The different phases of the Islamic revolution have left traces and marked differences in the literature. The freedom granted in the first years by the new state to the creative imagination (more than seventy plays were composed during the first post-revolutionary years) was gradually replaced by censorship; literature has partly taken the path of exile. The literary trends, formed in the previous period, the ši re naw (“new poetry”), the mawǧ-i naw (“new wave”) and modern prose continue to have their representatives, both abroad and at home,(“of volume”).
There is no shortage of works conforming to classical prosody, like most of H̱’s poems. Faršidvār in which the poet, opponent of the partisans of the ” new wave ”, urges young people to defend their homeland and religion. The literary revolution inaugurated in poetry by Nīmā Yūšīǧ (1895-1960) has been retraced individually by his disciples: A. Šāmlū (b. 1925), tireless researcher of new poetic forms; H. Ebtehāǧ (b. 1927), committed poet with a refined style; S. Kasrā’ī (b. 1927), historian of the great myths of Iran; Umīd, pseudonym of Aẖavān-i Ṯāliṯ (1928-1991), politically committed, great representative of new poetry for the technical qualities of his art, for the absolute mastery of the Persian language, for the search for his own style. Other artistic avenues have been explored with the lyric poetry of Nādir Nāderpūr (b. 1929, residing after 1980 in Paris); with the mystical vein of S. Sepehrī (1928-1980); with the colorful and emotional art of the Southern tribes by M. Ātešī (b. 1931); with the folkloristic experiences of ῾A. Sepānlū (b. 1938); with the philosophical speculations of E. H̱o’ī (n. 1938). Tahereh Ṣaffarzāde (b. 1936), whose first poem was influenced by Nīmā Yūšīǧ and the lyric tendency of Nādir Nāderpūr, later sought even freer, subtly ironic forms of expression; it then passes, through a phase of interior research, to the period of poetic maturity exemplified by Ātešī (b. 1931); with the folkloristic experiences of ῾A. Sepānlū (b. 1938); with the philosophical speculations of E. H̱o’ī (n. 1938). Tahereh Ṣaffarzāde (b. 1936), whose first poem was influenced by Nīmā Yūšīǧ and the lyric tendency of Nādir Nāderpūr, later sought even freer, subtly ironic forms of expression; it then passes, through a phase of interior research, to the period of poetic maturity exemplified by Ātešī (b. 1931); with the folkloristic experiences of ῾A. Sepānlū (b. 1938); with the philosophical speculations of E. H̱o’ī (n. 1938). Tahereh Ṣaffarzāde (b. 1936), whose first poem was influenced by Nīmā Yūšīǧ and the lyric tendency of Nādir Nāderpūr, later sought even freer, subtly ironic forms of expression; it then passes, through a phase of interior research, to the period of poetic maturity exemplified bySafar-e Panǧom (“The Fifth Journey”), six short and three long poems in which the poet hails the Arab conquest as the salvation of Persia. Serešk (stage name of MR Šafī῾ii Kadkanī, b.1939) is a great artist in demonstrating the continuity of classical and modern poetry. And finally Y. Royā’ī (b.1932, resident in Paris), fascinated by the universe of forms and structures, is the representative, together with P. Eslampur, B. Elaī, B. Ardebīlī, F. Rahnema, of the already mentioned current ši re ḥaǧm. For Iran 2013, please check physicscat.com.
The leader of modern prose and heir to the princes posed by Ǧamālzāde (b. 1891-92, who moved to Switzerland), was Ṣādiq Hidāyat (d. 1951). Ṣādiq Čubāk (b. 1916, lives abroad), Āl-i Aḥmad (1923-1969), influential thinker of the Islamic revolution of Iran Bihāḏīn (b. 1915), Ibrāhīm Golestān (b. 1922, resident in London), writer and filmmaker, are the representatives of the first generation of this trend. B. ῾Alawī (b. 1907, residing in Berlin), initiator, together with Čubāk and Hidāyat, of the realist current belongs to the same school of writers; eminent novelist and novelist with progressive tendencies, politically and socially committed, master in using the structure of the analeptic type, outlines in his stories a rich and varied gallery of social types, first of all the poorest classes of Iranian society. They belong to the realist periodČasmhāyaš (1952, “His eyes”) and his latest historical novel Sālārihā (1979, “The general commands”) through which he traces the struggles against feudal structures at the beginning of this century.
Other prose writers include: ῾AM Afġānī (b. 1925), who in the long novel Šawhar-i Āhū-H̱ānum (1961, “The husband of Āhū-H̱ānum”) deals with the problem of the female role, while in Šalġam mive-ye beheštī (1977, “The turnip fruit of paradise”) gives an insight into the life of a poor neighborhood in Teherān; M. Dawlatābādī, author of Kelīdār (1978-84, “Kelīdār”), a ten-volume saga of the rural and tribal world of H̱orasan at the end of the Second World War, notable for the use of the language of the peasants of the Northeast of Iran. Others are confronted with the great dramas of contemporary Iranian society: Aḥmad-i Maḥmūd in Zamīn-i sūẖte(1982, “The scorched earth”) deals with the war between the Iran and the ῾Irāq in Ahvāz during the first three months of the conflict, as well as N. H̱āksār in his travelogue in the H̱uzestān. Together with other authors of his own generation – such as F. Tunakābunī (b. 1936; lives in Germany), Sā῾edī (1935-1985) and Dawlatābādī – H̱āksār contributed to making life in the provinces of Iran known. Among the younger novelists cite M. Zamani-nya, from the region of Farahan: in Kuc and Isma- Il (1985, “Ismail Run”) describes the life of a rural community through the fate of a teenager orphan of mother; Esmā῾īl-i Faṣiḥ, who in one of his novels, Ṯorayyā dar eġmā᾽(1983, “Ṯorayyā in coma”), imitating E. Hemingway, describes the life of the Iranian diaspora in Paris. Also worth mentioning is E. Ṭabarī (d. 1991), talented writer and author of Čehreẖāne (“Portrait Gallery”), imaginary sketches of the society of Teherān at the beginning of the Pahlavi dynasty, an excellent source for the psychological and sociological knowledge of Iran.
