ANTISEMITISM

Sadeq Hedayat ....

Is, was, and indeed will be an icon in Persian (Iranian) Modern Literature ..... !

P.S. Regardless of these silly crtiques - Period :) !

Moustache

The whole discussion on it is ridiculous to an extreme. Who cares what kind of facial hair one wears?

I am no Islamist at all. But in 1980s I lived in LA. I used to have a busy beard. The Iranians there automatically assumed I was a "hizbollahi". It got so bad I finally shaved it off! People make assumptions that are often wrong.

It is best to judge a person by their heart not their facial hair. I said before and will say again: it is your heart that matters. An antisemite does not become so due to hair on their face. There were plenty of Nazi without any facial hair.

Mamnun

Jenâb âqâye Majid Nafisi

Mamnun az bâbat-e matlab-e tahqiqi-e vazin va âhangin va besyâr arzeshmandetân va negâresh-e shivâyetân dar bâreye Sâdeq Hedâyat. 

Dr Shodja Eddin Ziaian

.....

S.Hedayat was very much inspired by Franz kafka a well known Jewish writer .....how someone can came out with such analyse that because of a moustache he was antisemit ?!!! weird

on aura tout vu !!!

...

How aboute Ben Cyber-Chatter?

What Blake is trying to do in there is refered to, in 101 English Iit, as 'the Utopian Moment'.

In respect to Ben Hedayat, it seems his utopian moment was mainly a nostalgia with the glory of the past. Except for a brief period which he actually had some hopes  for the people's struggle in Iran, this brief period gives us Haj Agha, (a masterpiece of modern narration, a most refined synthesis of argot and literary narraive). All this ended with his disillusion with the "Left" of that time, ultimately leaving Iran and living in Paris under very hard conditions. Towards the end he mentions financial difficulties and such, in correspondence with a friend. We never knew what we had, until it was gone. Tis Sat there's going to be a memorial by his stone in Paris. Iranians all over, within and without,  shall commemorate his life. After sixty years of his transition, he is very much present.

Hedayat Presente!

Out of here for a few days, cheerio

MG

Why Ben Hakin? You could call me Hashim :-)

Got you! Thanks.

...

ben hakim, it relates to Iran as you use your imagination, your poetic imagination that is. Follow the leads from SK. Hint: tis not the time of crusaders but the Satanic Mills. A touch of Blake or Billy Bragg would help, cheero

Soosan Khanoom

Thanks for the interpretation. I tend to agree. Here are some of my reasons:

• I will not cease from "Mental Fights". This indicates a "mental" battle which could be between him and his own bad thought "Ako Mana".
• The other one is In England's green and pleasant land. He is not talking about conquest of the real "Jerusalem". Rather to build "it" in England or wherever he is.

So yes very well done analysis from you. I am impressed!

VPK

More Hitler followers

Based on Mr Naficy's criterion for Hitlerian tendencies there are many more candidates to fit the bill. Among them are:

//shur-angiz.blogfa.com/post-127.aspx

Ali Akbar Davar  

//farshidh.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post.html

 and

Ahmad Ghavam

//www.daneshju.ir/forum/f494/t39768.html

New Jerusalem / VPK/ MG

This poem may read like a Christian exhortation to holy war Where Blake promises not to let his sword sleep until he has built Jerusalem in England........ it sounds a lot like he's talking about killing people in the name of God.   

But it is NOT .......

This poem is actually an excerpt from the preface to one of Blake's book, 'Milton'. 

Jerusalem is the symbol of utopia where man is freed from the chains of commerce, British imperialism, and war.......... 

now how is it related to Sadegh Hedayat? ....... Well ...... I let MG explain it !

Sharbe Sorkh

• How is your cat "Pedar Sag"? Would you please enlighten me? If so was the Sag also an Aryan. Was the mother Gorbeh or what. You are giving me a headache!
• The reason people has Hitler Mustache in Iran is this. When I was a kid they used to say "Do Charkhe Sibile Babat Micharkhe". Because of this many Baba's decided to have Hitler Sibil in order to deal with the situation.

You see when a Hitler mustache rotates it keeps its shape. A "banagoosh darrafteh" sibil on the other hand appears weird when "charkhidan".

Racism

I just wrote this blog to explore the issue. Please read and post your points:

//iranian.com/main/blog/veiled-prophet-kh...

