THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THEMES IN MODERN PERSIAN FICTION THESFS SUBMITTED FOBr The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Persian OF . The Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. BY SYED ZIA'ULLAH UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Or. WAHIS KIRMANi DEPARTMENT OF PERSIAN THE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH November, 1977 t 5 M W«0 T1945 9-^ CHECKED-2001 TAILE OF CONTS'/TS Ac'ano'vlGdnmont ••. i Tr^nslit?rrt2 on rnd Diccriticnl fiarks ii Introduction ... iii C^cpt-^r : I Tho hi^.torical b3cl<;ground: (A) Ilcsiruddin Shati's efforts tc/ords nodornizotlon. 1 (l) Tho Stru'^ole for tho Constitution-^1 Govsrnment. 7 (C) Emorg'^nco of Hiza Shah Pahlavi end dovolopment of modern Iran. 18 (D ) Tho prosont Shah and The White Revolution, 31 (E) The Crumbling of the feudal set-up with its outgrov;n customs and traditions. 41 Chapter: II Persian Fiction — its origin and development: Persian fiction and its indigenous elements, 52 Influence of Persian Translations from European books. 63 The development of Persian fiction from tho Constitutional movement onwards, 68 Chapter: III Tho Chief Architects (A detailed study.;: Syed Jamalzada 93 Murtfza /'ushfiq Kazmi 117 Mohammad f!as*ud Dihiti 130 Sadiq Hidayat 147 FiOhammad Hij5zi 168 Buzurg 'Alevi 185 'All Dashti 201 Chapter: IV An ossessment of Socio-political themes.: 212 Choptor: V Conclusion 243 Selectod Bibliography 253 -1- A C K I' 0 VJ L E D G K £ :. T I o"e 3 dGht of c^-'^titudo to ny supervisor, Dr.V/5ris Kirmani o-^ the Dopprtment of Persion, 'Ali^Drh Muslim University, 'Alin^rh •^cr i^is scholarly ^^uid^nco ?nd voluoblo suggestions for the completion of this thesis. His pcinstaking efforts in choching the entire m^nuscript can not go unappreciated and unrcknov.'ledged either. I -m very grateful to Prof. S.Maqbul Ahmad, the Ji'-.'ctcr of the Centre of V/est Asian Studios, A.Al.U.'Alinarh for his volurble suggestions and financial support by way of av/oriing FelJov'ship without v;hich the present thesis could not ba brought to r successful end. l!^ thanks are also due to Dr. I>ipeh5ni F^khruzzman, i^oad of the Department of Por'-Jan, A,.''M'. 'Aligrrh md Dr.S.^'o-'i !l5di, Reader in the smo DopTt-^ent for their taking interest in this thesis, I nuct cCknov;lodqo th-^ vnluaole ar.sist^nce ot Trs .'Arshia Sa'-ni', Librarian of the Seminar Liorary, Persian Jap-rt-^ent in providing the required materials for th-^ thesis writing, Fina'ly, I wish to oppress thanks to Justaqim Ahmad Khan for his typing the manuscript of the pmsont thesis. Sy -d Zia'ullah -11- T?u^r:SLITEPATlCH 0 - i b - —r" p v> Vt t - s j - Z, Ch - '5 h - T: kh - t d - J> 2 - i? r - J T - J zh - J s - ur- sh - cr- r- - cy z — <> t - > _z -- > gh - t f - _^ q - c? k - cJ" ^ Q - ^ 1 - J m - r n - O VI, V - ^ h - y — iS DIACRITICAL HARKS 5 ( \ ) , i (t5i) and u (^) :rc lonn vov/olo liko tho En^jlish vov/ols in "rt, sheop rn-! root; thoir usc^ for inct-nco, v/ould 'OG liko this: Ab ('^F) , r.^r/'ik (-i>/) ?nd Dust ( j:^:»>>) . ' rnd ^ rosont th- dincriticrl "iTrks of'Arohic 'pyn ( ^) end H^mzci ( > ); thoir UGG shell be in thi" v.'cy: 'Alrvi (t5A^) ond *Al^'uddin (CC-*JJ*i^)» The letter 9 moonino 'and' indicrtos tho nrrk 0 o.g. Panj5h-o yak ( c->'? oU^^) • ^ ond -!• h^vo boon shov/n by tbo THcrVv i, and t'neir use shall be in Vnis manner: Z^isso-i Dervish ( ^^^9y>'^ ) and Tirrd-i r.'ik ( ,^^y*) * I y T R 0 D U C T I 0 K Ill I M T R 0 D U C T I 0 M Tho fmowork of tho prosont thosis ontitlod "Tho Political rnd Soci::! Thomes in Modorn Percian Fiction", cov3rG tho "oriod Tron t'o'^ 3 itor phcse of tho Q?jrr dynpsty of iron to tho crly p?rt of ?'ohamnad Rizo Shah's rogimo. Tho tnodernizinn trends in Porsi^n literature may be traced hack to tho Qr-jar period v.'hon the political a\/akeninn and the social resurgence began to appear in the life of tho ira'^ian nation on account of modern western ideologies and scientific thought. The period, before the abdication of Riza Shah, had a feudal system, and tho Iranian state vyas governed by the despotic rulers. The socio-roligious system adhered to conventional and traditional nor^ns vhich v'oro steeped in superstitious '•reliefs and conserv;'tive outlook. V/Hh the socio-political consci^ ousness brought by the vest am impact, th'-' people ^.t'Tted thin':ing in terms of demanding liberty, oruality and fraternity in order to got rid of tho old Schackloc. The people r.aised their ".'oico against the despotic rule and out-dated social institutions, and demanded self-government. Thus, th-^ Iranians started the Constitutional Movement to achieve their objective. The Qajar dynasty