The challenge of tradition and modernism in constitutional literature

Following the acquaintance of Iranians with modernity and the emergence of discourse of innovation andmodernization among the intellectual-political elites of the Iranian society in the era of constitutionalism,literature also stepped into the field of political-social developments and served to modernize the society;in such a way that modernization became the most important issue of literature in this period of time andliterary texts played an important role in the acceptance of modernity in Iran via glorifying modernity andmodern ideas as well as attacking on tradition and traditional ideas. From the point of view of thesociology of literature, this article tries to investigate how modernism is reflected in some of the fictiontexts of the constitutionalism era and to answer to these two important questions that which aspects ofmodernity have more attracted the Iranian intellectuals and on the other hand, what factors have beenfollowed by the oppositions of some parts of the country against the introduction of modern institutionsand ideas to Iran. The results of the current research show that from the viewpoint of the authors of thatera, parliament and constitutionalism, technology, modern women, new schools, law, freedom, modernarmy and equality are respectively the most important and necessary aspects of modernity for the Iraniansociety and on the other hand, factors such as economy, religious thoughts in Iran, Iranians’ fatalism and,tyranny, have been the most important obstacles to the entry of modernity into Iran.Keywords: Constitutionalism, tradition, modernity, literature