Behjatoshoara and a New Approach in Biography-writing in the Qajar Era (With the Introduction of Hadiqatoshoara)

Abstract

Persian biographies are among the main sources in the history of literature. The movement of writing biographies was accelerated during Qajar era and on the verge of the Constitutional Revolution. Like other proses, the critique entered into the writing of this period, and it took the form of ironical or humorous biographies. Similar examples were also written for these critical-pleasantry works. One of the followers of this new approach was Mohammad Kazem Tabrizi (known as Asrar Ali Shah). He wrote his biography book in regard to the superficial and indiscreet thinking of the public with a humorous tone and full of anecdotes, and called it Behjatoshoara or Romouz Nojaba. Among various types of biographies, writing a biography like this full of worthless poems and unconditional praises show that the author had a special motive. But this issue has not been investigated by the researchers. This lack of clarification regarding the writer's motivation has led to some falsifications and judgments about the work and its author. In this study, Asrar Ali Shah's Behjatoshoara and his motivation to write it is investigated. Also, Hadiqatoshoara is introduced and its relationship with Behjatoshoara is clarified.

Keywords

• Biography-writing in Qajar
• Behjatoshoara
• Hadiqatoshoara
• Asrar Ali Shah