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Copyright by Nastaran Narges Kherad 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Nastaran Narges Kherad Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: RE-EXAMINING THE WORKS OF AHMAD MAHMUD: A FICTIONAL DEPICTION OF THE IRANIAN NATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY Committee: M.R. Ghanoonparvar, Supervisor Kamran Aghaie Kristen Brustad Elizabeth Richmond-Garza Faegheh Shirazi RE-EXAMINING THE WORKS OF AHMAD MAHMUD: A FICTIONAL DEPICTION OF THE IRANIAN NATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY by Nastaran Narges Kherad, 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 2013 Dedication Dedicated to my son, Manai Kherad-Aminpour, the joy of my life. May you grow with a passion for literature and poetry! And may you face life with an adventurous spirit and understanding of the diversity and complexity of humankind! Acknowledgements The completion of this dissertation could not have been possible without the ongoing support of my committee members. First and for most, I am grateful to Professor Ghanoonparvar, who believed in this project from the very beginning and encouraged me at every step of the way. I thank him for giving his time so generously whenever I needed and for reading, editing, and commenting on this dissertation, and also for sharing his tremendous knowledge of Persian literature. I am thankful to have the pleasure of knowing and working with Professor Kamaran Aghaei, whose seminars on religion I cherished the most. I thank Professor Kristen Brustad, for her wisdom and professionalism, and for agreeing to be a member of my committee at such short notice. I am indebted deeply to Professor Faegheh Shirazi, for her friendship and guidance in the past years at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies. And last but not least, I am honored to have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Professor Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, who is a model of teaching excellence. I would like to express my gratitude to my dear friend, Gita Khadem, who is a great source of inspiration and has been always there for me, especially in the past two years when I needed her support most. I am especially indebted to my brother, Amir, who offered me his unconditional support, both emotionally and financially, and who reassured me that he is just a phone call away, in good or bad times. I am grateful to Katherine Fouche at St. Edward’s University for her friendship and for reading and editing this dissertation. v My greatest thanks are reserved for the faculty members at Freshman Studies in the English Department at St. Edward’s University: Professor Kelly Willis Mendiola, Professor Mary Rist, and Professor Lynn Rudloff, as well as Professor Mity Myhr in the department of Global Studies, who all welcomed me at St. Edward’s University and made me feel right at home from the very first day. vi RE-EXAMINING THE WORKS OF AHMAD MAHMUD: A FICTIONAL DEPICTION OF THE IRANIAN NATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY Nastaran Narges Kherad, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar In this dissertation, I examine the work of an important yet insufficiently studied Iranian novelist and short-story writer, Ahmad Mahmud. Because of his early affiliation with leftist socialist groups, Mahmud’s work has been subject to various, sometimes contradictory, interpretations by critics. Such readings of Mahmud’s work have resulted in making him a controversial literary figure. Hence, this project aims to re-examine the critics’ current viewpoint of Mahmud’s works, which they regard as “ideologically driven” and “Marxist and/or political writing.” Although Mahmud’s ideology played a significant role in creating his stories, particularly in his early works, I argue that storytelling is the predominant concern for Mahmud. In fact, a large portion of his writing depicts his own life and his own development as a person and a writer. Mahmud’s portrayal of the main protagonist of his stories, Khaled, who goes through vii various stages of transformation, indeed reflects his own evolution and development. In other words, I contend that Mahmud’s literary output is essentially “autobiographical.” In addition, I argue that Mahmud’s autobiographical fiction helps to shape and articulate his emerging role as a novelist as he strives to record decades of turbulent social and political upheaval and change in the post-1950s era, as the Iranian nation undergoes various stages of transformation and growth in search of a new identity and political autonomy. With an analysis of a select number of Mahmud’s novels, furthermore, I discuss the social and historical nature of this transformation of the author/protagonist/nation and argue that from early on Mahmud was determined to depict the linear socio-political movement that took place in the modern history of Iran in the character of his memorable hero, Khaled, who appears in various guises and matures both as a person and a social entity from one novel to the next. viii Table of Contents A note on Transleteration ....................................................................................... X Preface....................................................................................................................01 Chapter One A Brief Biography of Ahmad Mahmud ...........................................09 Mahmud's Personal Life and its Influence on His Work ..............................09 Chapter Two The Formation of Modern Fiction in Iran .......................................16 Mahmud and the Writers of His Generation .................................................16 Chapter Three Khaled or Iran ...............................................................................46 Characterization in Mahmud's Major works .................................................46 The Transformation of the Central Character: Khaled/Nation ....................46 Characterization in Mahmud's Early works ..................................................46 Characterization in Mahmud's Novels ..........................................................52 The Reappearance of the Characters in Mahmud’s Major Works ................62 Men in Mahmud's Stories .............................................................................88 Women in Mahmud's Stories ........................................................................92 Chapter Four Language, Theme, and Plot in Mahmud's Work ..........................109 Traditional Approach vs. Modern Approach .............................................109 Chapter Five Socialist Realism and Mahmud's Works .......................................177 Chapter Six Southern Iran as the Main Setting of Mahmud’s Novels ................196 Regional Writing in Mahmud’s Works ......................................................201 Clash of Culture: Tradition vs. Modernity .................................................203 The Teahouse as a Focal Point in Mahmud's Work ...................................210 Bibliography .......................................................................................................213 ix A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION For the transliteration of the Persian words in this dissertation, I have followed the Iranian Studies transliteration system, therefore, omitting diacritical marks in proper nouns. For the already established authors and political figures, I have used the standardized spelling as it is found in print. In addition, I have used “u” instead of “ou” or “oo” in proper nouns, for instance, Mahmud, rather “Mahmood” or “Mahmoud” as it is commonly used in various publications. Additionally, I have used “gh” in proper nouns such as Sadeghi, rather than “Sadeghi” and Mossaddegh rather than “Massaddeq.” x PREFACE In this dissertation, I examine the work of an important yet insufficiently studied Iranian novelist and short-story writer, Ahmad Mahmud. Because of his affiliation with leftist socialist groups, Mahmud’s work has been subject to various, sometimes contradictory, interpretations by critics. Such readings of Mahmud’s work have resulted in making him a controversial literary figure. Hence, this project aims to re-examine the critics’ current viewpoint of Mahmud’s works, which they regard as “ideologically driven” and “Marxist and/or political writing.” Not only have such critics paid scant attention to other aspects of Mahmud’s writings such as form, plot, themes, and language, but they have also mainly focused on the ideological perspective found in Mahmud’s work. Although Mahmud’s ideology played a significant role in creating his stories, particularly in his early works, what Mahmud actually sought was to depict decades of turbulent social and political upheaval and change in the post-1950s era, as the Iranian nation was undergoing various stages of transformation and growth in search of a new identity and political autonomy. As is evident in his writing, from early on, Mahmud made a deliberate choice to become a writer, a writer who for more than fifty years of his life was preoccupied with recording recent history in his fiction, thereby trying to illustrate the linear socio-political events that took place in Iran. While many critics have focused on Mahmud’s ideologically driven writing, his work should also be examined in terms of literary form and genre. I argue, therefore, that 1 the