Modernity, Enmity & Infatuation with Sa`di

First Name: 
Kourosh
Last Name: 
Kamali Sarvestani
Institutional Affiliation : 
Fars Encyclopaedia
Academic Bio: 
I am the founder & director of Fars Encyclopedia & the Fars Studies Foundation in Shiraz, Iran, & also one of the Board of Directors & the faculty of Hafez University there. I hold a B.A (1994) & an M.A (1999) in Persian Literature from Shiraz; most of my research has focused on the history, literature & archaeology of Fars region. Some of my Publications include: A Glance at Fars (1998), Love Poems of Sadi (1988), Shiraz Historical Gardens (2007), Shiraz Historical Mosques (2007), Encyclopedia of Fars Historical Monuments (2007). I was also a membeer of the editorial board of Persian Gulf: Atlas Of Old & Historical Maps (3000 B.C- 2000A.D) & the editor-in- chief of Sadi Shenasi ( Sadi Studies), twelve volumes of collected articles on the Persian Poet.

Abstract:
 
 
Creating everlasting masterpieces as Golestan, Boostan & collections of sonnets, odes, elegies, & sketches, in the seventh century Hijri (13th A.C), Sa`di, the great Iranian poet, has enjoyed a position which-- many believe—divides the  literary history of Iran into two phases: Pre – Sa`dian and Post – Sa`dian.
Sa`di composed his Golestan, based on a realistic & innovative vision, 50 years before Petrarch and Boccaccio wrote their famous Renaissance works . It soon enjoyed a prominent position in Persian literature, and—from the 17th c. CE on—in Europe, where numerous translations of it were published. It was selected as a textbook in the traditional Iranian schools and was taught there alongside the Holy Quran.
However, new social developments during the Qajar era, as well as the Constitutional revolution and  its consequences, generated a kind of enmity towards Sa`di in the works of writers like Mirza Fathali Akhondzdeh, Mirza Agha Khan Kermani, Ahmad Kasravi, Ali Dashti, Taqi Rafat, as well as among poets like Nima and Ahmad Shamlou. Thinkers like Ali Shariati, and some communist theorists, who found issue with some of the doctrines presented in Golestan, continued this trend, which was dominant in Iran  at least up to the new age, ushered by the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Although the intellectual community is not yet completely free from this trend, an assessment of current studies reveals that during the recent decade modern poets & writers like Hooshang Golshiri, Hooshang Ebtehaj, Hossein Monzavi, Mahmoud Doulatabadi, Ezattollah Fooladvand, Zia Movahed & historians like Abbas Milani, Abbas Amanat, Homayoun Katozian,& many others have taken a new approach to Sa`di  and his works.
This essay  analyzes the trend of enmity toward Sa`di, and the infatuation with him in Iran during the last one hundred years 

Academic Discipline : 
I am the founder & director of Fars Encyclopedia & the Fars Studies Foundation in Shiraz, Iran, & also one of the Board of Directors & the faculty of Hafez University there. I hold a B.A (1994) & an M.A (1999) in Persian Literature from Shiraz; most of my research has focused on the history, literary & archaeology of Fars region. Some of my Publishing includes: A Glance at Fars (1998), Love Poems of Sadi (1988), Shiraz Historical Gardens (2007), Shiraz Historical Mosques (2007), Encyclopedia of Fars Historical Monuments (2007)… Also I was one of the editorial boards of Persian Gulf: Atlas Of Old & Historical Maps (3000 B.C- 2000A.D) & the editor-in- chief of Sadi Shenasi ( Sadi Studies), twelve volumes of collected articles on Persian Poet. I am the founder & director of Fars Encyclopedia & the Fars Studies Foundation in Shiraz, Iran, & also one of the Board of Directors & the faculty of Hafez University there. I hold a B.A (1994) & an M.A (1999) in Persian Literature from Shiraz; most of my research has focused on the history, literary & archaeology of Fars region. Some of my Publishing includes: A Glance at Fars (1998), Love Poems of Sadi (1988), Shiraz Historical Gardens (2007), Shiraz Historical Mosques (2007), Encyclopedia of Fars Historical Monuments (2007)… Also I was one of the editorial boards of Persian Gulf: Atlas Of Old & Historical Maps (3000 B.C- 2000A.D) & the editor-in- chief of Sadi Shenasi ( Sadi Studies), twelve volumes of collected articles on Persian Poet. I am the founder & director of Fars Encyclopedia & the Fars Studies Foundation in Shiraz, Iran, & also one of the Board of Directors & the faculty of Hafez University there. I hold a B.A (1994) & an M.A (1999) in Persian Literature from Shiraz; most of my research has focused on the history, literary & archaeology of Fars region. Some of my Publishing includes: A Glance at Fars (1998), Love Poems of Sadi (1988), Shiraz Historical Gardens (2007), Shiraz Historical Mosques (2007), Encyclopedia of Fars Historical Monuments (2007)… Also I was one of the editorial boards of Persian Gulf: Atlas Of Old & Historical Maps (3000 B.C- 2000A.D) & the editor-in- chief of Sadi Shenasi ( Sadi Studies), twelve volumes of collected articles on Persian Poet. M.A in Persian Literature
Time Period : 
10th-15th

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