Politics of Writing in Iran: A History of Modern Persian Literature

by Kamran Talattof

Emerging in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a secular activity, Persian literature acquired its own modernity by redefining past aesthetic practices of identity and history. By analyzing selected work of major pre- and post-revolutionary literary figures, Talattof shows how Persian literary history has not been an integrated continuum but a series of distinct episodic movements shaped by shifting ideologies. Drawing on western concepts, modern Persian literature has responded to changing social and political conditions through complex strategies of metaphorical and allegorical representations that both construct and denounce cultural continuities. The book provides a unique contribution in that it draws on texts that demonstrate close affinity to such diverse ideologies as modernism, Marxism, feminism, and Islam. Each ideological standard has influenced the form, characterization, and figurative language of literary texts as well as setting the criteria for literary criticism and determining which issues are to be the focus of literary journals.

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

Reviews

[Mehdi Miri Disfani · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book to read but I believe it lacks sufficient evidence in dividing the contemporary Persian literature into 4 suggested episodes.

[Shokufeh شکوفه Kavani کاوانی · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Mr. Talattof.