Revolutionary Posturing

Iranian Writers and the Iranian Revolution of 1979

Bibliographic Data

ID8967214
AuthorsAhmad Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad Karimi‐hakkak (University of Washington, corresponding author)
Year1991
Volume23
Issue4
Pages507-531
Publication date1991-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020743800023394
OpenAlexW1989602665
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited1

During those eventful days of early January 1979, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran had finally announced his intention to leave the country and the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini had made his return from exile contingent on the shah's departure, a hemistitch by Hafez, the 14th-century Persian poet, suddenly appeared next to an array of revolutionary slogans on display in the streets of Tehran: “Div cho birun ravad fereshteh dar āyad” (When the demon departs, the angel shall arrive). The basic binary oppositions of demon/angel and departure/arrival fit the realities of the situation the country had found itself in; a perfect correspondence had been made between the simple, single idea enshrined in the abstract language of a medieval poetic phrase and the intricate political posturing involved in a modern-day revolution in the making. Furthermore, the stark discourse of antagonism underlying the opposition had become as absolute, as uncompromising as the idea of a total revolution

Art · Demon · Linguistics · Literature · Opposition (politics · Persian · Phrase · Poetry · Political science · Politics · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy

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