Sadiq Hedayat; A Different Writer and an Incomplete Effort for Individual Self-Actualization and National Identity

National identity became an issue for the contemporary Iranian society and intellectual discourse at least since the Constitutional Revolution in Iran. This issue had two aspects – individual and national – for Sadiq Hedayat, with his multifaceted personality who was himself a son of the era of Constitutional Revolution and seriously entangled in the multidimensional cultural skirmishes between modernity and tradition. Self-actualization and quest for national identity through art and creation of artistic legends was among the main concerns of this Iranian writer and intellectual. The present article is an attempt to shed on light on Hedayat’s efforts in this regard and elaborate on the reasons for his failure. The main reason for his incomplete effort was his failure to find an answer to the following philosophical question: What is the ultimate goal of life?