سبیل مرحوم

سبیل مرحوم هیتلر

ما هم یک گربه در محل داریم که پدر سوخته سبیل هیتلری..دو لبه گذاشته است و به حتم.. قصد مجدد تصرف سرحدات پاریس را دارد.همینطور خبر دار شدیم که پدر سگ بنا بر دشمنی با اعراب گذاشته و خودش را آریایی حساب می‌کند.عکساش را اینجا می‌گذاریم تا حضرات مکرم بشناسند دشمنان ایران زمین را !

//wtfhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cat-with-moustache-white.jpg

خداوند را صد در میلیون شکر که اگر هیچ نداریم..روشنفکر و روشن ذهن فراوان داریم،هر روز عقاید و نظرات جالب میخوانیم ما از این هم میهنان، مونثین الحرمین اینها هر روز میبایستی خرمن خرمن اسپند برای ایشان دود نمایند ..بلکه چشم نخورند و در امان ۲ دنیا به زندگی‌ خود بپردازند. 

جمعش کنید این بساط را که مایه خنده است و بی‌ آبرویی.

MG

It is a very beautiful song. As much as it has absolutely nothing to do with Iran :-) Rather violent and sort of crusader like. I just imagine "Christian Soldiers" marching to this to conquer Jerusalem for God; King and Country :-}>

Here is my favorite version:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoxHGxQw9ws&feature...

Greg Lake has an amazing voice. There are many versions of this. You pick your favorite one !!

...

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my charriot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

 //www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji_2Stu98-I

ahosseini Jan

Why a dream to build Jerusalem and not Balk? My dream is to rebuild Balk and bring the three great cities to former glory. Samargand; Balk and Bokhara. Now being left in various degrees of neglect.

Jerusalem is doing fine and Israel is taking good care of it. We should put our own house in order. Afghanistan is suffering badly and you worry about Jerusalem? Tajikistan is badly in need of investment. To its credit AN is actually doing something. What do I care about a fight between Palestine and Israel. I rather put our minds to Iran. Our Kurdish brothers and sisters are living in poverty. They should be where our help goes.

Jeesh Daram

Well said my friend and I agree. Now I put on my asbestos suit for all the insults to come form the usual group.

Just to be clear. I am opposed to Hitler's treatment of Jews. I oppose their murder without reservation.

However a German victory would have meant Reza Shah stayed in power. He would have been able to finish his work and modernize Iran. Without interference from either Soviets or English. No 1953 coup; no Ayatollah; who knows where things would be.

Most likely Iran would have recovered *all* lost territory to Soviets and English. It would be a different world now. Without the Islam BS that got shoved in our minds.

Sadeg Hedayat is and will always be one of the "Bozorgan" of Iran. He did far more for our literature than any of his detractors. Yes it is "mod" for some to attack great people. Because they are so small they think attacking a great makes them big. It won't work. 

Greatness does not come by tearing down a great man. It comes by making achievements. Just like Bazargan did not become great by tearing down Shah or Bakhtiar. He was and will always be a follower: of Mossadegh and then of Khomeini. 

یاد بیدار صادق هدایت

یاد بیدار صادق هدایت

شنبه،
نهم آوریل 2011، ساعت 15در شصتمین سالروز مرگ صادق هدایت، نویسنده بزرگ
ایران، برای بزرگداشت یاد بیدار او بر مزارش گرد هم می آییم.

دوستداران هدایت

Samedi, le 9 avril 2011, à 15h00

75020 Paris - Métro Gambetta

To my fans

"I write only for my shadow which is cast on the wall in front of the light. I must introduce myself to it." 
—  Sadeg Hedayat

 : ) 

اگر هدایت عاشق هیتلر بود نوش جونش

Dear Mash Ghasem

Thank you for your super generous comment. I don't know much, I just had a copy of the book and I thought of sharing with others.

Dear ahosseini

it be a surprise that some Iranians are anti Arab? 

Please see the bold words "some Iranians". I did not say me or MG. Now is that more clear? I see a lot of people have a knee jerk reaction to posts. They do not read the whole thing just a part of it and go off. This is not the way to have a debate.

Dear VPK

Iwould love to hear you are not. But the list beow says otherwise. I take it as you don't hold these views any more. 

it be a surprise that some Iranians are anti Arab? 

