"This study on Nizami's Makhzan al-asrar (hereafter MA), orginally a "Habilitationsschrift" at the university of Basel in 1997, is not only the first full-length one dedicated to this poet's most difficult matnawi, but moreover, by its soundness and subtlety, by far the best study devoted to him since a long time. (...)
This (...) does not detract from the overall value of Würsch's study; nobody who does any research on Nizami or literature of that period in general can afford to ignore it. One fears of course that, because it is written in German, it will not have the impact it certainly deserves; it is my hope that this review makes clear that this would be a loss for scholarship."

Anna Livia Beelaert

In: Middle Eastern Literatures. 13 (2010) 1, pp. 124-126.
[...]
(24. April 2013)

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"Würsch's study is profound and comprehensive in the way it tackles Nezami's "Makhzan al-asrar". What is very interesting and extremely useful for the students of Nezami is her in-depth and elaborate analysis of individual couplets. In this book, she deals with a large number of difficult passages and couplets of Nezami's "Makhzan al-asrar", giving the original Persian, variant readings to be fofund in different editions and a German translation. Although the book is a must for all specialists and lovers of Nezami, it is extremely useful for students of medieval Islamic studies to see how central religious and political topics such as the prophet Mohammed's message, kingship, just government, renunciation of the world, etc. were presented in a very virtuous presentation of intricate metaphors and a host of other figures of speech."

Ali Asghar Seyed Gohrab

In: Bibliotheca Orientalis. 67 (2010) No. 1-2. Column 226-228.

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"This book (...) represents a courageous and very convincing effort to counter the prejudices against didactical poetry. Renate Würsch has made a profound study of almost every aspect of the poem as it can be shown by a brief survey of her main chapters. (...)
Prof. Würsch had succeeded in building a treasure house of her own which contains much more precious things than can be enumerated here. Many excursions explore the background of the materials from which this poet derived his imagery. One of the structural features invented by Nizami is the insertion of his pen name in the conclusion of each of the twenty "maqalas". (...)
With this important monograph Renate Würsch has laid a solid foundation for further critical researches on Nizami's firstling, which contains the most diffcult specimens of his poetic art. The book is densely written and addresses of course a specialist readership which is familiar with scholarly German. The range of its response could be considerably enlarged when it would be translated, preferably both into Persian and English. Hopefully, we will not have to wait too long for this."

J.T.P. De Bruijn

In: Persica. No. 22 (2008). S. 65-67.