Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی
Authors
1 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Saveh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Saveh, Iran.
2 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Saveh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Saveh, Iran
3 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran.
Abstract
The novel includes the events of many eventful periods of Iran's contemporary history, which are reported with the focus of Tuba's life. The events of the novel take place in the context of political developments from the threshold of the constitutional movement to the last decades of Pahlavi II's rule and the height of
violent struggles. During it, Parsipour depicts the life of several generations, centered on the life of Tuba. From this perspective, the novel Tuba and the meaning of the night is the story of the life and inner conflicts of the Iranian man, who, in addition to living in the context of political and social conflicts, is involved in the turmoil and psychological conflicts arising from the wave of modernity within himself. Study method: This article has been prepared in an analytical-descriptive method, using library resources and using scientifically valid sources. Findings: The findings of the research confirm that the confrontation between tradition and modernity has been going on from the threshold of constitutionalism to the occurrence of the revolution in various fields of Iranian society. In addition to politics and governance, this confrontation has transformed family and social relations. Conclusion: The results of this research show that at any point in time from the constitutional era to this point, on the one hand, we can witness the progress of modernity in the individual, social, and political spheres, and on the other hand, the resistance of traditional standards and standards against the relentless wave of modernity.
Highlights
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Touba and the Meaning of Night is the most well-known novel written by Shahrnoush Parsipour, published in 1367. The novel includes the events of several critical periods of Iran's contemporary history, focusing on the life of Touba, the daughter of one of the famous scholars and philosophers during Mozafar Al-Din Shah era. The events mentioned in this novel pertain to some political developments during the periods from the rise of the Constitutional Movement to the late Pahlavi II's rule and the height of violent guerrilla campaigns. Parsipour depicts the life of several generations, focusing on the life of Touba. This novel can be studied and analyzed in different terms. In this research, Touba and the Meaning of Night is examined in terms of the dichotomy between tradition and modernity. This dichotomy does occur in society and social relations as well as in psychological attributes reflected in the characters. In this view, Touba and the Meaning of Night is the story of the life and mental struggles involving an Iranian man who has been living in the context of political and social conflicts, while dealing with psychological turmoil and mental dichotomies.
Discussion
It seems that Shahrenoush Parsipour aims to draw on practical manifestations of new civilization reflected in events that occurred following Russian-Iranian War I, recreating them in the form of a shocking event on an individual scale. Like Russian-Iranian War I, which forced Iran to an anxious awakening, in the novel, the whip by a British official on the head and face of Haj Adib, a respected scholar who was immersed in philosophical reflections, led to his anxious awakening, indicating a move from Tradition to Modernity.
At the beginning of the story, the writer opens a window in front of the eyes of readers by describing the life of Haj Adib as a representative of the scientific and religious tradition dealing with the manifestations of the new civilization. Thus, the writer exemplifies how knowledge, thought, and new customs destroy tradition and its manifestations; and lead to intellectuals' anxiety. At the same time, Parsipour points to the inevitable link between the manifestations of modernity and colonialism, symbolized by the British man, led to a complex period in the history of the Iranian people. It seems that the author considers science, technology and colonialism implicitly through a focus on the new civilization in Touba and the Meaning of the Night.
Three different approaches can be distinguished in the traditionalists' views on modernity in the studied novel: resistance against modernity, acceptance of modernity and confusion in the face of modernity. These three approaches are represented by characters of the story. Due to his class origin, Fereydoun Mirza, the Qajar prince, defends the status quo and aristocratic traditions and opposes any new idea and phenomenon. Haj Adib and Mirza Kazem can be considered as the representatives of two groups of people who have been exposed to modernity; each of them has accepted minimal manifestations of modernity in terms of different motivations and interests. Touba represents those who are perplexed and bewildered by the wave of modernity and are looking for a way to mysticism and the world of meaning to get rid of anxiety.
Touba and the Meaning of Night depicts some critical events in the history and society of Iran, which can be interpreted as a period of transition from Tradition to Modernity. In this framework, although it is possible to see the continuity of educational standards and intergenerational values in some cases, there have been manifestations of generation gap and the difference and conflict of intergenerational values as well. Ismail, Kamal, Moones and Maryam are representatives of the generation gap in the story. The lives of these four representatives of the generation emerging after Touba reflect the social and intellectual turmoil of periods during the history of Iran's developments.
