Bâzgasht-i Adabî (Literary Return) and Persianate Literary Culture in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Iran, India, and Afghanistan
[Thesis]
[Thesis]
[Thesis]
[Thesis]
Kevin Lewis Schwartz
Ahmadi, Shahwali
University of California, Berkeley
2014
190
Committee members: Algar, Hamid; Faruqui, Munis
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-26099-1
Ph.D.
Near Eastern Studies
University of California, Berkeley
2014
The idea that some poets in eighteenth and nineteenth century Iran revived Persian poetry by returning to the styles of the classical masters, while poets outside of Iran did not, has left a deep impression on how Persian literary history has come to be written. This idea, known as bâzgasht-i adabî (literary return), has left much historiographical debris in its wake: the conflation of the writing of Persian literary history with that of Iran's own; the assertion of a greater proprietary right by Iran over the great 'masters'; and the erasure from history of many facets of Persian literary culture occurring outside of Iran's borders. As influential as this concept has been, its impact has not been challenged sufficiently. This is equally true for how the idea of bâzgasht-i adabî developed and shaped the writing of both Iranian and Persian literary history, as it is for understanding the activities of Iranian poets who sought a 'return' to the masters. This dissertation addresses this gap by revisiting the concept of bâzgasht-i adabî and the larger realm of Persianate literary culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Middle Eastern literature; Middle Eastern history; Writing; Persian language; Poetry; 19th century; Imitation; Historical text analysis; Culture; Near Eastern studies; Literature
Language, literature and linguistics;Social sciences;Afghanistan;Eighteenth century;Historiography;Iran;Nineteenth century;Persian culture;Persian history;Persian literature;South asia