Introduction: Houshang Golshiri and his masterwork Prince Ehtejab
Similar to other branches of art, literature has been under the domination of male-centered ideology. Great masterpieces have been most of the times known to be written by men. Even those who have written stories about women conflict are depicted women from a male gaze, either a main male character or the writer himself. The famous modern Persian writer Houshang Golshiri, who had written many fictions about women struggle, is not excluded from this fact and introduced women mostly through a male narrative description. His masterwork, Shazdeh Ehtejab (Prince Ehtejab), involves four important female characters that have been demonstrated to the reader through dissimilarities and …show more content…
The 1906 constitutional revolution in Iran was accompanied by a cultural revolution which introduced new forms to the country such as drama, novel, music, and film (Nafisi, 983) and at the same time aroused many contradictions, inner conflicts and extravagancies (Kar, 17). Following western culture, Iranian women started to gain their social rights during the late 1940s and 1950s, however; they were being used as an advertisement to show the monarchy's pretentious intellectuality (Kar, 14). By this time, the novel was the best way to indicate individual’s inner tension in the shape of women (Nafisi, 987-988). Golshiri’s novella Prince Ehtejab, both in its structure and content, accommodates with those Iranian modern conflicts and represents “A vague hostility and mistrust toward the new reality called the Western world which colors the images of its women more than any other image.” (Nafisi, …show more content…
The novella was first published in 1969, adapted into a screenplay in 1974 and translated into English and French. “Golshiri’s skillful exploitation of stream of consciousness narration converts this story of outer actions into a drama of the life of the mind.” (Yavari, 6). The reader can continue reading not necessarily from the beginning, but any part s/he desires since it enfolds neither traditional coherence nor unity (Taheri, Azimi, 41). Comparing this fiction to the American masterwork William Faulkner’s Sound and Fury, many critics blamed Golshiri for imitating western literature. However, he claimed that his work took greater effort in a sense that he was dealing with many lively characters who needed to be connected in a believable way (Taheri, Azimi, 35). In defense, Manouchehr Atashi, a well-known Persian poet, critic, and journalist, declared that the only reason that Persian literature is not fully known is that it has not been analyzed or criticized as western literature. Thus, Golshiri’s work does not move based on a western style of writing, but it gathers everything that Persian literature already owned in the past with a new genre. That is, one can find Iranian culture in each part of the story with a modern form and style. He created a work that incorporated with the literature of the world and
Similar to other branches of art, literature has been under the domination of male-centered ideology. Great masterpieces have been most of the times known to be written by men. Even those who have written stories about women conflict are depicted women from a male gaze, either a main male character or the writer himself. The famous modern Persian writer Houshang Golshiri, who had written many fictions about women struggle, is not excluded from this fact and introduced women mostly through a male narrative description. His masterwork, Shazdeh Ehtejab (Prince Ehtejab), involves four important female characters that have been demonstrated to the reader through dissimilarities and …show more content…
The 1906 constitutional revolution in Iran was accompanied by a cultural revolution which introduced new forms to the country such as drama, novel, music, and film (Nafisi, 983) and at the same time aroused many contradictions, inner conflicts and extravagancies (Kar, 17). Following western culture, Iranian women started to gain their social rights during the late 1940s and 1950s, however; they were being used as an advertisement to show the monarchy's pretentious intellectuality (Kar, 14). By this time, the novel was the best way to indicate individual’s inner tension in the shape of women (Nafisi, 987-988). Golshiri’s novella Prince Ehtejab, both in its structure and content, accommodates with those Iranian modern conflicts and represents “A vague hostility and mistrust toward the new reality called the Western world which colors the images of its women more than any other image.” (Nafisi, …show more content…
The novella was first published in 1969, adapted into a screenplay in 1974 and translated into English and French. “Golshiri’s skillful exploitation of stream of consciousness narration converts this story of outer actions into a drama of the life of the mind.” (Yavari, 6). The reader can continue reading not necessarily from the beginning, but any part s/he desires since it enfolds neither traditional coherence nor unity (Taheri, Azimi, 41). Comparing this fiction to the American masterwork William Faulkner’s Sound and Fury, many critics blamed Golshiri for imitating western literature. However, he claimed that his work took greater effort in a sense that he was dealing with many lively characters who needed to be connected in a believable way (Taheri, Azimi, 35). In defense, Manouchehr Atashi, a well-known Persian poet, critic, and journalist, declared that the only reason that Persian literature is not fully known is that it has not been analyzed or criticized as western literature. Thus, Golshiri’s work does not move based on a western style of writing, but it gathers everything that Persian literature already owned in the past with a new genre. That is, one can find Iranian culture in each part of the story with a modern form and style. He created a work that incorporated with the literature of the world and