Ismail is a representative of the disappointed and defeated generation after the coup. He, on the one hand, has distanced himself from past beliefs, and on the other hand, is involved in various intellectual doubts, a failed intellectual who has not achieved his dreams despite all his struggles and social ideals. In any case, he is a representative of a generation of Iranian intellectuals who has distanced himself from the world of tradition and his modernist ideals have not come true.
Kamal is a representative of the third generation after the Constitutional Revolution, growing up in poverty. He has been rebellious and disobedient since he was a teenager and he tries to destroy and rebuild everything. Finally, joining the guerrillas and following a bloody and dangerous path, Kamal is a representative of "revolutionaries who only think about the destruction of the status quo and have no plans for the period following the destruction". They know what they don't want, but they don't know what they want. And this is the story of several generations of Iranian youth whose image is reflected in the novel.
This is while Ismail belongs to the middle generation. He has experienced the prisons of Reza Shah era, read a lot of books and seen notable experiences. He knows that before you decide to destroy, you should think about building. It is difficult to build, rather than to destroy. Moones, the daughter of Touba and Fereydoun Mirza, works in a bank despite her family's aristocratic standards, seen against her status as an aristocrat. Maryam, growing up in Touba's house and under the tutelage of Ismail and Moones, joins guerrilla activities as a result of Kamal's propaganda, and finally, being pregnant and shot, she goes to Touba's house and dies there.
Deviation from beliefs and traditions is especially noticeable among those who come from the lower classes of society in the analyzed novel. They are more influenced by leftist ideas than others. Ismail, Kamal and Maryam represent such people.
Disruption of the class system and hereditary privileges as well as the possibility of class displacement have been the consequences of the spread of modernity and modernist ideas. Ismail, Moones and Kamal are among those who, due to social and political changes, are placed in situations compatible with the requirements of their social class. Ismail gets the opportunity to study and go to university and finally marry Touba’s daughter who has an aristocratic lineage. Moones, Touba’s daughter and Fereydoun Mirza’s employment in the bank and marrying Ismail was a form of rebellion against the family's aristocratic standards. It was this instability in class relations that annoyed Habibullah Mirza, the son of Prince Fereydoun Mirza. Being attached to aristocratic traditions, he could not witness the disintegration of aristocratic standards and the advancement of rootless people like Ismail who do not even know the name of their grandfather.
In this way, Shahrnoosh Parsipour narrates the lives of Iranian men and women who live on the margins of history, from constitutionalism to the threshold of the revolution, in the clash of tradition and modernity. An era in which spreading superficial manifestations of modernity and ignoring its fundamental values on the one hand and disregarding traditions rooted in the last years of Pahlavi II's rule make Iran susceptible to the advent of a new era of confrontation between tradition and modernity.
Conclusion:
By examining Touba and the Meaning of Night in terms of tradition and modernity, the following results can be achieved:
The necessity of attaining the manifestations of modernity and new civilization in the history of Iran was revealed by the defeat of Iran by Russia. An Englishman's insult to Haj Adib, a traditionalist scholar immersed in philosophical reflections, led the latter to recognize new world and new knowledge as a necessity.
Arrival of the manifestation of modernity not only transforms the ruling political system of the country, but also changes the value system and standards of the society and thus, forces the characters of the story to reconsider and rethink or oppose the new standards.
Social groups respond variously to the wave of modernity in terms of their specific situation. Those who have been brought up in the context of tradition either stand up against modernity, or combine some of its standards with traditional beliefs and customs, or give in to it in a way, or immerse into astonishment and anxiety and seek refuge in isolation.
The spread of modernity leads to the weakening of class and aristocratic values and provides the basis for the weakening of the powerful classes and the rise of the middle and lower classes within society.
Moreover, the expansion of modernity disturbs the traditional family system and creates the ground for generation gaps. Familiarity with new ideas forces Ismail, Kamal, and following them, Maryam and to some extent, Moones to a kind of breaking with past beliefs and traditional family traditions
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