Iranian Artists Forum to pay homage to literati Bahar, Jamalzadeh
Dubbed Malek al-Sho'ara (poet laureate), Bahar is considered one of the greatest figures of Iranian contemporary literature.
He was a distinguished poet, a master of literature, a writer, a college professor, a notable journalist, and a political activist. He played a pivotal role in the development and evolution of contemporary Persian prose and poetry.
As a teenager, he startled critics and experts by manifesting his creativity and imagination in composing poems. He composed his first poem at the age of 14. His style combined traditional poetry with fresh concepts.
Malek al-Sho'ara Bahar founded the Daneshkadeh Literary Society (the publisher of Danshkadeh magazine) in 1917. The periodical was his vehicle for disseminating the results of his literary research and introducing European literature to Iranians. The periodical played a key role in strengthening and developing the contemporary style in Persian literature.
His renowned books include "History of Political Parties", "Diversification of Persian Prose" and the collection of his poems.
Born into a middle-class family, Jamalzadeh is known as the father of modern Iranian story writing.
He lived in Iran only until the age of twelve or thirteen. Thereafter, he lived in Lebanon where he attended the Antoura Catholic School (1908) near Beirut. He left Lebanon for France in 1910. He then studied law at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and in Dijon, France.
He returned to Iran in 1915 and briefly fought with a Kurdish force against the Allies in World War I. He soon moved back to Europe, eventually settling in Berlin.
There he joined a group of Iranian nationalists opposed to foreign intervention in Iran and wrote for the respected periodical Kaveh, which published his early stories and historical pieces.
His first successful story, “Persian Is Sugar” (Farsi Shakar Ast), was reprinted in 1921 in “Once Upon a Time”, a collection of his short stories that laid the foundation for modern Persian prose.
“Once Upon a Time” caused a great stir, not only because of its innovative prose style, modern diction, and its use of colloquial Persian but for its satiric, outspoken criticism of society, which aroused the anger of conservative Iranians.
In 1931, he took a position in the International Labor Organization in Geneva, a post he held for 25 years, during which time he made occasional visits to Iran. He also taught Persian at the University of Geneva.
Most of Jamalzadeh's writing was done during and after World War II. His satiric novel “The Madhouse” (1942) was followed by the novel “The Custodian of the Divan” (1946), a scathing attack on contemporary Iranian values and culture.
Other important works include “The Story of the Water Channel” (1940) and memoirs of his early years in Isfahan, “The Beginning and End of a Web, or the Book of Isfahan” (1955).
Jamalzadeh also translated many literary works from English, German, and French into Persian and wrote a number of historical, sociopolitical, and economic tracts.
Jamalzadeh died in Geneva.