How did Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh become immortal? / The boundary of memory with the story of reality and the author’s writing prowess.

According to the correspondent of the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) in Ahvaz, Hamed Safi, in the first session of the Toranj Club’s series of literary criticism meetings, reviewing the book “Here is the Center of the World” at Iran Book City in Ahvaz, touched upon the emergence of oral history in Iran. He stated that during the Sasanian period, the government decided to document Iranian history in written form. In an era without paper, it was recorded as oral history or on stone inscriptions. Iranian history was found in Kermanshah, Izeh, and Hamadan. After a 4500-year gap, during the Ashkanian and Achaemenid periods, there were attempts to forget history, but in the Sasanian era, especially during Anushirvan’s time, efforts were made to convert oral history into written form, based on a tradition of oral transmission from generation to generation. Books named Khodaynameh were written.

Safi said: Iranian history from creation until the Sasanian era was such that every king who came to power after Anushirvan would add their own history, and this history was based on the names of kings. For example, the period of Shapur, the period of Keyumars, etc. But when Islam entered Iran, a movement began, considering everything before Islam in Iran as a manifestation of blasphemy that had to be destroyed. Iranians cleverly translated Pahlavi books into Arabic, and the Khodaynameh translation movement began. Abdullah ibn Muqaffa was the most important translator of the Khodaynamehs, naming his work “Sir al-Muluk al-Furs.”

He continued: After two centuries, until the Samanians, the first central government was formed in Iran. The Samanians sought an Iranian identity and relied on the history documented from the Sasanian era, promoting the Shahnameh writing movement, and numerous Shahnamehs were written. The goal of Shahnameh writing was to document Iranian history, and the government decided to write a Shahnameh in the language of the day (Dari Persian). The governmental Shahnameh named Abu Mansuri was written, of which only the introduction remains today, the rest having been lost. Other Shahnamehs include the prose Shahnameh of Abul Mu’ayyad Balkhi, the Shahnameh of Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Ahmad Balkhi, the Shahnameh of Mas’udi Marwazi, and the Shahnameh of Tousi. Ferdowsi was also one of those who wrote in this Shahnameh tradition. But Ferdowsi was not the only one who wrote a Shahnameh. Given the number of Shahnamehs, why was Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh important? It comes down to Ferdowsi’s cleverness and intelligence. Why were all these Shahnamehs written? The introduction of the Shahnameh-i Mansuri is appended to Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

The Intelligence of Ferdowsi as the Reason for Shahnameh’s Enduring Nature

The Khuzestani author attributed the longevity of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh compared to other Shahnamehs to Ferdowsi’s intelligence, adding: Although the contents of all Shahnamehs were the same, what caused Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh to endure compared to other Shahnamehs was not merely the intrinsic content of the work, because other Shahnamehs also had the same intrinsic content, and it comes back to Ferdowsi’s intelligence. Ferdowsi did several things with the Shahnameh. He found a powerful financial sponsor for his work, namely Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi. Because copying books was expensive, no individual without government support could make their book last, and this was a tradition. Ferdowsi made his work immortal with a political and social power through countless copies that have survived throughout history. Just like today’s intelligent author who thinks about the longevity of a book through publishing, distribution, and reading. Furthermore, Ferdowsi found a suitable form and framework and made the most alterations to Ferdowsi’s story, which in today’s literature we call “gash-tar” (manipulation) and sometimes artistic metamorphosis, and sometimes to adapt to the Iranian spirit, an author can manipulate the text to the extent that the authenticity of the text is not damaged.

Safi identified the memoir writing movement as emerging after the 8-year war, saying: After the 8-year war, a memoir writing movement started. Part of it was implemented by the government as part of its cultural policies, and society also cooperated. Some of it is due to society’s preference, as people are not very patient with reading long texts because memoirs are short.

