Literature of the Early Twentieth Century: From the Constitutional Period to Reza Shah

A History of Persian Literature

A. A. Seyed-Gohrab

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780857739162
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Islamic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The eleventh volume in this ground-breaking series pays special attention to politically engaged poetry, written during a turbulent period which saw the Constitutional Revolution in Iran as well as the rise to power of Reza Shah and his attempts to implement reform. Throughout this time, poets began to turn their attention towards the country's ordinary people, rather than concentrate on its elites. This volume also examines the prose fiction of the period, which saw the rise of the novel and short story. Additionally, Persian satire began to grow in importance, especially with the increased popularity of poets and novelists such as Iraj Mirza and Sadeq Hedayat. This wide-ranging volume is an invaluable companion for anyone who wants to understand how the Persian literary scene changed at the beginning of the twentieth century, reflecting the social and political contexts in which this literature was created

CHAPTER ONE

THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF THE LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD (1900–1940)

ALI-ASGHAR SEYED-GOHRAB

1. A Historical Sketch of the Period

Persian literature between 1900 and 1940 has such a close relationship to social and political developments that a reader needs to know something of the relevant events and trends. As a number of immensely important events fall outside our period, this chapter begins in the nineteenth century, when Iran entered world politics.

Political and intellectual developments between 1900 and 1940 are very much shaped by interactions with Russia and Great Britain, and other European powers, that became very important to Persia in the nineteenth century. Another factor was rivalry with the Ottoman Empire, which was itself modernizing. The Iranian elite, and then the masses, became aware of Persia’s vulnerable position. Its old-fashioned military system could not confront the modern military technologies that Europe, and the Russians, possessed. While Persia tried to maintain her centuries-old cultural and political domination in the Caucasus and Central Asia, she lost large territories to Russia in the first decades of the nineteenth century.¹ The first war occurred in 1813. Persian forces were quickly defeated by the modern Russian army, and Persia was forced to accept the Treaty of Golestân, conceding its territories in the Caucasus, and renouncing its right to have a navy in the Caspian Sea. The relationship between the two empires remained hostile, leading in 1826 to a second war, in which Persia was again defeated. This concluded with the treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828. Russian interest in Persian territories continued in the following decades. In 1849, Russia occupied formerly independent regions in Central Asia, reducing Persian political and cultural influence there. Russia took Tashkent in 1865 and Samarkand in 1868, coming close to Persia’s borders.² In the second half of the 19^th century, Russian influence extended to Persia itself. The establishment in 1878 of Persia’s Cossack Brigade, in which Russian officers trained Iranian soldiers, was one marker of Russia’s growing influence.³

Great Britain showed increasing interest in Persia, as a geo-graphically strategic country for the control of India, and because of the country’s resources. This made Russia and Britain rivals. Each tried to obtain concessions from the Persian government, which as it conceded first to one and then to the other, made Persia dependent and eventually bankrupt. Foreign interference and the concessions granted to European powers generated heavy protests from the people, who became disillusioned with the government.⁴ The “concession-hunting era,” in Mansoor Moadel’s words, started in 1872 when the first major concession was granted to the British Baron Julius de Reuter for 40,000 pounds and “sixty percent of profits on the customs, in return for the exclusive right to finance a state bank, farm out the entire customs system, exploit all minerals (with the exception of gold, silver, and precious stones), build railways and tramways for seventy years, and establish all future canals, irrigation works, roads, telegraph lines, and industrial factories.”⁵ This was a concession which the British Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon (1859–1925) said, “contained the most complete surrender of the entire resources of a kingdom into foreign hands that has ever been dreamed of, much less accomplished, in history.”⁶ Another concession was granted by Nâser-al-Din Shah to G.F. Talbot in March 1890 to cure and sell Persia’s entire tobacco production for 50 years.⁷ In the July of the same year, Iranian intellectuals protested against this concession and wrote critical articles which were published outside Persia in journals such as Qânun in London and Akhtar in Istanbul. These newspapers were popular among the Persian intelligentsia and were smuggled into Persia. As the news and new ideas were transmitted to all layers of society, the Iranian population started to protest against the tobacco concession. In the protests of February 1891, the clergy, who were very influential, played an important part. They characterized the government as sellers of Persia to European unbelievers. Their opinions were disseminated to the masses and had huge effects in major cities for several months. The government exiled several figures such as the preacher Sayyid Ali Akbar Shirâzi to Karbalâ. During these chaotic political and social uprisings, the grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mirzâ Hasan Shirâzi issued a fatwa from Sâmarrâ, in Iraq, declaring that the use of tobacco was against the Hidden Imam Mahdi.⁸ He asked the leading cleric of Tehran Hâjji Mirzâ Hasan Âshtiyâni to act on his behalf in the capital. Âshtiyâni responded positively to his request, helping to widely spread the fatwa issued by Shirâzi. When Nâser-al-Din Shah learned about Âshtiyâni’s full support, he sent him an angry letter, threatening him of expulsion from Tehran if he would not withdraw his support from the campaign. Resolved to support the campaign, Âshtiyâni made preparations to leave Tehran but when the news of his departure spread, people surrounded his house, preventing him from leaving the capital. Government troops acted, shooting several people in the clashes between government and the widespread supporters. It was after this event that Nâser-al-Din Shah realized that it was impossible to maintain the tobacco concession and he sent an emissary to negotiate with Âshtiyâni. But Âshtiyâni refused any conciliation, demanding the elimination of all concessions granted to foreign powers, including the tobacco concession. These oppositions led to the annulment of the monopoly in January 1892, with the state paying £ 500,000 to the concession holder as compensation. This protest brought the olamâ (Islamic scholars), the merchants and the intelligentsia together in opposition to the policies of the weak Qajar state.