ultimately hov/ed to th- democratic forces -IV- of thG country by '^renting tho constitutional govornment.As a result of this, various roforms wore introduced in Iran and tho country was put on the path of progress and pros­ perity. These roforns wore chiefly directed tovvT.rds the cmancipition of wonen, granting their rightful place in tho society rriO r,t?te, removal of Pordah system, curbing the powers of i.lullas anr! Akhunds, rectitude of religious fanaticism and rituals especially in matters of mourning over karbala opicodoG, shaking off superstitious beliefs and doing away with the old costumes, long Choghas and turbans giving place to ne\/ly f-^shioned dresses, besides, th-^ new educational system was enunciated and old fladresas wore replaced by modern educational institutions chiefly based on scientific method to cater the needs of the changing society. ',7ith the democratization of the Iranian polity, efforts were made to create better inter­ national understanding and amicable relationship among the peoples of tho world. In this political movement and social resurgence of Iran, diftarent sections of the people played their part. The writers and poets ^long v.dth other political leaders spearheaded the movement, Tho fiction writers too contributed their share, and their writings gave vent to the ambitions and aspirations of tho people. The aim and object of this thesis is to survey the works of the fiction writers dealing with socio-political conditions -v- of thoir times. The thesis has been divided into five chapters. The first choptor gives a short history of political end social dovolopment in Iran especially from the reign of Nasirudd^n Shah Qajar upto the rise of Mohammad Riza Sh"ah in order to acquaint the reader with the social and political climate of the tine in which works of modern fiction wore produced. The second chrpter traces the development of Persian fiction writing. The grc/th of '"odorr Persi'-'n fiction is lorgely indebted to foreign literature especially French fiction v/ritings, including their translations into Persian. It has also its roots in indigenous elements i.e. "Romans", and "Hikayats" of classical Persian literature, and some recent books such as "Siyahat Nama-i Ibrahim Beg", "'Ishq-o Saltanat", "Ruya-yi Sadiq", etc, which appeared on the eve of the Constitutional Movement and served as precursors to the futre writings. The third chapter deals vdth a comprehensive study of Persian fiction and a detailed study of seven writers namely Syed Jamalzada, Sadiq Hidiyat, Mohammad Mushfic Kazmi, Mas'ud Dihati, j/iohammad rlijazi, Juzurg 'Alavi and'All Dashti, who are considered as outstanding fiction writers of the period under review. One may always suggest some other names for inclusion in the list or may even challenge the existing selection of writers. I have only to submit that there is no precise yardstick in such matters, and assessment of merit •Vl- differs'person to person. I also odmit that I might havo overJooked some deserving fiction writer as my attention was focussed mainly on the v/riters who dealt with socio-political matters. The fourth chapter covers an over-oil assessment of the Persian fiction. It studios almost all the fiction writers from the time of the Constitutional fvlovement to the early part ot the reign of "ohcnncd Riza Shah. An effort has been made to- GVclu->tG the Persian fiction writings end to determine their importance in the building up of the new socio-political order in the country. The fifth chapter gives the conclusion of the present enquiry about modern Persian fiction and mentions its specific contribution to the different spheres of social life including litaroture. Seme consideration of the literary merit of the important writers mentioned in chapter III was inevitable and, hence, I have occasionally looked upon then from the artistic point of view ^lso. In v^riting this thesis, I havo tried to draw material from the original sources by reading most of the important writers of the modern period. I havo ^Iso gone through many other books written on the subjects by fiction critics and other scholars including literary histories which v/ero within my reach in India. Syed Zia^ullBh CHAPTER- I Tho Historical Bockgr-und -I (A) Nasiruddin Shah's efforts towards modernization;- Political and social themes in modern Persian fiction cannot be fully appreciated unless a brief account of Socio­ political developments during the modern period is also given. Hence, a brief sketch starting from the reign of Nasiruddin Shah Qajar to the end of Riza Shah's regime vath some account of the days of the present Shah is being given at the very outset.