What is it about?
Since the early days of establishing the first modern institutions for studying Persian literature, such as the Central College of Teachers (later called Higher College) in 1917 and the University of Tehran in 1934, early modern and modern poetry have had a minimal share of the curricula. Over nine decades, conservative canonization movements led by the authorities of the field and their critical approach toward the notion of literary change have significantly overshadowed the Persian literature curriculum in Iranian universities. Academic critics of modern Persian poetry claim that, because of their anti-traditional nature and aesthetic immaturity, many modern works could potentially be dangerous to readers 'literary taste and, eventually, the sacred cultural heritage. However, some may argue that inculcating "good taste" is a tactic used to push a specific dominant taste and remove the political aspect of literary research. This paper will argue that protecting good taste supports Orientalist traditionalism in turning Persian literature into an archival object that must be preserved rather than developed. I will examine how conservative academics from various generations have attempted to remove modern poetry from the Persian Literature curricula from the 1930s to today.
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Why is it important?
As the first step of more in-depth research, this chapter attempts to formulate the politics of exclusion in the process of canonization and the conflict of "good" and "bad" literary works as ethical, aesthetic, and political matters.
Perspectives
This chapter aims to go beyond the typical academic arguments and engagement with existing literature in the field. It seeks to incorporate the author's personal experiences as a student and academic in the field of Persian literary studies both within and outside of Iran.
Farshad Sonboldel
University of California San Diego
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Good Taste: Politics of Excluding Modern and Contemporary Literary Works from the Persian Literature Curricula, July 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004513129_020.
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