What is it about?
This article looks at the emergence of "literary history" as a modern genre in Persian and Urdu in the twentieth century. It shows how literary historians engaged with a premodern literary tradition (tazkirah) in the making of this modern genre, and how the process reveals changes in understanding of history as well as sexuality.
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Why is it important?
This article brings developments in Persian and Urdu together. Rather than simply offering a comparative view, it shows how the two were intimately connected and influenced each other. Additionally, it complicates our understanding of the relationship between the premodern and modernity.
Perspectives
I hope this article will provoke Iranian Studies scholars to further engage with South Asia, and with Urdu literature, even when studying developments in Iran.
Alexander Jabbari
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Making of Modernity in Persianate Literary History, Comparative Studies of South Asia Africa and the Middle East, January 2016, Duke University Press,
DOI: 10.1215/1089201x-3698971.
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