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The Enigma of National Memory in Bahram Beyzaie’s Yazdgerd’s Death
Abstract
Known in Iran as the doyen of contemporary dramatic literature and revered as a legendary cultural figure in general, Bahram Beyzaie is much less recognized outside the Persian literary sphere. While his career as a filmmaker has surpassed the national borders, his oeuvre of playwriting is still to be fully discovered on the international level. This essay looks into one of Beyzaie’s most acclaimed plays, Yazdgerd’s Death (marg-e yazdgerd, 1979) written and staged during the turmoil of the Iranian revolution. The play is set in the last days of the Persian Empire at the dawn of the Arab invasion. The specific allegorical interpretation that the work makes in looking at Iran’s contemporary history using the earliest episodes of its exposition to the fast-growing Islamic Empire is the main subject of my analysis. The essay explores Beyzaie’s play for its incorporation of several levels of allegorical and symbolic referencing to modern Iran, and offers an argument regarding the play’s narrating of a counter-history by using various modern techniques such as the Brechtian alienation effect. I will argue that Beyzaie’s distinctive usage of these techniques succeeds in portraying a very problematic national memory, and by extending it through allegorical references, showcases the contemporary Iran’s struggle in collective memory narration.
Discipline
Literature
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
None