Nikolai Gogol in Iran

The present article discusses the publication and influence of Gogol’s works in Iran. At the beginning of twentieth century, Iran’s contemporary story writing was greatly under the effect of the works of Russian writers. Among them, Gogol with his satirical and simple stories had a special place. During the constitutional era, writers of Iranian origin, who lived in Tbilis (Tiflis) and had got familiar with Russian writers, made use of the satirical and simple style of Gogol. Zeynol Abedin Maraghey’ee and Akhoondzadeh can be mentioned among these writers whose style of writing led to a new method of writing in Iran…At the beginning of the formation of Modern Iranian literature, many of Gogol’s stories were translated into Persian. Then, many writers such as Sadegh Hedayat and Jalal-e Al-e Ahmad created some works under the effect of his stories.Even if we do not admit that Sadegh Hedayat had adapted the story of “Zendeh be Gour” from Gogol’s “Notes/Diary of a Madman”, it can be certainly said that, according to the theory of intertextuality, Gogol is one of the writers whose works greatly influenced Persian story-writing: the unconscious presence of Gogol’s ‘Madman’ can be seen in “Zende be Gour” of Hedayat. Furthermore, Jalale Ale Ahmad probably knew Akakii Akakievich, the protagonist of the story of “The overcoat”, while writing the story of “Se Tar”.