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Novellas as Morality Tales and Entertainment in the Newspapers of the Late Qajar Period: Yahya Mirza Eskandari's “‘Eshgh-e Doroughi” and “‘Arousi-e Mehrangiz”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajar
Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajar*
Affiliation:
Santa Barbara City College in Santa Barbara, California
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Abstract

The literary genre known as dastan-e ‘ebrat (morality tale or play) had already gained currency before the turn of the century and the awakening that preceded the Constitutional Revolution. It was, however, in the context of that Revolution and the impulses the Revolution brought forth, that this form of writing achieved greater popularity. Through the new medium of newspapers available now to a mass audience, the mode of delivery of the traditional morality tale in daily or weekly installments also took on the new role of entertainment while retaining the old role of socio-political commentary. Combining the tradition of his grandfather, Mohammad Taher Mirza Eskandari, who as translator, brought the romantic novels of Alexandre Dumas to the attention of the court and the Persian public, and that of his father and uncle who were pioneers and founders of the early humanist societies (anjoman) in the late Qajar era, Yahya Mirza Eskandari also used literature as a means of conveying his progressive social and political views. The two works, ‘Eshgh-e doroughi and ‘Arousi-e mehrangiz, in particular, capture the genre and the message of the dastan-e ‘ebrat well while taking it further to a level of political and social critique, particularly directed at the autocratic foundations of the government of the time. While focusing on the political critiques of tradition and traditionalism that these works represent, this article will also try to highlight their entertainment aspect, achieved through the process of serialization and publishing by installment, the publication format the papers Majjaleh-ye nesvan and Iran-e now chose for them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 4: Entertainment in Qajar Persia , September 2007 , pp. 511 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2007

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References

1 The present article is an expanded version of the paper presented by the author at the sixth conference of the International Qajar Studies Association (IQSA) in Paris in June 2006 on the theme of “Entertainment in the Qajar Era.” A longer version of this article was published in the Journal of the Association, Qajar Studies VI (2006). I am grateful to Prof. Afsaneh Najmabadi who inspired these efforts with the publication of her “The Morning After: The Travail of Sexuality and Love in Modern Iran,” in International Journal of Middle East Studies (August 2004) and Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards (Berkeley, 2005). It was due to her generosity and kindness that I came into possession of copies of the two novellas of Yahya Mirza Eskandari mentioned here.

2 The translations of the works of Alexandre Dumas by Mohammad Taher Mirza were an instant sensation and created an indigenous industry of novelists copying the style of Dumas and even continuing some of his stories in the Persian context, such as the novel, “The Son of Monte Cristo.” The message of Alexandre Dumas’ work, particularly that of the story of Monte Cristo, was one of justice, and in this sense, it joined a long tradition of morality tales already indigenous to Persian literature.

3 The Dar-ol-Fonoun was founded in 1851 by Nasser-ed-Din Shah through the efforts of his Prime Minister Mirza Taghi Khan, Amir Kabir. It introduced into Persian society Western ideas in a systematic way and was the premier institution of secular learning in the second half of the nineteenth century in Persia. The Dar-ol-Fonoun was under the direct tutelage of the Shah himself and had graduated over a thousand students by 1891. The names of its instructors and students are legend in Iran to this day.

4 Eugène Sue (1804–1857) was one of the most prominent writers of his time. Les Mystères du Peuple a Travers les Ages, a ten-volume odyssey of a “proletarian family through the ages from ancient Gaul to the eve of the 1848 Revolution in France,” written in 1849, was his most radical and controversial work.

5 Regarding the origins of the Adamiyat Society, see Bayat, Mangol, Iran's First Revolution: Shi'ism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1909 (Oxford, 1991), 165–166Google Scholar and 220–221; see also Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions (New Jersey, 1982), 77Google Scholar.

6 With regard to the membership of the Revolutionary Committee and its intellectual and political bent, see Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 79.

7 For a description of the Tupkhaneh events, see among others, Bayat, Iran's First Revolution, 210–214.

8 The Anjoman-e hoquq was founded first as a branch of the Adamiyat Society. See Bayat, 221. The organ of the Anjoman-e hoquq was the Journal Hoquq, of which Yahya Mirza was the editor.