The author of the book “Here is the Center of the World” referred to the book’s authenticity in his remarks, saying: Audio files and the narrator’s voice are more important than the book. The question arises: why did you print the book? Memoir is not for evidence. The fundamental function of literature and art is for impact. If we are seeking authenticity, why do we make the film “Prophet Joseph”? Because it is more documented in the Quran. Or why is Mirbagheri more successful than Salahshour? Because Mirbagheri was not committed to history, and impact was important to him. He extracted the character of Mukhtar from history, analyzed him, and the film has no historical document. Sometimes an author cuts something and “gash-tar” is cutting one thing and replacing it with another action.

The author of “The Book Here is the Center of the World” said at this session: The life of Shahid Ghorbani had great capacity from which we could extract many documented and undocumented outputs, and we needed this style of narration. Because the martyr had worked in places like the municipality, a bank, and football, where there were not many recorded narratives. These professions are areas where we hear the most negative news among the general public. Or dissatisfactions are mostly in these few sectors. But Shahid Ghorbani performed many activities and became a role model. It is a pity that each of these narratives, no matter how short, concise, and limited, should not be brought forth.

160 Hours of Interview and 4 Years of Editing for the Book ‘Here is the Center of the World’

Nasrin Tetter, referring to the memoirs in the book “Here is the Center of the World,” stated: There were many more memoirs, but we limited the number of memoirs, and due to the economics of books and publishing, there were limitations, but we tried. There were 160 hours of interviews, and the editing was not continuous; this process took four years, and revisions and rewrites were done several times, and we referred back to the book. If it was not complete, we returned to the original text, and corrections were made.

She continued: Although the author’s art is to create atmosphere and characterization, what was in the interviews was utilized, and we were not very limited by separating narrators into different chapters or by not using another narrator immediately after mentioning one. Given that the martyr was very special and such personalities are rare, my main focus was to fully portray the martyr’s character.

Tetter added: In the discussion of documentary writing, for both individuals and events, there is a consensus among authors on how much to intervene in the content and how much to show ourselves in editing. But in this book, almost everything I brought forth was the exact words of the narrators, and you do not see the author’s hand in the narratives. Sentences were brought as they were narrated. Although there were subtleties, my concern was if they ask me, “Is the book ‘Here is the Center of the World’ a document?” My answer is positive. In the preface, I mentioned that for certain reasons, I did not extract some memoirs myself, but colleagues in this section extracted them.

In response to the question, “Did you refer back to the original interviews during editing?” she explained: Questions arose for me from the interviews and during editing, and I was forced to look at the original interview. Hossein Ghorbani, the elder son of Shahid Ghorbani, started the research project by referring to the Silavi Martyrs Institute, and I was fortunate enough to undertake the project. Throughout the editing, whenever we encountered a gap, Mr. Ghorbani made efforts to conduct supplementary research to complete the ambiguous points.

This Khuzestani author spoke about the book’s title selection, saying: Usually, authors arrive at the book’s title during the editing process, and for this book, we came up with many names, but each one highlighted only one dimension, whereas the name should be comprehensive and suitable for the content, not one-dimensional. Given that Shahid Ghorbani was active in various sectors and performed the most effective work and was the best in each sector, with the advice of friends and the martyr’s memoirs, we finally chose this name. And for the cover design, because the martyr had both a military jihad and a civilizational jihad during his life, and the designer also had a football field in mind, we agreed.

In response to the question, “Is the book’s format minimalist?” she said: The minimalist format has its own specific rules. We did not want to be too restricted by frameworks, and the main goal was to be able to convey the message we wanted to the audience in the best way. In the process of writing the book, we learned that when you write a project, you should consider a format from the very beginning and stick to it. Oral history is very useful. It saves time, and the useful content increases. Mr. Ghorbani gave a very good explanation in the preface that after the martyrdom of the martyr, they realized that comprehensive research work for martyrs in Khuzestan has been done less, and that waiting for someone to come forward and advance this work is not guaranteed, so they started the work themselves.

She added: When the interviews reached me, each interview contained complete research that needed to be narrated in a specific format to make the best use of it. We had several options: semi-long options, story, and long narrative. We finally reached a consensus, and given the multi-dimensional personality of Shahid Ghorbani, short narratives were the best option. We divided his life according to his activities, narrated by others.

