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The Historical Novel in Early Modern Persian Literature
- from Literature
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- By Claus V. Pedersen, University of Copenhagen
- Edited by Anna Krasnowolska, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Renata Rusek-Kowalska, Jagiellonian University, Krakow
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- Book:
- Studies on the Iranian World
- Published by:
- Jagiellonian University Press
- Published online:
- 12 January 2018
- Print publication:
- 01 January 2015, pp 73-80
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- Chapter
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Summary
SUMMARY
The article is a short analysis of Rahim-Zâde Safavi's Dâstân-e Shahr Bânu (published in 1931) a historical novel. The historical novels of the period, i.e. the period of the reign of Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi, are often thought to be part of a nationalist discourse, in which a strong adherence to pre-Islamic times and a certain anti-Islamic and anti- Arabic sentiment was predominant. We shall see, however, that Dâstân-e Shahr Bânu is not just a reproduction of the Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi discourse but something more: An attempt to reconcile the Iranian pre-Islamic past with the nation's (Shi'a) Islamic past and thus an attempt to forge a new Iranian-Islamic national identity.
INTRODUCTION
The Iranian historical novel is richly represented in the first four or five decades of the 20th century. The first one was probably Mohammad Bâqer Khosravi's Shams va Toghrâ (published between 1908 and 1910 in three parts). Later on, in the Rezâ Shâh period (reign 1925–1941), other, and one might say, more sophisticated forms of the historical novel were written. One of those is Rahim- Zâde Safavi's Dâstân-e Shahr Bânu (published in 1931) which I will present in this paper. My presentation will focus on the ways in which the historical novel attempts to interpret the Iranian past – in this case the late Sasanian period – and how this interpretation is a contribution to (in my opinion) creating a ‘new’ Iranian national identity along the guidelines formed by the new regime under Rezâ Shâh's command. A main part of these guidelines were a strong adherence to pre-Islamic times and a certain anti-Islamic and anti-Arabic sentiment. We shall see, however, that Dâstân-e Shahr Bânu is not just a reproduction of the Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi discourse but something more: An attempt to reconcile the Iranian pre-Islamic past with the nation's (Shi'a) Islamic past and thus an attempt to forge a new Iranian-Islamic national identity.
I will begin my presentation of Dâstân-e Shahr Bânu with some reflections on both the historical novel as a genre and on its Iranian setting in the early 20th century.
Sâdeq Hedâyat, a Writer ahead of Time
- Edited by Franklin Lewis, Sunil Sharma
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- Book:
- The Necklace of the Pleiades
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 22 November 2022
- Print publication:
- 08 November 2010, pp 325-336
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Summary
“Hedâyat's significance lies not so much in his intrinsic merits as a writer as in his capturing the mood of a society and giving vent to the underlying sentiments of a new generation…”
Sâdeq Hedâyat (1903-51) is a towering figure in modern Persian prose literature. Despite the passage of time, Hedâyat's best works still have a vivacity of expression that makes them as fascinating and intriguing as they must have been in the 1930s and 1940s when they were written. Among those works that spring to mind in particular as retaining a fresh fascination are, apart from the novel Buf-e kur, short stories like “Zendeh be-gur,” “Hâjji Morâd,” “Dâvud-e guzh-posht,” “Âbji khânom,” “Dâsh Âkol,” “Âyneh-ye shekasteh,” “Zani keh mardesh-râ gom kardeh bud,” “Sag-e velgard,” “Don Zhu’ân-e Karaj,” “Fardâ,” and a few others. The attraction of these short stories stems from, I think, the way in which Hedâyat, like an illustrator, with only a few strokes of his pen succeeds in producing a convincing and life-like portrait of a person, a situation, or a milieu. In addition to this, Hedâyat's prose is innovative and his narratives are for the most part well-constructed, at times almost cinematic in their presentation.
What has been said above is restricted to literary form and technique. Mahmud Dowlat-Âbâdi, coming from a different angle, has asserted that “we [the Persian writers] all have come out of Hedâyat's ‘Darkroom’.” This is both an acknowledgment of Hedâyat's influence on literary posterity and a reference to the short story “Târikkhâneh” (“Darkroom,” from the collection Sag-e velgard, 1942). “Târik-khâneh” is not one of those short stories that lives on in the reader's memory – it is more of a philosophical discussion clad in literary clothes than a piece of genuine literature – but in spite of its lack of literary qualities there is a reason why Dowlat-Âbâdi refers to this particular short story, beyond the play on words. The main theme of “Târik-khâneh” is a contrasting of two, as Hedâyat sees it, main aspects of human life. On the one hand, there is “primitive” life, which is characterized by movement and haste, noise, obsession with material things, and shallowness – but all the same, here one can be and feel alive.