9 See Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 88 and 103–106.

10 Browne, Edward Granville, The Persian Revolution of 1905–1909 (Washington, D.C., 1995)Google Scholar.

11 Kasravi, Ahmad, Taarikh-e mashruteh-ye iran, 2 vols. (Tehran, 2537 imperial calendar)Google Scholar.

12 Mokhber-al-Saltaneh Hedayat, Mehdi Gholi, Gozaresh-e iran: ghajarieh va mashroutiyat (Tehran, 1363 solar), 248Google Scholar, lists the deputies to the second Majles from Tehran as follows: Hajj Seyyed Nasrollah, Ehtesham Saltaneh, Vossough-ed-Dowleh, Hakim-ol-Molk, Sadigh Hazrat, Mostashar-ed-Dowleh, Taqizadeh, Zoka’-ol-Molk, Sani-ed-Dowleh, Hossein Gholi Khan Navvab, Assadollah Mirza, Sheikh Hossein Yazdi, Yahya Mirza, Motamen-ol-Molk, and Vahid-ol-Molk.

13 Iran-e now, iii, no. 3 (24 October 1910). (My translation).

14 For further background on Princess Mohtaram Eskandari, see Afary, Janet, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906–1911 (New York, 1996), 187Google Scholar, 188. See also Encyclopaedia Britannica “Profiles,” Online Edition 2006, http://www.britannica.com/women/timeline?tocId=9404138&section=249215. See also Mehrangiz Dawlatshahi, “Eskandari, Mohtaram” in Encyclopaedia Iranica and Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 93.

15 Majjaleh-ye jam'iyat-e nesvan-e vatankhvah-e Iran (Journal of the Association of Patriotic Women of Iran), I (1923), 25.

16 Majjaleh-ye jam'iyat-e nesvan-e vatankhvah-e Iran. I (1923), 25. (My translation).

17 Najmabadi, Afsaneh, “The Morning After: Travail of Sexuality and Love in Modern Iran,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, xxxvi (2004): 368Google Scholar.

18 Najmabadi, “The Morning After,” 368.

19 See Bayat, Iran's First Revolution, 44; and Eskandari, Yahya Mirza, “‘Arousi-e mehrangiz,” Iran-e now, lxxxv: 3 (February 4, 1911)Google Scholar.

20 The title of this novella has been translated by Dr. Najmabadi as “Mehrangiz's Wedding.” However, the term for wedding proper is aghd, the act of taking wedding vows, which seals the marriage. The consummation of the marriage is referred to as ‘arousi. This is the meaning Yahya Mirza intended for his title and this becomes evident from the storyline itself.

21 Najmabadi, “The Morning After,” 368.

22 Najmabadi, “The Morning After,” 369.

23 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 273.

24 Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 68 and 73.

25 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 116.

26 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 116.

27 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 116.

28 The information for the list of newspapers here was gathered from a variety of sources including Janet Afary, Mangol Bayat, and Ervand Abrahamian.

29 Bayat, Iran's First Revolution, 44. Bayat lists these turbaned men of journalism and their journals as follows: Habl al-Matin, edited by Mo'ayyed al-Islam; Ruznama-ye Majles by Sadeq Tabataba'i; Nedaye Vatan by Majd al-Islam; and Tadayyon by Fakhr al-Islam.

30 Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 61.

31 Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 62.

32 Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, 62.

33 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 117.

34 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 117.

35 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 116.

36 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 117.

37 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 117.

38 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 273, gives the figure of 2,000 to 3,000.

39 The first constitutional period is the period from the signing of the constitution in 1906 to the events of the summer of 1908. The second constitutional period starts with the departure of Mohammad Ali Shah in July and the opening of the second Majles in November of 1909. The period in between the two is referred to as the lesser autocracy.

40 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 273.

41 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 276–277.

42 Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 273–274.

43 See footnote 1 above.

44 Najmabadi, Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards, 164–169.

45 My translation from the original Persian.