There Was a Big Difference Between Naser Taghvai and Those Who Wrote Working-Class Stories
According to Khabaronline News Agency, “The Summer of the Same Year” is a compact yet important collection, full of finely crafted moments and silent mise-en-scènes, in which the South is not merely a geographical backdrop; it is a character, a destiny, and a space where any attempt to displace it would lead to the collapse of the story. Recently, in an interview with Ali Masoudinia, a writer and literary critic, we sought to re-examine the hidden layers of this forgotten and still banned book. He said the following in a part of that interview.
“… How much of what you mentioned stems from the geography in which Naser Taghvai lived? I refer to the South, which becomes a character in Taghvai’s fictional and cinematic works. To the extent that in his cinematic works, specifically in “Sadegh Karde”, “The Curse”, “Captain Khorshid”, and so on, the sea, palm groves, etc., appear prominently. How much does the formation of ‘a type of minimalism in content that attempts to manage its story scenes through dense brevity’ correspond to the geography in which Taghvai lived?
Very much so. Today, if we want to look at Naser Taghvai’s position in our narrative literature from a historical genealogy perspective, the best choice is naturally to include him among regional writers.
Next to Ahmad Mahmoud, for example?
Ahmad Mahmoud belongs to a later period. However, among the regional writers of the South, which is a very extensive tradition and remains one of the most successful indigenous currents of our storytelling to this day, one can mention Adnan Gharifi, Bahram Heidari, Mansour Khaksar, and, with some distance, Ahmad Aghayi. Also, Sadegh Choubak and Ebrahim Golestan, although not from the South, were considered regional writers of the South even before them.
These writers can be divided into several branches. One branch leans towards a type of naturalism. This branch is influenced by literature whose best examples are still found in the works of Sadegh Choubak, as one of its pioneers. Here, the region represents environmental determinism—a determinism that the hero faces in critical economic, social, and cultural situations. In fact, the region, as environmental determinism, symbolically encompasses and propels the critical situation. Another branch consists of writers who, influenced by Gholamhossein Saedi, move towards a form of magical realism, meaning the encounter of the South with all its superstitions, beliefs, magic, and so on, with a form of modernization and foreigners who, along with technology, have entered the South and cast their eyes on this land. So, this branch is shaped by the horrific collision that has occurred for tradition and everything that has a long history in the enduring culture of the South. The writers of the last branch, however, to which Taghvai is more inclined, are influenced by the originator of this branch, Ebrahim Golestan. They have an eye on the writing methods in American literature, especially the Southern American naturalists, who are distinct naturalists.
I mentioned earlier that “in most critical writings about Taghvai’s stories, there are direct references to his being influenced by Hemingway.” There I noted that “in my opinion, these references are multi-faceted.” So, it’s not bad to expand on this point here. Ernest Hemingway, among short story writers, is a prominent example of the Southern American naturalists I referred to as distinct naturalists. Most other examples are novelists, and among the best of them, one can mention John Steinbeck. In my opinion, in Naser Taghvai’s stories, it is John Steinbeck’s world that is flowing and prevalent. Of course, not in the sense of adaptation or imitation, but in the sense of a very creative inspiration. In other words, I believe the narrative universe of Taghvai’s stories takes shape with John Steinbeck; a working class in bewilderment and despair. This is a point that is not seen as prominently in Hemingway’s stories, although Taghvai’s writing style is related to Hemingway’s style.
By this account, the characteristics of Naser Taghvai’s stories are very close to those of the third branch of Southern regional writers, such that he can easily be categorized as part of it. A very important point here is that if you change the location of Taghvai’s stories, the entire story collapses. In fact, the story fundamentally cannot happen anywhere else than where it takes place. This very point creates a significant difference between Taghvai and writers who write socialist realist stories, working-class stories. In the stories of those writers, it is the prevailing relations governing the location that gain importance, while in Taghvai’s stories, it is the location itself. For instance, in “The Summer of the Same Year,” the formation of the dystopia that Taghvai portrays for us is not possible without the geography of the South and its characteristics. Moreover, as you mentioned, Taghvai is not very generous and only provides hints that are both sufficient and well-construct the atmosphere. So, overall, it seems we would lose a large part of the beauty and meaning of Taghvai’s works without regional references.”
