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Modern Persian Prose Literature

Hasan Kamshad
ISBN: 978-0-936347-72-1
Format: Softcover
Trim: 5½ x 8½ inches
Publication Date: 01/01/1996
Pages: 242
Language: English

$30.00
 
   
 

DESCRIPTION

The classic work on modern Persian literature.

Modern Persian Prose Literature is a study of the imaginative prose literature written in Persia since the end of the nineteenth century. It is comprehensive and self contained. It begins with a historical survey of the whole range of Persian prose writing and includes a general account of the social and political background of the works.

The writers themselves are classified by period, subject-matter and Kamshad’s assessment of their importance. There is a critical analysis of the more important works. The final part of the book is a study of the work of Sadiq Hidayat (Sadegh Hedayat), the major prose writer of modern Iran.

 

REVIEWS

“A sound and reliable work that … conveys a good picture of modern Persian literature. … The more or less concise analyses helps to understand the topic. Even experts, will find Kamshad’s learned work instructive. It can be highly recommended to specialists as well as to those new to the subject.”

—Jan Rypka. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung.

“The book meets a need, and does so more than satisfactorily. It can be highly recommended to everyone, including native speakers of Persian, interested in recent Persian fiction.”

—M.A. Jazayery, University of Texas. Literature East & West.

“Dr. Kamshad’s work fills the need for a much fuller historical and critical survey of the field of Persian fiction. It is to be hoped that the fields of poetry, scholarship, and political and religious literature will one day be similarly surveyed. … He deserves praise for the faultless and fluent English of this work.”

—F.R.C. Bagley. Durham University Journal.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE

I The historical background

The Samanid period
The Ghaznavid, Seljuq and Kharazmian period
The Mongol and Timurid period
The Safavid period

II The Qajars and Reform

III Regeneration of Prose

Qa’im Maqam Farahani
The Amir Kabir
Mirza Malkom Khan
‘Abdul-Rahim Talibuff

IV The eve of revolt

Siyahatnama-yi Ibrahim Beg
Translation of Hajji Baba of Ispahan
Early translations
Early newspapers

V Constitutional revolution

Literature of revolt
The press and poets
‘Ali Akbar Dihkhuda

VI Historical novels

Muhammad Baqir Khusruvi
Shaykh Musa Nathri
Hasan Badi‘
San’atizada Kirmani
Others

VII The Reign of Riza Shah

VIII Early writers of the Riza Shah period

Mushfiq Kazimi
‘Abbas Khalili
Rabi‘ Ansari

IX Later writers of the Riza Shah period

Jahangir Jalili
Muhammad Mas‘ud
‘Ali Dashti
Muhammad Hijazi

X After Riza Shah: the period of political experiment XI Post-war writers

Muhammad ‘Ali Jamalzada

XII Buzurg ‘Alavi

XIII The Younger Writers

Jalal Al-i Ahmad
Sadiq Chubak
Bih-Azin
Taqi Mudarrisi
Ali Muhammad Afghani

PART TWO

XIV The leading writer of modern Iran Sadiq Hidayat

XV The early period

XVI The creative period

Folklore and traditional beliefs
Excursion into the past
Omar Khayyam and his philosophy

XVII The life of his countrymen

XVIII The sardonic grins

XIX Hysterical self-analysis

Buf-i Kur
Buf-i Kur in the eyes of the Western critics
XX The barren period

XXI The period of high hopes

XXII The aftermath

Appendix: List of Sadiq Hidayat’s works

Bibliography

Index

 
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