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This introductory essay discusses the Eurocentrism of Comparative Literature and argues that as an effect of the structures of the modern humanities, the study of non-European literatures has been mostly consigned to area studies and not literary studies departments at universities. Therefore, despite the efforts to overcome this condition of the field, including the rise of World Literature since the turn of the 21st century, scholarship has reproduced the status quo to the extent that World Literature also remains a largely Eurocentric project. We argue that revisionist efforts have so far operated within the European theoretical space and referred to a limited number of languages. The essays collected in the present issue address this problem and propose diverse solutions for overcoming the Eurocentrism of the discipline.

Critiques of World Literature often come with assumptions that are formed with reference to more central cultures’ conceptualization(s) of the relationship between literature, society and politics. As a result, they almost always neglect, perhaps unwittingly, the pluralities of literature in the world, and the specific and unexpected way(s) translated literature functions in diverse contexts. Focused on the condition of peripherality and engaging literary translation, academic relevance, and political impact, this paper addresses some of the critiques with specific examples from a peripheral context, to argue why the study of World Literature matters, and how it can lead to social and political effects that are not visible from the perspective of central cultures.

This chapter presents a career-oriented and chronological biography of Sadegh Hedayat to historically locate his work and list his literary creations. Since this study makes the case for the necessity of broadening the critical horizon to study the diversity of Hedayat’s creations as a historical development of ideas and genres, this chapter uses the chronological narrative to display how reading his work in light of a few cliched biographical ideas is insufficient for appreciating an intellectual development that is a major clue to understanding Iranian literary modernity. Hedayat did not theorize his ideas and only occasionally reflected on aspects of his work (e.g., on translations or folklore); so, this approach is a step toward a new and theoretical look at his literary career.

This chapter discusses Hedayat’s short fiction. First, his “nationalist trio” has been reviewed, arguing how Hedayat’s nationalism and relationship with the nation changes even at an early stage of his career. Then, his short story collections are examined. His short stories are groundbreaking in that they legitimize the use of common language for literary communication and develop the short story as a genre in modern Persian. The stories focus on sociocultural issues and as such depart from classical poetics and idealistic or moral narratives. They are shaped by ideas of marginality and some are quite radical in engaging progressive subjects: The tribulations of a closeted gay man, the miniature depiction of the contradictory impact of modernity on Iranian intellectuals, the presentation mad characters, the clashes between scientific rationality and religious spirituality, among others. These themes are delivered through subtle formal innovations which are explained in relation to the poetics of peripheral modernity.

This chapter first discusses the reasons why the study of world literature in an academic system that lacks a department of Comparative Literature proper and is dominated by a narrow idea of Persian literary history could be problematic. Then, arguing that contemporary cultural/political issues and the rise of exclusionary nationalism are the legacies of Iranian Eurocentric modernization, the significance of world literature as a corrective discourse in the study of literature and culture is emphasized. The chapter also discusses the status of Sadegh Hedayat in modern Persian literature, the reductive simplification of his works in both national and international reception, and the reasons why it is important to revisit his texts to appreciate his sophisticated formal innovations that respond to his peripheral position in world literature.

Basil Bunting extolled the work of Manuchehri and made versions of four of Manuchehri's poems in five of his own, 1939–49. Little is known about what motivated these translations or how they relate to the Persian source texts because no detailed appraisals of them have appeared to date. A close commentary is provided here on how the content of Bunting's versions compares with that of their sources. Since it has been claimed that Bunting learned techniques from Persian poetry that helped him to refine his own style, the question is also asked what he might have learned from Manuchehri.

This paper examines Coleman Barks' English versions of Rumi to ask how he has rendered the original text and to explain the commercial success of his work in the American market. After describing the reception of Barks' versions and reflecting on the critiques of his work, we examine a translated poem from the Masnavi of Rumi as a sample case. This translation is marked by a transformation of poetic structure and substantial omissions from the source text. These features expose two conceptual tensions that interfere with Barks' work: the erotic content of a spiritual poem and the poem's elitist point of view. In this light we go on to discuss the translatability of literature and culture, challenges to world literature in translation, and the popularity of this version of Rumi in the USA.

Perhaps inspired, more than anything else, by The Blind Owl's famous opening lines, the reception of the novel has so far been dominated by a dark view of the narrative. However, subtle inter-textual links and formal patterns in the narrative could help to read a radically subversive laughter in it which targets the novel's predecessors and readers equally and concurrently. This article engages the aesthetic qualities of the novel and attempts to account for and emphasize the literariness of the text in interpretation. By singling out a few inter-textual links and elaborating upon them in detail, the narrative's parodic laughter, its significance and the way it can change our appreciation of the novel are discussed.

ispartof: Journal of World Literature vol:1 issue:1 pages:8-15 status: published