Iran

Abstract

As a specifically literary genre, the Persian novel may have had its roots in the Western tradition, especially if we consider the fact that the rise of the Persian novel followed a wave of translation of European and particularly French novels into Persian (Balay, Kamshad). And as far as early novelistic themes are concerned, they were devoted to historical events (Aryanpur, Kamshad, Yavari). However, one may also consider the long tradition of classical narrative poetry, fable writing, poetic romances, and prose fiction as indigenous sources of the Persian novel. In this vein, the narrative poetry of Hakīm Abu'l‐Qāsim Firdawsī Tūsī (940–1020) and Nezami (ca. 1141–1209), the Indo‐Iranian stories of “One Thousand and One Nights,” koranic/biblical stories, and the popular legend of Amir Asrsalan Namdar, which were circulated in society orally for many centuries before being written down, are prime examples. Christophe Balay believes that the latter work is the last story to be written in the old, traditional form of narrative. Like mikhail bakhtin , Balay cautiously uses the term novel in association with old or long narrative stories. This relationship between the old and the new is present more strongly between classical Persian short stories and the European genre of short story, an analysis of which can help further understanding of the changes that Persian prose has experienced since the nineteenth century.