History of Iranian Literature

Some justification seems to be necessary for the addition of yet another History of Iranian Literature to the number of those already in existence. Such a work must obviously contain as many novel features as possible, so that a short explanation of what my collaborators and I had in mind when planning the book is perhaps not superfluous. In the first place our object was to present a short summary of the material in all its aspects, and secondly to review the subject from the chronological, geo­ graphical and substantial standpoints - all within the compass of a single volume. Such a scheme precludes a formal and complete enumeration of names and phenom­ ena, and renders all the greater the obligation to accord most prominence to matters deemed to be of greatest importance, supplementing these with such figures and forms as will enable an impression to be gained of the period in question - all this is far as possible in the light of the most recent discoveries. A glance at the table of contents will suffice to give an idea of the multifarious approach that has been our aim. We begin at the very first traces of evidence bearing on our subject and continue the narrative up to the present day. Geographically the book embraces Iran and its neighbouring countries, while it should be remarked that Iranian literature in its fullest sense also includes Indo-Persian and Judeo-Persian works.

Avesta. Ancient Persian Inscriptions. Middle Persian Literature.- I. Ancient Eastern-Iranian Culture.- II. The Culture of the Ancient Medes and Persians.- III. The Middle Persian Era.- IV. The Period of Transition to New Persian Literature (The Advance of Islam and the Beginnings of New Persian).- History of Persian literature up to the Beginning of the 20th Century.- I. Introduction.- II. The Beginnings of Persian Literature.- III. The Samanids (Middle of 3rd/9th century to end of 4th/10th).- IV. The Ghaznavid Period (5th/11th century).- V. The Seljuq Period (5th/11th to 6th/12th century).- VI. The Prose of the Seljuq Period (5th–6th/11th–12th century).- VII. ??fism.- VIII. The Mongols.- IX. T?m?r and His Successors.- X. The Safavids.- XI. The Turbulent 12th/l8th Century.- XII. Literary and Associated Species of Prose During the 7th–12th/13th–18th Centuries.- XIII. THE 13th/19th Century.- Persian Literature of the 20th Century.- I. Brief Survey of The Economico-Political Situation in Iran After 1896 355.- II. Character of the Literary Renaissance.- III. Literary Life in the Years 1921–1941.- IV. The Main Literary Trends After 1941.- Persian Learned Literature From Its Beginnings up to the End of the 18th Century.- I. Introduction.- II.Philosophy.- III.Philology.- IV.History and biography.- V.Geography.- VI. The exact sciences.- VII. The natural sciences.- VIII. Medicine and pharmacology.- IX. Encyclopaedias.- Tajik Literature From the 16th Century to the Present.- I. Before the Revolution.- II. After the Revolution.- Iranian Folk-Literature.- I. Introduction.- II. Iranian Folk-Epics.- III. Introduction to Folk-Tales.- IV. Iranian Entertainment Folk-Literature.- V. Written Forms of Folk-Literature.- VI. The Influence of Folk-Literature in Modern Persianand Tajik Literature.- VII. Religious Folk-Literature.- VIII. Dramatic Folk-Literature in Iran.- IX. Verse Forms of Folk-Literature.- X. Riddles and Proverbs.- XI. Conclusion.- Persian Literature in India.- An Outline of Judeo-Persian Literature.- Survey of Dynasties.- Selected Bibliography.- Addenda.