Most of the research for this article was conducted between 2016 and 2018 and its earlier version was presented at the 9th European Conference of Iranian Studies held in Berlin in September 2019. While I had translated Forūghī’s text prior to commencing my doctoral studies in the fall of 2017, the rest of the article evolved out of two seminar papers I wrote during my time at the University of Maryland. Throughout this period, I greatly benefited from the knowledge and expertise of several scholars and friends to whom I would like to express my sincere gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Ahmet T. Karamustafa who, besides helping me refine the translation section, provided valuable comments on various drafts of this work. Secondly, I should thank my dear friend Reza Radbeh who not only greatly helped me during the earliest stages of this research but has also been a true fountain of knowledge on most subjects related to Iranian history, literature, and culture. Thirdly, I would also like to thank H. Khodapanahi, K. Nejad, A. Qurboniev, C. Melville, A. Borrut, M. Bazargan, and in particular my life partner Derya Özdemir, all of whom have in significant ways contributed to improving the quality of this work. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the useful comments of the anonymous reviewers of Iranian Studies, and of course the journal editors, at different stages of the review process. Obviously, the responsibility for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies herein is entirely my own.