Copyright by Maryam Shariati 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Maryam Shariati certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Staging Iranian Modernity: Authors in Search of New Forms Committee: Elizabeth M. Richmond-Garza, Supervisor Mohammad R. Ghanoonparvar, Co-Supervisor Lynn R. Wilkinson Katherine M. Arens Sofian Merabet Staging Iranian Modernity: Authors in Search of New Forms by Maryam Shariati, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The University of Texas at Austin May 2016 Dedication For my soulmate, Ehsan. For everything. Acknowledgements I wish to gratefully acknowledge the guidance and support I have received, intellectual and otherwise, throughout the process of composing and revising this dissertation. My first debt of gratitude is to my dissertation committee members and in particular my indefatigable supervisor, Professor Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, for her unflinching encouragement and infinite forbearance throughout my studies at The University of Texas at Austin. She has been an erudite mentor, critical commentator, and encouraging guide and I thank her for sharing her wealth of knowledge, invaluable insight and expertise in this project. To my co-supervisor, Professor Mohammad R. Ghanoonparvar, I owe immeasurable debt of gratitude for his intellectual guidance and strong commitment to my research—from the start to finish. His boundless enthusiasm, great knowledge, and unfathomable erudition opened an avenue to many stimulating discussions and enabled me to have a clear direction of my project. Another substantial acknowledgement must go to Professor Lynn Wilkinson for her instrumental role at every stage of my research: conceptualizing, researching, and writing. She has consistently offered a fresh perspective on my work and patiently provided advice and assistance that was timely and useful. I would also like to thank Professor Katherine Arens for her keen mind and kind spirit. I benefitted immensely from her outstanding knowledge and constructive criticism. I am also appreciative to Professor Sofian Merabet, who enthusiastically and meticulously read my work and offered astute comments. Indeed, my committee’s care, concern, and encouragement were crucial in pushing me to the finish line. Thank you all. v Outside my committee members, Professor Michael Craig Hillmann deserves my special thanks for offering his first-class scholarly expertise in Persian literature as well as his extraordinary and selfless support. He has been a constant source of inspiration and has been extremely supportive to both my professional and personal growth. I would also like to thank the generosity of many faculty members and departmental staff who have constantly encouraged and helped me through their intellect and ingenuity. In particular, I thank Professors César Salgado, Neville Hoad, and Alexandra Wettlaufer for their stimulating seminars and discussions and our wonderful Comparative Literature graduate coordinator, Billy Fatzinger, for his tireless efforts and continuous assistance throughout my stay. I would also like to thank my beloved parents, Roya and Mohammad Hossein, for their unconditional love and encouragement throughout my entire life. I owe them more than they know. My most heartfelt thanks is reserved for my husband and best friend, Ehsan Saadatpoor, for his enduring love and untiring patience as well as his appreciation and unfailing support during the entire period of my doctorate. Thanks for always believing in me, providing me with much needed inspiration and supporting me every step during this arduous journey. I am forever grateful to you. vi Staging Iranian Modernity: Authors in Search of New Forms Maryam Shariati, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2016 Supervisor: Elizabeth M. Richmond-Garza Co-Supervisor: Mohammad R. Ghanoonparvar This dissertation calls attention to three important twentieth-century Iranian playwrights who have made extraordinary contributions to the development of modern Iranian drama and whose oeuvres reveal instances of creative encounter with modern Western dramaturgy. In place of an attempt to provide a thorough diachronic analysis of dramatic productions in the regions concerned, I focus on specific moments and key figures that exemplify major stages in the evolution of modern drama both in Iran and the West, i.e., the triumvirate aesthetic movements of Idealism, Realism, and Modernism. With the aim of re-situating modern Iranian drama within the context of international dramatic developments, the plays of Gholamhossein Sa‘edi, Akbar Radi, and Bahram Beyzaie are respectively compared with the works of Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, and Luigi Pirandello in order to detail the affinities and divergences between the two through close- readings of plays and analysis of the scholarship and historical documents that shaped the playwrights’ views about modernity. In doing so, I thus propose a reading of Iranian drama that is sensitive both to Western influences and to the transformation exerted on Western literary forms in response to local realities and needs. vii In order to demonstrate the rise of modern drama as a literary form that is deeply aware of modernity, I provide a historically grounded perspective on its development. Therefore, in addition to examining the specific plays, I engage with a methodology that includes reviewing historical and social circumstances that informed the playwrights’ creations. Such an approach allows for the expansion of the dominant Western cannon, Ibsen, Chekhov, and Pirandello, for instance, and for gaining new perspectives on other national literary traditions which unfortunately have mostly been omitted from the world dramatic discourse. At the same time, by linking Western dramatists to their Iranian counterparts, this dissertation aims to join the discussions on the interactions between Iranian and Western literatures and to give an account of an exchange between Iran and the West that is embedded in the development of both. viii Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... XI NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION ....................................................................... XII INTRODUCTION: THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN IRANIAN DRAMA ................1 CHAPTER 1. SA‘EDI AND IBSEN: THE POLITICS OF IDEALISM ................... 18 1.1 Idealism at the Limits: Rethinking the Messianic Figure ....................20 1.2 Individualism and the Vortex of Alienation ........................................26 1.3 Gholamhossein Sa‘edi and the Committed Literature .........................38 1.4 Parvarbandan: A Quest for Individuality............................................42 1.5 Conclusion ...........................................................................................60 CHAPTER 2. RADI AND CHEKHOV: THE BOND OF REALISM ..................... 63 2.1 Modern Drama and Realism ................................................................70 2.2 Cultural Transitions, Social Upheaval: Russia at the Juncture of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ....................................................73 2.3 The Cherry Orchard: A Tale of Flux ...................................................79 2.4 The Climate of Change and the Politics of Iranian Modernity ............99 2.5 Intellectual Transitions in Modern Iran .............................................107 2.6 Labkhand-e Ba Shokuh-e Aqa-ye Gil (1971) .....................................111 2.7 Family Decline Narrative and Social Transformations in Iran ..........113 2.8 Conclusion .........................................................................................128 CHAPTER 3. BEYZAIE AND PIRANDELLO: STANDING ON THE THRESHOLD OF MODERNISM ................................................................... 131 3.1 Pirandello’s Theater: Apparitions of Reality, Disruption of Identity 133 3.2 Right You Are: A Case of Illusive Reality .........................................141 3.3 Shifting Tides: Literature and the Iranian Revolution .......................160 3.4 Negotiating Identity and Truth in Beyzaie’s Marg-e Yazdgerd .........170 3.5 Conclusion .........................................................................................189 ix EPILOGUE: POST-REVOLUTIONARY IRANIAN DRAMA .............................. 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 200 x List of Figures Figure 1-1: The play’s original front-cover illustrates the individual (Mim) standing behind the faceless majority. ..............................................58 Figure 1-2: Theater poster for Parvarbandan, directed by Mohammadali Ja‘fari (Taken from, Hasan Javadi, Namayeshnameh dar Iran: 242). .........58 Figure 2-1: Stamps publicizing the White Revolution (Six-point reform law, January 1964). .................................................................................101 Figure 2-2: Painting of the Tekiye Dowlat (Royal Arena Theater) by Kamalol Molk. ...............................................................................................105 Figure 2-3: The Martyrdom of Imam Hossein, Shiraz, August 1976. ...............105 Figure 3-1: Exterior view of the burned Rex Cinema, Abadan, 1978. ..............163 Figure 3-2: Funeral for the victims of the horrific fire. .....................................163