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”1

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.1 1The 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.