• Arabs attacked and sacked Iran taking all they found 1400 years ago.
• Arabs repeated it in 1980 but did not pull it off.
• Arabs tried to destroy our culture and language.
• Arabs burned our book and our history.
• Arabs murdered great Iranian heroes like Babak and Mazyar.
• Arabs to this day put claim to Persian Gulf.
• Arabs brought the most barbaric cult of Islam to Iran.
• Arabs took many Iranians into slavery.
• Arabs in general hate Iranian people.
• Arabs called us Ajam as a racist name.

I wonder if any of that may just have something to do with it. Now their buddies want to trash Hedayat. Is this a surprise; not to me.

Or in the case of Mash Ghsem, it is no good coming with excuses that, at one stage, Hedayat was not a racist while he openly talked about "bartari nejadi" Nejad Ariaei.Don't get me wrong, one of the greatest thing about this website is that the likes of VPK, JJ, Mash Ghasem, ahosseini have sensible discussions and eventually, come up with a resolution that is accepted by everyone. Please don't take it as if anyone is condemning anyone. Otherwise people go back to their original ideas just for the sake of saving face.We must not take that attitude. Otherwise we turn against each other, the supporters of IR will be the real winners.For example look at how some friends completely abandoned their initial ideas.  That is the beauty of this website. 

ahosseini

I hope I am wrong but the way you misinterpret MG & I is amazing. Do you and some others understand English or Farsi? Are you able to read? When did either MG or me defined "Aryan" anything.

Who said anything about a pure race except for you? Who said anything about Aryan except a few anti Nationalists? The whole discussion between MG and I is about "whether Hedayat was a racists".

Then you turn around; accuse him and I of "nejad parasti". Just because we are debating whether Hedayat had such beliefs. So we are not even supposed to talk about it anymore?

Did you not see my multiple posts defending Iranian Arabs. Did you not see how MG opposes racism. By God it is a waste of time talking to some of you. I suggest you brush up on your English comprehension. Or at least read the posts.

Mash Ghasem, VPK and some others

“تاریخ و سرگذشت مردان نامی ایران مانند ابومسلم خراسانی و افشین و بابک و مازیار و غیره که هر یک جداگانه داستان دلچسب و فصل مهمی از تاریخ ایران است از رشادت و استقامت و زیرکی و کاردانی ایرانیان تا دو قرن پس از استیلای عرب حکایت می ‌کند و نشان می ‌دهد که هنوز ایرانیان برای استقلال خویش می‌ کوشیدند و فر و شکوه دوره ‌ی ساسانی و برتری نژادی و فکری خود را به کلی فراموش نکرده بودند. نوشتن این داستان ها و روشن کردن این فصل از تاریخ زنده ایران از اهم واجبات است.”

I hope I am wrong, but I feel, in a way, you guys are openly defending "batari nejadi" . you really amaze me. What is so special about Arian race which is nonexistence today. The so called pure race has gone. The country has been invaded by Greeks, Mongols, Turks, Arabs, Indians, ... and the so called pure race has turned into a truly mixed race. I am afraid your so called Arian race does not even exist any more. If you want to find them, you might find a few in the remote mountains of Afghanistan. You would be surprised, but the main investor in this anti Tazi ideology are the right wing Saudi's and extreme right inUSA, Europe and Israel. The reason is that, just like Ahmadi, they like war situations. War situation bring prosperity for these people. you take the war language away from any of these people you take their politics, their business(arm industry, media, drug, ..) away from them. Believe me they will not survive for one month if you take the language of war away from these people and they are very powerful too. My dear friends, with this kind of language we are paving the way for a fascist government in Iran. It is a very dangerous line to take and with these kind of ideas, we will see bombing campaign in Bloochestan, Kurdistan,Azarbayejan, inKhosetan, ....

