Modern Persian (Iranian) Fiction

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Moh Ghanoonparvar (University of Texas at Austin)
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When the prominent Persian literary scholar P. N. Khanlari made a now often quoted statement in 1946 declaring the modern era of Persian literature as “the age of prose”, his words at that time appeared as a rather daring declaration, since by implication it also meant that the centuries-old tradition of verse as the established and dominant vehicle for literary expression had been overshadowed now by prose fiction. Today, however, although modern Persian poetry has developed into a mature literary kind, no one would deny the important place of prose fiction in the modern Persian literary canon.

Fiction in the form of short stories and novels as exists in the West is a relatively new art form in Persian literature, although stories and the telling of tales are probably as old as Iran

3294 words

Citation: Ghanoonparvar, Moh. "Modern Persian (Iranian) Fiction". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 March 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=17647, accessed 19 March 2024.]

17647 Modern Persian (Iranian) Fiction 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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