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| On the left, Reza Baraheni, on the right, Togrul Atabay. |
Writer and Turkologist Toğrul Atabay, in an interview with Voice of America, describes the recently deceased Reza Baraheni, who passed away at the age of 86, as a multifaceted personality, an activist, and one of the sharpest representatives of critical thinking. Atabay believes that Baraheni was an intellectual ahead of his time.
Dr. Baraheni was also a fierce advocate for democracy, human rights, freedom of expression, Turkish language rights, and gender equality, and fought against oppression and censorship, for which he suffered imprisonment and torture.
Iran's Literary and Socio-Political Environment Was Too Narrow for Baraheni
Toğrul Atabay states, "If we were to give a comprehensive definition of Baraheni, it would be his multifaceted personality and being one of the sharpest representatives of critical thinking. If we were to summarize in one word, he was a true activist and intellectual. In many fields, he experimentally introduced new works and reached the peak. Baraheni gains literature and thought through the global language, English, unlike many Iranian intellectuals. He is not confined by Iran's literary and socio-political environment. He does not remain a prisoner of it. That is why he conquers the peak with postmodernism and deconstructionism. Over time, even the Persian language becomes narrow and insufficient for him. He delves into theories of rhetoric and linguistics in poetry. Similarly, the concepts and taboos in society become too narrow for him. Therefore, he lays the foundation for pioneering work in many areas."
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| Reza Baraheni |
Author of novels such as "The Secrets of My Land," "The Voice of the Killed," and "The Hellish Days of Ayaz Bey," and many poetry collections, Baraheni is also recognized as one of the most important literary critics of modern Iran. His works "Golden in the Mud," "Masculine History," and "The Crowned Man-Eaters" are regarded as some of the most important critical works on literature and Iran's political, social, and socio-historical structures.
Baraheni's Works and Efforts Are Rooted in Critical Thought
According to Toğrul Atabay, Baraheni is known for his outspoken nature and open-mindedness, and he maintained his intellectual consistency until the end of his life.
"In criticism, whether literary, political, or cultural, Baraheni has no equivalent in that geography. Moreover, he is an intellectual with a clear stance. He is very different and unique in that geography. He is an intellectual with intellectual consistency until the end of his life. In addition, he is known for not only his words but also for putting his ideas into action, demonstrating a political stance. He is a highly multifaceted and quality person. He emerges as an independent individual in a society with a collective mentality, as a mature individual. Therefore, his fate is that he is almost always alone," says Atabay.
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| Yurdumun Sirləri translates to "The Secrets of My Land" - Öldürülənlərin Avazı translates to "The Voice of the Killed" |
Toğrul Atabay emphasizes that all of Baraheni's works and efforts are rooted in critical thought:
"Baraheni belongs to the school of writers who think in Turkish. He thinks in Turkish and is forced to express himself in Persian. To understand Baraheni, we must recognize that he emerges typologically as an intellectual from the 19th century, as an activist. All of his works are rooted in critical thought. This is somewhat strange in Iran because Baraheni actually comes from a tradition belonging to the Azerbaijani intellectuals. He is the successor of the critical thought that began with Mirza Kazim Bey and Akhundov in the 19th century. He is one of the heirs of the critical thought that continued with Molla Nasreddin and reached its peak with Mucize (Shabisterli). These figures are not collaborators or accountants because they are far from the corrupted and shattered ruling culture."
A Representative of Post-Colonial Literature
The late Baraheni was an active defender of Turkish language rights during both the Pahlavi and Islamic Republic periods, and he highlighted the bans on the Turkish language in many of his books, including his novels. For this reason, he was regularly labeled as a pan-Turkist in Iran's literary and political circles.
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| The Crowned Cannibals: Writings on Repression in Iran (1977) |
Toğrul Atabay considers Baraheni to be a representative of post-colonial literature:
"Baraheni belongs to the school of writers who think in Turkish. He thinks in Turkish and is forced to express himself in Persian. From time to time, especially in his poetry, we see that the structure of Persian is too narrow for his global perspective. He struggles to surpass it and consciously acknowledges this in several places. In our view, he is a representative of post-colonial literature and uses Persian as a colonial language, opposing it. He tries to use this language against the system. In many places, he expresses his protest by opposing the structure of the language itself."