These and similar types of unrest were common from the 1870s to the 1890s. People were not satisfied with the government’s political course, economic conditions, and low social standards. Nâser-al-Din Shah was assassinated by Mirzâ Rezâ of Kermân, a follower of Jamâl-al-Din al-Afghâni in the sanctuary of Shah Abd-al-Azim in Rayy on 1 May 1896.⁹ Despite the economic situation, his successor Mozaffar-al-Din Shah (r. 1896–1907) borrowed substantially from Russia to finance journeys to Europe.

2. The Constitutional Revolution (1905–11)

The idea of a constitutional form of government was in the air from the second half of the nineteenth century when Iranian intellectuals became acquainted with Western political philosophy, and through the reforms implemented by Mirzâ Taqi Khân Amir-Kabir (d. 1852).¹⁰ The events preceding the Constitutional Revolution (1905–11), such as the opposition to the concessions, inflations, tax reforms, revolts,assassinations, etc. precipitated this revolution, which had a broad spectrum of objectives. Abbas Amanat is right when he states that the “opposition to the Qajar monarchy and the clerical establishment survived within the amorphous body of Persian dissent,” after the crushing of the Babi movement (1844–52), playing an important role in the awakening of the people, especially as this movementcoincided with the realization of Persia’s military weakness and the social and political reforms implemented by Amir-Kabir.¹¹ It was in this context that intellectuals with diverse backgrounds, secular and religious, came to favor a constitutional form of government,among other changes in the social and political landscape of Persia.As Amanat observes, the Constitutional era was an “epoch-making episode in the modern history of Persia because of its political achievements and its enduring social and cultural consequences.”¹²

It introduced liberalism, replacing arbitrary monarchical power with codes of law, reducing tribal power and the influence of the religious class by establishing a representative central government which was intended to support social justice and economic independence and to protect Persia from imperialist influences. The Constitutional Revolution created a new identity, for ‘modern Persians,’ an identity which foregrounded individual liberty and dignity. Revolts such as the Tobacco Régie exhibited people’s dissatisfaction with the monarchical system, and the imperialist powers. Aside from the lives lost during bloody demonstrations, this episode cost the government dearly, adding to the country’s financial crisis. Inflation and the devaluation of the silver qerân compared to the pound sterling created a difficult financial problem, forcing the government to borrow three million pounds sterling from Russia, (2 million in 1900 and 1 million in 1902).¹³ In this grave financial situation, the merchants organized an opposition movement whose spokesman was the theologian Sayyed Abd-Allâh Behbahâni, who later cooperated with the influential mojtahed Sayyed Mohammad Tabâtabâ’i. When the governor of Tehran, Alâ-al-Dowle ordered the bastinado of two respected merchants on 12 December 1905 for having raised the price of sugar, the merchants’ resistance became open activism. The following day the bazaar went on strike, with the merchants marching to the Masjed-e Shah and demanding the removal of Alâ-al-Dowle. His resignation did follow, in 1906.

Dissatisfaction increased at various political and social levels.With the advice and support of the clergy, bâzâris took refuge in thesanctuary of Shah Abd-al-Azim. Their sit-in ended when the Shah promised to set up an advisory council, the adâlat-khâne, (‘house of justice’) consisting of clerics, landowners, and merchants. Despitethis promise, protests continued clandestinely through secret associations (anjomans), which disseminated anonymous pamphlets (shab-nâmes).¹⁴ The unrest reached a climax in June 1906 in Tehran, when two sayyeds were killed. People, led by clerics, marched to Qom and the British embassy, demanding justice, and a constitutional form of government. The idea was revolutionary: Iran’s constitutional government would be the first in the Islamic world, predating the revolution of the Young Turks in 1908.¹⁵ On 5 August 1906, the Shah agreed to establish a constitution and a parliament.After an election and the preparation of a draft constitution, Mozaffar-al-Din Shah ratified the constitution on 1^st January 1907.

Mozaffar-al-Din Shah died on 8 January 1907, to be succeeded by Mohammad-Ali Shah. One of the fir...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter One: The Political and Social Background of The Literature of The Period (1900–1940) (Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab)
• Chapter Two: Poetry As Awakening: Singing Modernity (Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab)
• Chapter Three: Modern Persian Prose and Fiction Between 1900 and 1940 (Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab)
• Chapter Four: Satire In Persian Literature, 1900–1940 (Homa Katouzian)
• Chapter Five: Women Poets (Dominic Parviz Brookshaw)
• Chapter Six: Translations of European Poetry and Their Reception (Parvin Loloi)
• Chapter Seven: A History of Iranian Drama (1850–1941) (Saeed Talajooy)
• Chapter Eight: Early Twentieth-Century Journals In Iran: Response To Modernity In Literary Reviews (Kamran Talattof)
• Chapter Nine: The History of Children’s Literature (1900–1940) (Zohreh Ghaeni)
• Bibliography