Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran (Guest Editor)
This paper examines certain propositions in the works of Mirza Fath-Ali Akhundzadeh and Mirza Agha Khan Kermani that open vistas or windows between contemporary Iranian literature and modern world literature. The objective is not to frame Akhundzadeh, Kermani, or other intellectuals of the Constitutional Era as pioneers of Comparative Literature in Iran—as the concept of “Comparative Literature” in its modern sense was non-existent during their time—but rather to highlight the interactive nature of Comparative Literature in relation to the discursive landscape of the Iranian Constitutional period. In other words, this study aims to draw the attention of scholars of comparative literary studies to an inherent characteristic of the field that resonates with the specific social and epistemological conditions of the Constitutional Era. This characteristic can be succinctly defined as the desire for dialogue and engagement with the Other: dialogic centrality. Here, “the Other” refers to the developed world that contemporary Iranians discovered in the “Abbas Mirza moment,” and from that moment onward, constantly measured themselves against it or viewed themselves through its mirror. This process of self-assessment against the Other is not limited to politics, economics, or military science; rather, it encompasses all dimensions of human existence, ranging from culture and literature to history and beyond. The references made by Akhundzadeh and Kermani to modern world literature are manifestations of this profound Constitutional-era yearning to know, discover, and engage in dialogue with the Other.
