Sadegh (or Sadeq) Hedayat (in Persian: صادق هدایت), is Iran's foremost modern writer of prose fiction and short stories. He was born in Tehran on 17 February 1903 to an aristocratic family and was educated at the Lycée Français (French high school) in that city. In 1925 he was among a select few students who travelled to Europe to continue their studies. There he initially pursued dentistry before giving this up for engineering. After four years in France and Belgium, Hedayat returned to Iran where he held various jobs for short periods. Persian (فارسی / پارسی), (local name in Iran/Persia, Afghanistan and Tajikistan: ‘Fârsi’), ‘Pârsi’ (older local name, but still used by some speakers), Tajik (a Central Asian dialect) or Dari (another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan), is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, western Pakistan, Bahrain, and elsewhere. ... Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday speech. ... Tehran is a metropolis of 14 million situated at the foot of the towering Alborz range. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... X-rays can reveal if a person has cavities Dentistry is the practical application of knowledge of dental science (the science of placement, arrangement, function of teeth and their supporting bones and soft tissues) to human beings. ... ...

Hedayat subsequently devoted his whole life to studying Western literature and to learning and investigating Iranian history and folklore. The works of Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, Rilke, Edgar Allan Poe and Kafka intrigued him the most. During his short literary life span, Hedayat published a substantial number of short stories and novelettes, two historical dramas, a play, a travelogue, and a collection of satirical parodies and sketches. His writings also include numerous literary criticisms, studies in Persian folklore, and many translations from Middle Persian and French. He is credited with having brought Persian language and literature into the mainstream of international contemporary writing. Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant (IPA: ɡi də mopasɑ̃) (August 5, 1850 - July 6, 1893) was a French writer. ... Chekhovs portrait by Osip Braz. ... Rainer Maria Rilke (born 4 December 1875 in Prague; died 29 December 1926 in Val-Mont (Switzerland)) was an important poet in the German language. ... This daguerreotype of Poe was taken less than a year before his death at the age of 40. ... Franz Kafka approximately 1917 Franz Kafka (July 3, 1883 in Prague - June 3, 1924 in Vienna) was one of the major German language writers of the 20th century most of whose work was published posthumously. ...

In his latter years, feeling the socio-political problems of the time, Hedayat started attacking the two major causes of Iran’s decimation, the monarchy and the clergy, and through his stories he tried to impute the deafness and blindness of the nation to the abuses of these two major powers. Feeling alienated by everyone around him, specially his peers, Hedayat’s last published work, The Message of Kafka, bespeaks melancholy, desperation and a sense of doom experienced only by those subjected to discrimination and repression.

Hedayat's most enduring work is the short novel The Blind Owl (1937). The Blind Owl, by Sadegh Hedayat The Blind Owl (1937) is Sadegh Hedayats most enduring work of prose and a major literary work in 20th century Iran. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

He ended his life by gassing himself on 9 April 1951 in Paris and is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery there. April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Looking down the hill at the Père Lachaise cemetery The Cimetière du Père Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris, and one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. ...

Works

• Fiction
  • 1930 Zindeh be-gur (Buried Alive). A collection of 8 short stories.
  • 1931 Sayeh-ye Mughul (Mongol Shadow)
  • 1932 Seh qatreh khun (Three Drops of Blood)
  • 1933 Sayeh Rushan (Chiaroscuro)
    Alaviyeh Khanum (Madame `Alaviyeh)
    Vagh Vagh Sahab (Mister Bow Wow)
  • 1937 Buf-e Kur (The Blind Owl)
  • 1942 Sag-e Velgard (The Stray Dog)
  • 1944 Velengari (Tittle-tattle)
    Ab-e Zendegi (The Elixir of Life)
  • 1945 Haji Aqa (Mr. Haji)
  • 1946 Farda (Tomorrow)
  • 1947 Tup-e Murvari (The Pearl Cannon)

• Drama (1930-1946)
  • Parvin dokhtar-e Sasan (Parvin, Sassan's Daughter)
  • Maziyar
  • Afsaneh-ye Afarinesh (The Fable of Creation)

• Travelogues
  • Esfahan nesf-e Jahan (Isfahan: Half the World)
  • Ru-ye Jadeh-ye Namnak (On the Wet Road), unpublished, written in 1935.

• Studies, Criticism and Miscellanea
  • Rubaiyat-e Hakim Umar-e Khayyam (Khayyam's Quatrains) 1923
  • Ensan va Hayvan (Man and Animal) 1924
  • Marg (Death) 1927
  • Favayed-e Giyah'khari (The Advantages of Vegetarianism) 1957
  • Hekayat-e Ba Natijeh (The Story with a Moral) 1932
  • Taranehha-ye Khayyam (The Melodies of Khayyam) 1934
  • Chaykuvski (Tchaikovsky) 1940
  • Dar Piramun-e Lughat-e Furs-e Asadi (About Asadi's Persian Dictionary) 1940
  • Shiveh-ye Nuvin dar Tahqiq-e Adabi (A New Method of Literary Research) 1940
  • Dastan-e Naz (The Story of Naz) 1941
  • Shivehha-ye Nuvin Dar Shir-e Farsi (New Trends in Persian Poetry) 1941
  • A Review of the Film "Mulla Nasru'd Din" 1944
  • A Literary Criticism on the Persian Translation of Gogol's The Government Inspector 1944
  • Chand Nukteh Dar Bar-ye Vis va Ramin (Some Notes on Vis and Ramin) 1945
  • Payam-e Kafka (The Message of Kafka) 1948
  • al-Be`thatu-Islamiya Ellal-Belad'l Afranjiya (An Islamic Mission in the European Lands), undated.

The Blind Owl, by Sadegh Hedayat The Blind Owl (1937) is Sadegh Hedayats most enduring work of prose and a major literary work in 20th century Iran. ... Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (Russian: Николай Васильевич Гоголь) (March 31, 1809 - March 4, 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian writer. ...

Sources

• List of Sadeq Hedayat's Works
• Modern Persian Prose Literature by Hassan Kamshad, ISBN 0936347724

External links

• Sadeq Hedayat's Life by Iraj Bashiri
• Sadeq Hedayat's Corner, further articles and English translations by Iraj Bashiri
• Persian Language & Literature — Sadeq Hedayat
• Hedayat Page (in French)
• Sadegh Hedayat Site (in Persian)
• Sokhan — online literary magazine (in Persian)
• Adabkade (in Persian)
• Hedayat's art work

Further references

• Homa Katouzian, Sadeq Hedayat: Life and legend of an Iranian writer, I.B. Taurus, 2000. ISBN 1860644139
• Hassan Kamshad, Modern Persian Prose Literature, Ibex Publishers, 1996. ISBN 0936347724
• Michael C. Hillmann, Hedayat's "the Blind Owl" Forty Years After,Middle East Monograph No. 4, Univ of Texas Press, 1978.
• Iraj Bashiri, Hedayat's Ivory Tower: Structural Analysis of The Blind Owl, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975.
• Iraj Bashiri, The Fiction of Sadeq Hedayat, Mazda Publishers, 1984.
• Sayers, Carol, The Blind Owl and Other Hedayat Stories, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1984.