Feuilleton Writing in the Iranian Press (from the Outset up to the Year 1320SH)

Feuilleton is a writing genre which came into existence after the emergence of the press and the reasons behind its creation can be listed as compensating for the shortage of book publications, providing a new way to present long texts, and keeping and increasing the readership. Taking a history of literature research approach, we investigated this writing genre and its applications in the Iranian press from the outset up to the year 1320 SH (1941). While serialized stories have comprised the majority of feuilletons in the press, various topics such as plays, travelogues, biographies, and historical texts have also appeared as feuilletons. In the early Iranian press, various terms were used for this genre, such as ‘ghesmat-e tahtāni’ [bottom section], ‘fiton’ [feuilleton], and ‘zeyl’ [appendix / footnote]. It was Ettehad-e Eslam Newspaper that first used the term pāvaraghi [~footer / footnote / = feuilleton] which was gradually picked up by other publications. The first feuilletons were published by Etemad al-Saltanah in Iran Newspaper and mostly had historical themes. The first fiction feuilleton was the novel neyrang-e siyāh ya kaizāne sefid [The Black Deception or White Maids] by Mohammad-Taqi Bahar which was published in Iran Magazine in 1298 SH (1919), and the naming by certain researchers of the novels tehrāne makhōf [The Dreadful Tehran] or dah nafar qezelbāš [The Ten Qizilbash] as the first fiction feuilletons lacks scientific rigor. The most important feature of this genre is its serialization, and variety in its topics. Considering its style of writing, no particular linguistic feature can be attributed to this genre; rather, the style of writing in this genre follows the style of its authors or translators.