Burgess MS 43 manuscript of Sai’di’s Gulistan and Bustan, created in 1615 CE in Persia. This beautiful volume is only one example of the surprising and fascinating holdings of University of Oregon Special Collections Archive.

May was a busy month for Elmira Louie. She also defended her honors thesis, “A Woman’s Voice: Methods and Obstacles of Feminist Translation in Persian, Spanish, and Turkish Poetry.” The thesis was directed by COLT faculty Leah Middlebrook. Michael Allan (COLT) and Louise M. Bishop (CHC) served as readers on the project.

Elmira Louie heads to U.C. Davis to begin her graduate work in comparative literature in the fall.