The Lost Voice of a Contemporary Iranian Writer in a Play

Abstract

This article aims to discuss and analyse an overlooked play written by Dr. Majd Al-Din Mir Fakhraai (1910-1972), who was a prominent Iranian poet and writer. Having spent several years outside Iran, his works were published in various journals including Jahaan-e Nou, Armaghaan and Yaadegaar. One of Mir Fakhraai’s literary outputs, i.e. this play, appears to have been overlooked in the scholarly works of modern Persian literature. This play is written in a manuscript, which has not yet been discussed in the literature or catalogues of manuscripts. The manuscript Persian MS. 996, which is held in the John Rylands Library, contains this play, entitled Sonaat-e Dehkade ‘The Village Sonata’, which was written under the pen name Golchin Gilaani in 1947 in London. This article will demonstrate the relationship between this work of Mir Fakhraai, and his other works by analysing the content and the structure of the play within the context of its production. Through analysing its content, first it will be shown how its content is a manifestation of the (in) direct impact of war (in this case World War II) on the Iranian diaspora and second the analysis will highlight the contribution of the play to Persian literary works. The final aim of the article is to highlight the importance of exploring Persian manuscripts holdings in which voices of authors, such as Mir Fakhraai, seem to have been overlooked.