Examining the Opinions and Thoughts of Simin Behbahani about Iran's Literary Past

Introduction

The confrontation between tradition and innovation in contemporary times caused severe friction between traditionalists and modernists. These confrontations, which were somewhat natural and inevitably existed throughout history, contain benefits and harms that need to be analyzed with the passage of time and the fading of those years. Reviewing those opinions can in turn shed light on our literature in general and literary criticism in particular. Criticisms and opinions of traditionalists and modernists were sometimes mixed with extreme prejudices and unnecessary rejections and denials and sometimes had signs of reality. In any case, the reviews and comments of contemporary poets about ancient literature have always been worth studying. Some tried to destroy Iran's past literature to highlight their innovations, and on the other hand, poets who were fond of classical literature tried to deny new poetic innovations - such as Nima's poetry. Among these two spectrums, there were poets who were both attached to tradition and striving for innovation. In the meantime, it is important to find people who have judged literary works regardless of unnecessary prejudices, which can be a model for fair, scientific criticism and free from false factions in the contemporary era. Simin Behbahani is one of these people who, in addition to being proficient in the field of poetry writing in various formats (especially in the field of ghazal, she has been given the title of “Ghazal’s Nima” (Haqshenas, 1991: 153)), is one of the poets whose opinions and thoughts about classical poetry contain valuable and important points which can be used as a model in the practical criticism of poetry. Based on this, considering the importance of the topic, the main issue of the current research is to investigate Simin's views on Iran's literary past. For this purpose, Simin Behbahani's books, interviews, notes, and conversations have been examined and analyzed in order to present and explain her arguments, opinions, and thoughts about classical poetry.
 

Literature Review

As far as the author has searched, there has been no research evaluating Simin Behbahani's view of Iran's literary past. In some books, references have been made to Simin's critical personage. Ahmad Abu Mahboob (2008) discussed this feature in the book Green Maple Cradle, but he did not investigate her opinions about Iranian classical poetry. Kamyar Abedi (2000) made a brief reference to Simin's literary reflections in his book Singing Ghazal. He also mentioned the power of Simin's analysis in the book Simin Behbahani, Poet and Civil Struggler (2018), which is a rewrite and a new edition of the book Singing Ghazal in which he mainly pays attention to Simin's opinions about contemporary poets. In Simin's festschrift titled A Woman with a Flower Skirt (2004), some notes briefly mention Simin's knowledge and literary studies. Reviewing the articles shows that most of the published articles have been written about the form and content of her poetry, and they are not in line with the topic under discussion. Only in one or two articles are there references to the discussion we are looking for: In the article “The Contexts and Signs of Simin Behbahani's Familiarity with Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and How She was Influenced by It”, Ghodratollah Zarouni (2023) investigates Simin's familiarity with the Shahnameh and its influence on her. In the article “Poetics Conceptions of Forough Farrokhzad and Simin Behbahani; Textual and Metatextual”, Parsa Yaqoubi et al. (2019), have investigated the opinions of Forough Farrokhzad and Simin Behbahani about what poetry is, who is a poet, etc; but they have not engaged with the subject we are discussing. In general, none of the published works have investigated and classified her views on Iran's literary past.

Methodology

In this research, with an analytical-critical approach, an attempt has been made to examine and analyze the opinions and thoughts of Simin Behbahani about Iran's literary past. To achieve this goal, discussions, notes, and works related to this issue have been studied and the desired samples extracted, examined, and analyzed.
 

Discussion

In the current research, an attempt has been made to extract, categorize, and analyze Simin Behbahani’s views on the literary past of Iran by examining all available sources about her. Simin Behbahani is one of the prominent and innovative poets of contemporary times who, unlike some contemporary poets who considered classical literature an obstacle to their innovations and tried to destroy it with their opinions, did not consider tradition and classical literature to be an obstacle to innovation. She believed that disconnecting contemporary poets from the traditions and literary past of Iran is ignoring the linguistic, cultural, and literary capacities of the past, and without those supports and roots, no poet can create a lasting work. Due to living in a scientific and cultural atmosphere and the special conditions of her life, which were discussed in the introduction of the article, Simin knew the past literature of Iran well and was familiar with the opinions and views of prominent contemporary researchers and writers. For this reason, her opinions and views were the result of a mature and cultured mentality that was mixed with poetic taste and talent. The value of Simin's opinions about classical poetry shows itself more when it becomes clear that these opinions and viewpoints are the result of deep reading of classical texts and reflection on them, not just opinions based on prejudice and glimpses without support. It is true that Simin's interpretations and criticisms also take on a tasteful color in some cases, but these analyses originated from a matured taste whose interpretations are based on the atmosphere that governs the works. Simin's criticisms and analyses of classical works sometimes take into consideration the stylistic aspects of other periods of Persian literature, which is very valuable in its own way and shows the scope of Simin's studies in Persian literature in general.
 

Conclusion

In general, Simin's view of Iran's literary past is moderate and accompanied by praise and respect. She always praises Iran's literary heroes and their works and points out the need to connect with the literature of the past and make use of it. Along with these praises, she also lists some issues that hinder innovation, including the need to use a new meter and express the political and social issues of the poet's time, something that, in Simin's opinion, has not been paid much attention to in some past periods. Since Simin came from the heart of the poetry institution and the community of poets, her opinions and evaluations can be useful both for the academic community and a light for contemporary young poets, because she is one of the pioneers in the field of transformation in modern sonnet who still has many followers. In the end, Simin, whether in the field of criticism and opinion or the field of poetry and creativity, has almost never separated from the tradition, and at the same time, she has not remained in the tradition; rather, based on it, she has built her theories and achieved innovation in the field of poetry.