Shaw in Mid-Twentieth-Century Iran

Abstract

abstract:This article explores the reception of Shaw's oeuvre in Iran to analyze the ways in which Iranian readers and audiences have read, understood, and used Shaw's work to comment on Iranian sociopolitical issues. Bozorg Alavi, a founding member of Iran's leading communist party, first introduced Iranian readers to Shaw through his translation of Mrs. Warren's Profession (1928). Since then, Shaw has appeared as a recurring point of reference for intellectuals with leftist sympathies in Iran in their pursuits of a range of reform agendas. This article focuses specifically on the mid-twentieth century, a politically turbulent time in which much of the resistance movements that led to the 1979 revolution emerged. It uses translations, criticisms, and productions of Shaw's work in addition to original analyses of Shaw's plays in dialogue with Iranian literature and politics to analyze Shaw's presence in debates surrounding issues of gender, national identity, and political freedom.