The Tenets of Early Critical Writings on Fiction in Iran

From the first commentaries of Akhundzadeh to Jamalzadeh’s introduction to Yeki Bud YekiNabud, i.e., over a period of almost fifty years, we can see a collection of a few scattered commentaries on story and novel which are rarely noticed by researchers. These scattered commentaries can be regarded as the first literary manifests of story and novel. These critiques and commentaries include subject matters that can be regarded as commonalities of writers and critics of the contemporary era. Moralism, realism and usefulness of novels are three common features of such commentaries. Historical conditions and social developments in the constitutional era provided an atmosphere that only allowed committed literature to survive. The first novels as well as theories and critiques associated with them were written in such circumstances and purposefulness of stories and novels was inevitably prioritized. Thus, in the present study, attempts are made to investigate the theoretical foundations of the first story and novel critiques in Iran from the historical point of view and show how these critiques paved the path for development of realism and realist literature in Iran.Therefore, the points addressed in this study can be regarded as an introduction to committed fiction in Iran.Keywords: story, novel, critique, theory, realism