Another critic at this session said: Documentary fiction has an ostrich-like status; it is neither a camel nor a bird. We know that with a fictional work, we are dealing with the author’s mind, and ultimately, it is inspired and presents their own interpretation. It manipulates the story with imagination and their own perspective. In history, a documentary’s task is clear. But historical authenticity, which is the core of most research works like biographies and memoirs, is unfortunately lacking, and in the book world, neither documentary nor fiction, but rather documentary fiction, has become very common.

Mehrzad Ghawi added: Two general points about the book as a whole come to mind: I wish it had headings, and in minimalist books, headings can work and add to the text’s appeal, clarify our understanding of the text, and give us a general context regarding the text and memoirs. The book did not rely much on the reader’s intelligence and explained obvious facts.

Ghawi found the book’s idea and overall concept unique and interesting, stating: To delve into the managerial memoirs of a martyr is a contradiction. Usually, managers’ desks are not customary fields of service. A bank manager who is also a combatant is unusual. Managers usually see their desk as their field of jihad, and we have works produced about combatant athletes, but this kind of prominent work has been done less.

Mehrzad Ghawi added: Very little work has been done on the Martyrs of the Holy Shrine, but in this book, the subject is different. “Here is the Center of the World,” the cover design with a military uniform, has a good relation to the book’s concept. If I want to connect with the cover design, the combination of the cover and the book’s title has an ambiguity. It seems that Syria is the center of the world, whereas if the cover of this book had a picture of the martyr in a suit, it would have been consistent with the book’s content, and it gives the impression that ready-made information is spoon-fed to the audience, which might reduce the pleasure of discovery and the opportunity for experience for the reader.

No Text Is Created Unless It Is Connected to Other Texts

Safi, referring to intertextuality theory and book covers, said: I have been working on intertextuality theory for 15 years; it is a complete theory and one of the tools for analyzing texts. No text is created unless it is connected to other texts. Page 23 is the first memoir until the will on page 253; this text certainly relates to other texts. The interviews taken are hypotexts; the author’s text is hypertext or supertext. Since we do not have the interviews, we cannot talk about the relationship between the text and the interviews. Another text that connects with the author’s text is paratexts. The first paratext is the book cover. Paratexts are texts that surround the main text. Some of these paratexts were written by the author himself, like the introduction; others were written by the publisher, like the publisher’s introduction. The cover paratext was not very important before the Constitutional Revolution and before the printing industry, and all texts were uniform, only the book’s name was written. The further we move from the Constitutional Revolution, the more important paratexts become.

He continued: A paratext whose function is to introduce the book is like someone who encompasses the text and shows it to the audience. The paratext has sections, and the most important section is the image on the book cover of a person with a gentle smile, a keffiyeh on his head, and a gun in his hand. With the first image, the content is conveyed to the reader, and at first glance, we realize the person was military and probably kind. The book’s title “Here is the Center of the World” wants to convey to the reader that wherever one is, is the center of the world, but the cover design does not convey this. Several keywords are on the cover: Martyr’s memoirs, Martyr manager, Defender of the Shrine, Martyr’s name, author. And a memoir has several components: based on a past reality, presence of characters, and specific time and place, and action is also present in it.

Safi clarified the genre of memoir writing, stating: Where is the boundary of memoir with fiction, and what is the difference? Fiction is not based on reality but is inspired by reality and the author’s inspiration from a reality, but memoir is not inspired; it is reality itself. A memoir becomes a literary genre when the author can skillfully write and showcase the art of their writing to the audience. When “memoir” is written on the cover, it means we are dealing with a literary genre in the book. For this reason, I gave the example of Shahnameh. I would have liked the words “Revolutionary Manager” and “Martyr Defender of the Shrine” not to be on the cover. At first glance, the image tells me everything: Martyr Defender of the Shrine, Revolutionary Manager. I won’t read the book because I know what the book wants to say, and your paratext has given it away. The paratext, in its most minimalist form, should attract the audience, and the function of the cover and paratext in today’s world is purely attraction, but not at any cost.