Ali Gheissari

The poetry and politics of Farrokhi Yazdi

Farrokhi Yazdis career as a poet first and foremost, a journalist now and again, and finally a Majles deputy has generally been identified with the more radical trends of outlook during the post-Constitutional era and into the reign of Reza Shah. By virtue of subjects such as freedom, patriotism, syndicalism, and the class struggle-recurrent themes both in his poetry and in the articles which appeared in his well-known newspaper Tufan-he has been classified amongst the pioneers of revolutionary literature in modern Iran.1 Therefore, in any discussion of literature and society in Iran between the two world wars, he deserves special attention. His political life fits almost exactly into the period mentioned: having begun his political and journalistic activities in the years prior to the First World War, he died in prison shortly before the beginning of the Second. But apart from brief references in standard histories of literature, there has been no specific study of his life or works in the West.2 In Iran, in spite of periodic censorship his poetry has gone through several editions, and he is still read and remembered, especially under politically charged circumstances.3 His life and

The American College of Tehran, 1929–32: A Memorial Album

This essay introduces a previously unpublished memorial album of the American College of Tehran compiled by a former student during the early Pahlavi period. The album contains a wide range of contributions by College faculty, associates, occasional visitors as well as fellow students and encompasses material on national history, ethics, sports, military service, mathematics and poetry, as well as numerous pencil drawings and art work. In addition there is a wide range of photographs of the College, its faculty and staff, its diverse student body, classrooms, athletics, special occasions and outdoor activities (a list of the albums contents and samples of contributions and photographs are appended to the essay). As discussed in the essay, and in manifold ways, the documentary evidence illustrates how both physically and cognitively the College provided a necessary space for participation in educational reform during the early decades of the twentieth century. Seen from this perspective, it was part of a wider context of modernization with which a broad range of individuals from different social and community backgrounds and generations identified themselves. On the whole, the album offers valuable glimpses into the social and educational aspects of the early Pahlavi Iran.

Authorial Voices and the Sense of an Ending in Persian Diaries: Notes on Eʿtemād al-Saltaneh and ʿAlam

This essay examines certain common themes as well as conflicting voices in two extensive sets of Persian diaries, written almost a century apart, by Mohammad-Hasan Khān Eʿtemād al-Saltaneh (1843‒96), a long-time courtier and confidant of Nāser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848‒86) and Asadollāh ʿAlam (1919‒78) a close associate and court minister of Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941‒79). On the whole these diaries provide significant amounts of information about the inner workings of the court and the overall institutional setup of the Iranian state in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although in writing their diaries these authors did not set out to produce a literary work, and nor did they intend to chronicle a general history, each in his own way captured his respective epoch and, within their limitations of time, scope, and insight, each reflected a broad range of private and social relationships. Also each in his own way echoed older ministerial voices, reminiscent of the voice that often resonates in the “mirror for princes” genre, of part player part intimate observer, and with a certain sense of admonition and resignation, lamenting the loss of an era which they felt was slipping away as they wrote.

Revolution and Constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire and Iran

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 has been the focus of a broad range of scholarly studies that have addressed one or more of its multiple aspects—hence there are works written from eco...

Iran in the 20th Century: Historiography and Political Culture

Historiography of Iran witnessed considerable changes and developments during the twentieth century. Most notably it was impacted by the gradual growth of a new vision of history, and of what constitutes historical facts, that largely stemmed from a conceptual and normative paradigm of “national history” and “national historiography.” This in turn fell on receptive ground with a new audience who was interested in national political events and keen on reading about those who were, in varying degrees, participants in such events. The ideational framework of national history provided both the intellectual incentive and the force of imagination to search, secure, and select evidence for inclusion into its narrative. Use of sources was further facilitated by the development of new state institutions endowed with the task of cataloguing administrative records. Together with the occasional publication of private papers, these collections subsequently formed the bulk of the historian’s material. On the other hand the twentieth century also brought in perspectives that were tuned to ideological rejection of the status quo. On the bases of various analytical referents, such as class, gender, ethnicity, and conspiracy, these perspectives often based their arguments on criticism, denunciation, and struggle—and as such they set out to advocate a new take on historiography and historical consciousness. Iranian Studies, volume 44, number 6, November 2011

The limits of rhetoric: H.E. chehabi on Iranian politics and religious modernism

H.E. Chehabi. 1990. Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. London: I.B.Tauris.