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ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Studia Iranica Upsaliensia 28 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Studia Iranica Upsaliensia 28 Traces of Time The Image of the Islamic Revolution, the Hero and Martyrdom in Persian Novels Written in Iran and in Exile Behrooz Sheyda ABSTRACT Sheyda, B. 2016. Traces of Time. The Image of the Islamic Revolution, the Hero and Martyrdom in Persian Novels Written in Iran and in Exile. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Iranica Upsaliensia 28. 196 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-9577-0 The present study explores the image of the Islamic Revolution, the concept of the hero, and the concept of martyrdom as depicted in ten post-Revolutionary Persian novels written and published in Iran compared with ten post-Revolutionary Persian novels written and published in exile. The method is based on a comparative analysis of these two categories of novels. Roland Barthes’s structuralism will be used as the theoretical tool for the analysis of the novels. The comparative analysis of the two groups of novels will be carried out within the framework of Foucault’s theory of discourse. Since its emergence, the Persian novel has been a scene for the dialogue between the five main discourses in the history of Iran since the Constitutional Revolution; this dialogue, in turn, has taken place within the larger framework of the dialogue between modernity and traditionalism. The main conclusion to be drawn from the present study is that the establishment of the Islamic Republic has merely altered the makeup of the scene, while the primary dialogue between modernity and traditionalism continues unabated. This dialogue can be heard in the way the Islamic Republic, the hero, and martyrdom are portrayed in the twenty post-Revolutionary novels in this study. Keywords: Modern Persian Novel, Persian Novel in Exile, The Islamic Revolution, the Hero, Martyrdom, Discourse Theory, Structuralism. Behrooz Sheyda, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Box 635, Uppsala University, SE-751 26 Uppsala, Sweden © Behrooz Sheyda 2016 Cover Picture: Christer Engström ISSN 1100-326X ISBN 978-91-554-9577-0 Printed in Sweden by DanagårdLiTHO AB, 2016 Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden To Forogh as Always Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 11 Transcription ................................................................................................. 13 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 15 1.1 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................... 15 1.2 Method and Materials ......................................................................... 16 1.3 Previous Research .............................................................................. 17 1.4 Structure of the Study ......................................................................... 20 2 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 23 2.1 Barthian Structuralism ........................................................................ 23 2.2 Foucault’s Discourse Theory .............................................................. 26 3 Some Remarks on the Islamic Revolution and the Concepts of the Hero and Martyrdom .............................................................................................. 31 3.1 The Islamic Revolution ...................................................................... 31 3.1.1 The Islamic Revolution as Viewed by a Western Scholar .......... 31 3.1.2 The Islamic Revolution as Viewed by Three of its Architects ... 32 3.1.3 The Islamic Revolution as Viewed by a Former Commander in Chief of the Iranian Army ............................................................... 36 3.2 Some Remarks on the Concepts of the Hero and Martyrdom ............ 38 3.2.1 The Hero ..................................................................................... 38 3.2.2 Martyrdom .................................................................................. 39 4 The Roots of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran ..................................... 43 4.1 Introductory Remarks ......................................................................... 43 4.2 The Constitutional Revolution 1906–1911 ........................................ 44 4.2.1 Remarks on the Economy ........................................................... 44 4.2.2 Remarks on the Political Situation ............................................. 47 4.2.3 The Persian Novel ....................................................................... 49 4.3 Reza Shah 1921–1941 ........................................................................ 51 4.3.1 Remarks on the Economy ........................................................... 51 4.3.2 Remarks on the Political Situation ............................................. 52 4.3.3 The Persian Novel ....................................................................... 56 4.4 Mohammad Reza Shah 1941–1953 .................................................... 59 4.4.1 Remarks on the Economy ........................................................... 59 4.4.2 Remarks on the Political Situation ............................................. 60 4.4.3 The Persian Novel ....................................................................... 65 4.5 Mohammad Reza Shah 1953–1963 .................................................... 66 4.5.1 Remarks on the Economy ........................................................... 66 4.5.2 Remarks on the Political Situation ............................................. 68 4.5.3 The Persian Novel ....................................................................... 69 4.6 Mohammad Reza Shah 1963–1978 .................................................... 71 4.6.1 Remarks on the Economy ........................................................... 71 4.6.2 Remarks on the Political Situation ............................................. 72 4.6.3 The Persian Novel ....................................................................... 76 5 Persian Post-Revolutionary Novels ........................................................... 81 5.1 Ten Persian post-Revolutionary novels published in Iran .................. 81 5.1.1 Rāzhā-ye sarzamin-e man (The Mysteries of my Homeland) by Reza Baraheni (1990) ..................................................................... 81 5.1.2 Shāhkelid (The Master Key) by Jafar Modarres Sadeqi (1999) .... 89 5.1.3 Ādāb-e ziyārat (Pilgrim’s Rules of Etiquette) by Taqi Modarresi (1989) ................................................................................. 94 5.1.4 Del-e deldādegi (The Heart of Heart-Giving) by Shahriar Mandanipour (1997) ............................................................................ 99 5.1.5 Tehrān shahr-e bi-āsmān (Tehran; A City without Sky) by Amir Hasan Cheheltan (2001) ........................................................... 104 5.1.6 Jazire-ye sargardāni (The Island of Perplexity) by Simin Daneshvar (1993) ............................................................................... 108 5.1.7 Koshte-ye ʿeshq (Sacrificed for Love) by Esmail Fasih (1997) .. 111 5.1.8 Āyenehā-ye dardār (Mirrors with Cover Doors) by Hushang Golshiri (1992) ................................................................................... 114 5.1.9 Virān miāyi (You are Coming Destroyed) by Hosein Sanapour (2003) ................................................................................................. 118 5.1.10 Pāgard (Vestibule) by Mohammad Hasan Shahsavari (2004) ... 121 5.2 Ten Persian post-Revolutionary novels published outside of Iran ... 126 5.2.1 Bigāne-i dar man (A Stranger within Me) by Shokuh Mirzadegi (1993) ............................................................................... 126 5.2.2 Bedun-e sharh: sharh-e hāl-e nasl-e khākestari (No Comments! The Autobiography of the Ashy Generation) by Mehdi Estedadi Shad (1996) ............................................................. 131 5.2.3 Khosrow-e khubān (The King of the Good Men) by Reza Daneshvar (1994) ............................................................................... 135 5.2.4 Pāyān-e yek ʿomr (The End of a Life) by Dariush Kargar (1994) ................................................................................................. 144 5.2.5 Noh tu-ye ʿeshq o kin-e taʿziyedārān (The Labyrinth of the Passion Play Leaders’ Love and Hatred) by Sardar Salehi (1993) .... 148 5.2.6 Gosal (The Breaking) by Sasan Ghahreman (1995) ................. 153 5.2.7 Chāh-e bābel (The Pit of Babel) by Reza Ghasemi (1999) ...... 156 5.2.8 Ettefāq āntor ke neveshte mishavad mioftad (The Incident Happens as Written) by Iraj Rahmani (2001) .................................... 161 5.2.9 Dar Ānkārā bārān mibārad (It is Raining in Ankara) by Hosein Dowlatabadi (1992) ............................................................... 165 5.2.10 Fereidun se pesar dāsht (Fereidun had Three Sons) by Abbas Maroufi (2001) ....................................................................... 168 5.3 A Comparative Analysis of the Novels within the Framework of Foucault’s Discourse Theory .................................................................. 174 6 Conclusions .............................................................................................. 179 Appendix ....................................................................................................
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