Contemporary Persian Poetry as History: On the Simultaneity of the Allegorical Construction of Nation and Individual Subjectivity in Early 20th Century Iranian Poetry

The ways through which literary texts can be read against their historical backgrounds have been the subject of several controversies since the beginning of the 20th century. This article, by focusing on the particular case of contemporary Persian poetry in the first half of the 20th century, aims at demonstrating the way historical processes are internally inscribed in the formal totality of the work and hence, not standing as external phenomena in relation to the text. Thus, by emphasizing the form and representational characteristics, this study offers readings of early 20th century Persian poetry in Iran and attempts to give an explanation of a double-faced phenomenon: The allegorical construction of the ‘nation’ on the one hand, and the representation of the individual subjectivity on the other. To approach this particular historical subject matter, this article focuses on the centrality of ‘the homeland’ in this specific literary discourse, and the particular manner in which it is being ‘concretized’ by establishing relations with various sign networks, alongside the change in ‘the real’ upon which individuals’ subjectivities are constructed.