The Iranian Historical Novel of the First Half of the 20th Century: the Genesis and Poetics of the Genre

In this study, the authors examine the emergence of new genres in early 20th century Iranian prose, which had no analogues in the past and still determine the vector of literary development. The works of the founder of Iranian historical novel San‘ati-zadeh Kermani form the source base of the study and clearly illustrate this process. The absence of special works on both the problem of Iranian historical novel genesis and its specific creative embodiments define the scientific novelty of the research. The socio-cultural impulses that gave rise to a radical restructuring of the entire literary system in the Persian language during this period has also remained unnoticed by specialists. The study reveals a correlation between the political renewal of Iranian society and the emergence of a new historical narrative that meets the public demand. The combination of two components in the genesis of Iranian historical novel — national medieval tradition of narrative prose (dastan) and adopted European tradition (historical novels of adventure) is a regional variant of modern formation of Eastern literatures.