Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-10T08:50:48.162Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Village in Contemporary Persian Poetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Fatemeh Shams Open the ORCID record for Fatemeh Shams [Opens in a new window]
Fatemeh Shams*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores the ever-shifting symbiosis between the village motif, social justice and populist politics in Iran over the past three decades. The village has remained a recurring motif in Persian literature, employed by a variety of writers and state institutions for a range of means. As a symbol, it has been a conduit into which any ideology can be poured; the village allegory can be manipulated to both condemn and support the official policies of the state. A comparison of Iran’s pre- and post-revolutionary literature sheds light on the ways the state literati perpetuated an idealized picture of the village as an authentic, sacred space, increasingly associated with religious nationalism during the 1980s. The paper examines the key socio-political influences on the evolution of the pastoral motif, the work of state-sponsored official poets, and the impact of the village on the cultural doctrine of the Islamic Republic.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2018 , pp. 455 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Association For Iranian Studies, Inc

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the conference on “Writing the Revolution: Memory, Testimony, Time,” held at the University of Washington, Seattle (May 12-13, 2017). I am grateful to Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi for his valuable comments and to conference participants for their insightful suggestions. However, I remain solely responsible for any shortcoming.

References

Abdolmalekiān, Mohammadreza. “Qaryeh.” Gozineh-ye ashᶜār, 20. Tehran: Teyfnegār, 2004.Google Scholar
Ahmadi, Abbas. “Sheᶜrhā-ye mo‘tarezeh.” Shahrestān-e adab. Accessed September 15, 2013.http://www.shahrestanadab.com/Default.aspx?tabid=105&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=2176Google Scholar
Al-e Ahmad, Jalal. “Mizā,” In Nefrin-e zamin. Tehran: Varrāgh, 1967.Google Scholar
Aminpur, Qaysar. “Enshā.” In Tanaffos-e sobh. Tehran: Howzeh-ye honari, 1984.Google Scholar
Aminpur, Qaysar. “Khorshid-e rustā.” In Āyenehhā-ye nāgahān. Tehran: Ofoq, 1993.Google Scholar
Aminpur, Qaysar. “Madineh-ye fāzeleh.” In Golhā hameh āftābgardānand. Tehran: Morvarid, 2001.Google Scholar
Aminpur, Qaysar. “Mirās-e bāstāni.” In Tanaffos-e sobh. Tehran: 1983.Google Scholar
Aminpur, Qaysar. “Nān-e māshini.” In Tanaffos-e sobh. Tehran: Sorush, 2007.Google Scholar
Aminpur, Qaysar. “Zendegi dar hāshiyeh.” In Bi-bāl paridan. Tehran: Ofoq, 1991.Google Scholar
Chakravarti, R. N., and Basu, A. K.. Soviet Union: Land and People. New Delhi: Northern Book Center, 1987.Google Scholar
Darling, Linda T. Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013.Google Scholar
Gheissari, Ali, “The Poetry and Politics of Farrokhi Yazi.” Iranian Studies 26, no. 1‒2 (1993): 33–50. doi: 10.1080/00210869308701785CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gheissari, Ali, and Nasr, Vali. Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanaway, William L. “BĀḠ iii. In Persian Literature.” In Encyclopedia Iranica Vol. III, edited by Yarshater, Ehsan. Accessed June 17, 2016. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bag-iiiGoogle Scholar
Harati, Salman. “Dar ruzgāri keh māshin savār-e ādam shod.” In Māhnāmeh-ye hamshahri-ye javān. Tehran: Shahrdari-ye Tehran, 2010.Google Scholar
Harati, Salman. “Man ham mimiram.” In Gozideh-ye adabiyāt-e moᶜāser. Tehran: Neyestān, 1999.Google Scholar
Harati, Salman. “Zendegi.” Gozideh-ye adabiyāt-e moᶜāser. Tehran: Neyestān, 1999.Google Scholar
Hosseini, Ashraf-al-din. Ashᶜār-e tanz va hazliyāt. Accessed June 6, 2016. http://khandekadeh.blogfa.com/cat-17.aspxGoogle Scholar
Jalili, Vahid. Marāsem-e nekudāsht-e Moʾaddab Ibna. Accessed November 18, 2014. http://www.ibna.ir/vdcjtie88uqeyyz.fsfu.htmlGoogle Scholar
Jamārān, “Bāzkhāni-e seh mafhūm-e mostazᶜafin, basij-e mostazᶜafin va tafakkor-e basiji dar sahifeh-ye emām.” Accessed November 25, 2013. http://jamaran.ir/fa/NewsContent-id_33930.aspxGoogle Scholar
Kānun-e nevisandegān dar tabᶜid, Saᶜedi beh revāyat-e Saᶜedi. Berlin: Kānun-e Nevisandegān, 1995.Google Scholar
Khomeini, Ruhollah. Sahifeh-ye nur. Vol. II. Tehran: Mo’asseseh-ye nashr-e āsār-e emām Khomeini, 1983–1994.Google Scholar
Khomeini, Ruhollah. “The Meaning of Cultural Revolution, April 26, 1980.” In Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941‒1980). Translated by Algar, Hamid. Berkeley, CA: Mizān Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Lāhuti, Abolghāsem. Divān-e ash’ār. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Nooshin, 1981.Google Scholar
LeVine, Mark, and Salvatore, Armando. “Socio-Religious Movements and the Transformation of ‘Common Sense’ into a Politics of ‘Common Good.’” In Religion, Social Practice and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in the Muslim Majority Countries. Edited by LeVine, Mark and Salvatore, Armando. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.Google Scholar
Makki, Hosein, ed. Divān-e Farrokhi-Yazdi. Tehran: Bonyād-e nashr-e ketāb. Accessed June 24. 2015. http://bit.ly/2sSSoSpGoogle Scholar
Mohammadreza, Abdolmalekian Chūpān (Shepherd), Gozineh-ye ‘ash‘ār (Poem Collections) (Tehran: Teyfnegār, 2004).Google Scholar
Mohammadreza, Abdolmalekian Iliyati (Nomad), Gozineh-ye ‘ash‘ār (Poem Collection), (Tehran: Teyfnegār, 2004).Google Scholar
Meisami, Julie S. “Allegorical Gardens in the Persian Poetic Tradition: Nezami, Rumi, Hafez.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 17, no. 2 (1985): 253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qaysar, Aminpur Tufān dar parāntez: Nasr-e adabi barāy-e nowjavānān (Tehran: Howzeh-ye honari, 1985).Google Scholar
Sarshār, Houman. “From Allegory to Symbol: Allegories of Nature in the Poetry of Nima Yushij.” In Essays on Nima Yushij: Animating Modernism in Persian Poetry, edited by Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad and Talattof, Kamran. Leiden: Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 2004.Google Scholar
Sepehri, Sohrāb. “Sedā-ye pā-ye āb.” In Hasht Ketāb. Tehran: Tahuri, 1991.Google Scholar
Shāmlu, Ahmad. “Meh.” In Havā-ye Tāzeh. Tehran: Nil, 1967.Google Scholar
Shāmlu, Ahmad. “Shabāneh.” In Majmuᶜeh-ye Aāsār. Tehran: Negāh, 2004.Google Scholar
Talattof, Kamran. “Ideology and Self-Portrayal in the Poetry of Nima Yushij.” In Essays on Nima Yushij: Animating Modernism in Persian Poetry, edited by Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad and Talattof, Kamran. Leiden: Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 2004.Google Scholar