The Herbert Warren Mason Fellowship, Retelling of Ancient and Medieval Myths and Legends of the Near East and Wider Mediterranean (including oral transmissions) was established in 2017 in memory of Herbert W. Mason (1932 – 2017).

The Mason Fellowship under the auspices of the American Society of Overseas Research carries a monetary value of $5,000. It will be awarded biennially to a scholar/poet/writer/artist whose project proposal comes closest in scope to Herbert Mason’s oeuvre. The project manuscript must be translated into English. The monetary award may be used to support travel expenditures to special collections, acquire access to rare or hard to find research materials, art illustrations of a proposal or to further scholarly studies. Read more about applying for a Mason Fellowship. 

Herbert W. Mason

Herbert Mason was a distinguished and prolific scholar of extraordinary and wide-ranging erudition. He held the positions of University Professor, Professor of History and Religion and Aurelio Professor of History and Religious Thought at Boston University and was Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations, Boston University and President of the L’Association des Amis de Louis Massignon Paris, France.

He moved gracefully between ancient and medieval Near Eastern texts and contemporary literatures. An eminent scholar and translator, writer and poet, his dramatic retelling of the ancient Sumerian Epic Poem Gilgamesh transcends boundaries of age, language, religion and time. He was the translator into English and editor of Louis Massignon’s magnum opus, The Passion of al-Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam in Four Volumes. Mason’s dramatic narrative The Death of al-Hallaj has been adopted in college courses in the US and performed publicly bringing us closer to the 10th Century Muslim Mystic. His A Legend of Alexander and The Merchant and the Parrot, retellings of two classic Persian tales, capture the essence of traditional Islamic storytelling and make it live again in modern idiom. The stories themselves are concerned with universal themes such as quest, enslavement and loss, transcendent love and freedom. Mason’s books, including poetry and fiction in addition to scholarly works have been translated into numerous foreign languages, including German, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Japanese. Read more about Mason’s work here.