Sadeq Hedayat’s vegetarianism: a few notes on the representation of vegetarianism, animals and animal rights in Sadeq Hedayat’s Favāʾid-i giyāhkhārī (The benefits of vegetarianism) and Insān-u ḥayvān (Human and animal)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sadeq Hedayat (1903–1951) is an Iranian author known for his short stories and his novel Būf-i Kūr (The Blind Owl). An intellectual from an influential family, Hedayat traveled abroad at a young age and became a vegetarian in his youth. He wrote the essay Insān-u ḥayvān (Human and animal) in 1924, when he was only 21 years old. His later essay Favāʾid-i giyāhkhārī (The benefits of vegetarianism, 1927) is understood to be the more mature version of the ideas on animal rights presented in the essay of 1924. This article explores the contents, socio-historical context and the background of Insān-u ḥayvān and Favāʾid-i giyāhkhārī, focusing in particular on the way in which Hedayat represents vegetarianism and the rhetoric he employs to advocate animal welfare in relation to his perception of the human world.