According to Atabay, both Baraheni, Samad Behrangi (1939-1968), and Ghulamhossein Saedi (1936-1985) wrote in Persian but always included post-colonial themes in their works.
The Trio of the Tabriz School
"With their own expressions, there is a trio in the Tabriz school. Baraheni, Saedi, and Behrangi. These individuals were forced to write in Persian during a time when Turkish was banned and when there was no standard Turkish reader. They think in Turkish and create in Persian. Like their role models in Latin America, Africa, or in some Western existentialist intellectuals, they try to use the existing language against the system. Whether it is Baraheni, Behrangi, or Saedi, they always oppose colonialism, particularly in the subtext of their stories. ni tBehraheorizes the notion of thinking in Turkish and writing in Persian, starting from Nizami, in his book "The Egyptian Journey." These individuals are fundamentally different from other Persian writers. There is a dynamism in their works. There is always a shift in space," Atabay states.
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| Reza Baraheni's critical works examples |
Some activists claim that Baraheni was not sincere in his struggle for Turkish language rights. They argue that if Baraheni were sincere, he would have written works in Turkish.
However, Toğrul Atabay believes that the issue is not that simple. He says, "In my opinion, Baraheni does not fall into this situation out of ignorance or unconsciousness, especially not in that era. He says he is forced to write in Persian and openly states that he is using the language of the colonizer against the system. He uses it as a whip. There is a conscious post-colonial stance in his work."
Not Refusing to Write in Turkish, But Unable to Write in Turkish
Toğrul Atabay believes that the issue with Baraheni is not "refusing to write in Turkish," but "being unable to write in Turkish."
He explains, "The issue is not refusing to write in Turkish, but being unable to write in Turkish. Baraheni indeed studied in Turkey. However, he studied comparative literature in English in Turkey. He did not study Turkish literature with figures like Cavad Heyet or Hamid Nitqi. Because he did not study Turkish literature, he was not sufficiently proficient in the language. Besides the language ban of that time, the issue is that for a person of Baraheni's level, that global thought and the emergence of a postmodern writer through the personal acquisition of language was almost impossible. In poetry, if he wanted to create modern and postmodern literature, the vocabulary and the essence of the language of that era would not allow him. The language in that period still had serious problems. It was an underdeveloped language, facing terminological problems, and expressing that global thought in that language was problematic."
According to Toğrul Atabay, during Baraheni's creative period, there was both a quantity and quality problem with Turkish readers in Iranian Azerbaijan:
"The second issue is the reader problem. At least during those years, there were no readers, neither in terms of quantity nor quality, until the late 90s. There was no audience who could resonate with the works. Even if there were, there was no readership at the level of Western literature. Ultimately, it must be acknowledged that a writer does not write in a vacuum; he is in interaction and connection with the reader. In literature, that famous triad—writer, work, and reader. The reader is also one of the three pillars that shapes the writer and the work. Without this third pillar, the reader, in South Azerbaijan, this connection was not present. In an ideal situation, if Baraheni could have written in Turkish in those years, he would have been able to express what he wanted much more easily in Turkish. Turkish, in many aspects, especially phonetics and morphology, was much more suitable for Baraheni's intentions. But unfortunately, that power was not present in Turkish."
Baraheni's Value Was Not Recognized
Baraheni is recognized as one of the most active and controversial intellectuals in modern Iranian history. Toğrul Atabay believes that Baraheni was not given the recognition and value he deserved.
"Unfortunately, Baraheni's value was not recognized. This is definitely my opinion. Baraheni was a true citizen of the world in both action and speech. He was far from the many diseases and mentalities that plagued the intellectuals of his time. He broke many taboos, and because he became an intellectual of global stature, he was always sidelined by the ruling and status-quo mentality. In the literary and intellectual world of that geography, he was unable to claim his rightful place. His views on that geography, his political history perspective, and the criticisms he brought to social culture, as seen in works like "Masculine History," were ahead of his time, and for that reason, he was not sufficiently understood. He was not wanted to be understood in many places. Unfortunately, our society was not ready to adopt Baraheni," Atabay concludes.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Toğrul Atabay: Rza Bərahəni türkcə düşünüb farsca yazan ədəbiyyatçılar məktəbindən idi