What is wrong with equalty,respect and peace that we chose war and hatred? Do you really think those backward rulers in the Arab countries, treated their own people better than Iranian people. A few years back, I was teaching in one of the Unis in Dubai. I noticed, one of my brilliant female students sitting depressed in a corner, not taking part in class discussions. I went to her and asked her why she was so upset. She said, my father (who was a very backward religious mulla) is forcing me to marry a man in his fifties, because, the girl(about 20) had passed the age of marriage and brought shame to the family. The man had three wives and kept boasting about making favours to the family by marrying her. This is Dubai in 21st century. Don't think the rulers in Dubai and other states don't know what they are doing. Just like in Iran, it is so convenient to suppress half of the population in this way. eliminate one half and you will have the other 50% to deal with. During the enrolment we were not allowed, even to consider an application, before we we received a permission letter from the fathers or the husband. Of course we are proud of our historical achievements, but it is wrong to dwell in historical past. Someone was telling me how great life under Sasanian, ...and Pahlavi was and how sensible Reza Pahlav's political views are. I responded by saying, let's assume what you are saying is correct, take all the positive points, and hold Reza Pahlavi accountable to what he is saying. To start with ask him to create a membership website just like iranian.com for his trusted members and ask him to allow his loyal supporters to have some say in shaping the future politics of the country. If he allows that come back to me and ask me to join you supporting Reza Pahlavi. I certainly have my doubts, he would agree to that. Please prove me wrong.

 Azarin aziz, let's seperate a beutiful piece of literature from its social and political message. Khamenahei is brilliant in the way he expresses himelf, but talak absolute ... at all times. I would like to be able to talk in the way he does. Hitler's propaganda minister, Goebells was also amazing in making speeches.  

When Libis of Israel attacked Gaza, I wrote a long letter to Obama in response to Obama's speech and references he made to Martin Luther King.

Now I have a big dream

Now I have a big dream

That together as a team

Hands in hands in unity

Build the Jerusalem city

For both the Jews and gentile

In good fashion and style

Then we create a file

A file as big as a mile

For current differences

And future references

That war will be history

And just a big story

Please read my letter to Obama

Divaneh

Bravo. Divaneh, divanateem...lol

...

Prof. Majnon aziz

Tis reply to you, is more of a student (me) to teacher (you), and that's not the usual taarof erroni. Your care for details, vast imagination, and a respectable output, is one of the reasons I come back to this page. In respect to Hedayat, you make a very nuanced case :"... he does not express a high opinion about the Iranians of his time,"  concur. Cheers

Dear Mash Ghasem

The insertion that has been chosen from the introduction written by Hedayat and Minovi, and that you have reflected in your comment is an statement of the Iranians view at the time of the play. We know Iranians in those times looked down on Arab nomads and thought of themselves as a better race. This statement simply means that two hundred years after the Arab invasion, Iranians still remembered their days of glory and that they were superior to Arabs.

Now, Hedayat and Minovi may have believed in that superiority too but it does not mean that Hedayat saw the Iranians of his own time as superior in any way. In fact what we learn from his writings is completely opposite and he does not express a high opinion about the Iranians of his time.

Please also note that whilst Hedayat had a low opinion of Arabs and Jewish people, there is no mention of the height, complexions, or any other physical attribute in his books. There is nothing about the race. He just rejects their culture and views it as inferior to the Iranian culture at the time where these two cultures clashed. 

Mash Ghasem Jan

The Farsi font looks good on Windows and Mac but sucks on Linux. It does not "connect" the letters. They come out as individual letters. I guess I have to use Windows to write Farsi.

I have a play by the famous Iranian painter Rassam Arjangi. It is falling apart. I got permission from his family to publish it. However I have to type it all in Farsi. So I am getting a machine set up to do that. I want to get a machine dedicated to Farsi only. It will take a bit of time but once I have it then I am all set. I will be able to type Farsi to my heart's content. I also got a hold of Pahlavi fonts from some guy. I intend to get that installed also. Pahlavi is a tough script since it is ambiguous. 

I got a ton of work to do. Plus my day job! 

...

I didn't know him personally either, but I grew up with his works.

He was probably the most sensitive writer of his time, a vegetarain, homosexual, reading French. Imagine how he must have felt living amongst all those Haj Agha aholes surrounding him. He says every single job he ever had all his managers and bosses were scared shitless of him. They didn't know what to make of him, an obviouse case of stupid little petty-bureaucats working with a agenuis, and they were so elated once he changed jobs or quite. 

I remember back in highschool for the finals we used to study late at night, before the exam,outside, and one of those night we read this story from Hedayat, about an ancient prince coming back to life from death, looking for his wife. Needless to say it scared the bejesus out our young arses and we all went home. Granted growing up with some books, doesn't make you an scholar of them, just somewhat familiar.

On the critical side of things, modern Iranian litreature would not have been possible without Hedayat. At the same time he has displayed some limitaions in some periods which should not be overlooked. That's all.

Your farsi font looks juss fine, start writing man. Apply yourself, son.