Faraj Sarkouhi's Dinner Party; Satire Against 'Cultural Mediocrity'

Host: Faraj Sarkouhi. Guests: Bahman Mohasses, Bahram Sadeghi, Amir Parviz Pouyan, Ahmad Shamlou, John Ford. Music: Menu: Fish, along with Mirza Ghasemi and Baghlava Ghatogh. This week's host is Faraj Sarkouhi. Mr. Sarkouhi is one of the most renowned literary critics and journalists in Iran. Before the revolution, he was connected with leftist circles and was imprisoned. In 1988, he became the editor of the magazine 'Adineh', which is considered one of the most influential independent publications during the Islamic Republic. He was an active member of the Iranian Writers' Association and part of the group of eight that wrote the famous statement signed by 134 writers, protesting censorship in the Islamic Republic. Sarkouhi has published books such as 'A Role of Time', 'The Painful Night of Longing', and 'Yas and Das'. His arrest 20 years ago became a global news story. He was detained at the airport while intending to travel to Germany, but the Ministry of Intelligence claimed he was in Germany. He managed to send a letter from prison to his wife, revealing the truth behind his arrest. Eventually, after widespread global protests, Mr. Sarkouhi was released from prison and now lives in Frankfurt. Thank you, dear Faraj, for participating in this interview. First of all, please tell me who you have invited for dinner? About Faraj Sarkouhi: Faraj Sarkouhi is one of the most famous literary critics and journalists in Iran. He was an active member of the Iranian Writers' Association and became the editor of the influential magazine 'Adineh' in 1988. Mr. Sarkouhi currently lives in Frankfurt. For a dinner party, one invites people who are close to them or have influenced their personal life. If it were a real party, I would invite my grandfather. Although I never met him, he has had the most influence on me through the stories my father and others told about him. However, in a virtual dinner party, one must invite people who are somewhat well-known and have influenced the culture and politics of the country. You know that I have both a political and a cultural aspect. Based on the impact on culture and politics, I wanted to invite Bahman Mohasses, Ali-Reza Esfahbod, Bahram Sadeghi, Gholamhossein Saedi, Amir Parviz Pouyan, and Khalil Maleki, Ahmad Shamlou, and John Ford, but at your request, I will limit it to five. But before you explain why you invited them, which is the essence of the program, may I ask what music you want to play for your guests? Faraj Sarkouhi / Rio Bravo. Selected music: Parts of the music from the film Rio Bravo by Dimitri Tiomkin. I thought it should be something everyone would like and at the same time have an emotional weight for me. There is a film called Rio Bravo, a Western and one of the great masterpieces of cinema history. It is directed by Howard Hawks. Dimitri Tiomkin, who is a great composer and has won several Oscars, composed the music for this film. In the music of this film, there is a part where Dean Martin, one of the film's actors, sings a beautiful song, but that part is not what I mean. At one point in the film, the orchestra plays a piece, and a trumpet is the main instrument. It’s magnificent. It seems to say that people must pay a price for what they believe in. The trumpet beautifully conveys human feelings... it transfers the emotion to you in such a way that it comes alive in you. Your first guest is Bahman Mohasses. What interest do you have in Bahman Mohasses and why? Bahman Mohasses (1931-2010): Iranian translator, painter, and sculptor. Fame: A collection of avant-garde paintings, translations of works by Pirandello, Malaparte, Calvino, and Eugene Ionesco, stage design. Reason for invitation: One of the most creative painters in our history who created works in the 1960s and 1970s that are recognized globally. It is often said that Bahman Mohasses is the most creative painter in our history, as is Ali-Reza Esfahbod. Mohasses created works that are globally recognized in the 1960s and 1970s. This global recognition is rarely true for many Iranian artists. Perhaps only one or two Iranian artists are recognized globally. Mohasses is at the peak of structure and creativity in the canvases he created, in color, composition, and all technical aspects. He painted the dehumanization of man, the iron-like existence of beings, and what inhuman situations do to humans in the most beautiful way. You cannot easily pass by Mohasses's canvases. They hold you. They paralyze you. Ali-Reza Esfahbod is also a great painter. From the crows of the Shah's era to the canvases after the revolution. Esfahbod is the artistic and creative testimony of the history of the erased. Your second guest is Bahram Sadeghi, one of Iran's great writers. I have always been interested in narrative literature. My main work has also been story criticism. Iranian narrative literature has 'The Blind Owl', some of Hedayat's short stories, 'The Stone of Patience' by Chubak, which is one of the sublime novels of Persian literature, or Hushang Golshiri and 'Shazdeh Ehtejab' and his short stories. Bahram Sadeghi (1936-1984): Iranian storyteller. Works: 'Malakout', 'The Empty Trenches and Canteens', 'The Appointment with Jojo'. Reason for invitation: He created a new perspective in Iranian narrative literature with his works. 'Shazdeh Ehtejab' by Hushang is the best long story in Persian literature and transformed Iranians' view of storytelling. Hushang is a master of the short story. However, Bahram Sadeghi has characteristics that make him unique. If he is with Saedi, they complement each other. Bahram Sadeghi, with 'Malakout' and the collection of stories 'The Empty Trenches and Canteens', created a new perspective in narrative literature. I believe that influential people are those who respond adequately to the needs of the time and the questions of the era by creating new perspectives and bring these perspectives to an element of the cultural structure of society, thus becoming enduring. Sadeghi did just that. Why do I say Saedi and Sadeghi together? After the land reforms, layers in society emerged that benefited from windfall wealth. The land reforms transformed many things, including the emergence of new layers in society. One of these new layers was the so-called rentier middle class, which in the cultural arena was vulgar and mediocre. They imitated Western cultural manifestations, modernity, and democracy but in a vulgar manner. They shaped these manifestations in their own way. The most beautiful radical satire of these layers is seen in the works of Bahram Sadeghi. In his bitter radical satire. Why is this important for our time? Because since the so-called construction period of Mr. Rafsanjani, among those who were relatively close to power, such layers emerged. In the new generations, there are also layers whose families benefit from rents, the so-called rich kids, and also the so-called middle class. These have imposed the most mediocre forms of cultural vulgarity on our society. This vulgarity is seen everywhere. For example, in theater. They take great plays and reduce them to simple, vulgar comedies for laughter. Vulgar comedies of Lalehzar. But they think they are artists. A kind of vulgar snobbery that is also present in filmmaking and series-making. This snobbery has dominated the cultural society. During the Shah's time, this vulgar snobbery existed but was not dominant over culture. This vulgar snobbery has now dominated the cultural society due to the absence of radical artistic creativity. The satire of this snobbery is one of the main themes in the works of Saedi and Sadeghi, and their absence is felt. We come to your next guest, Amir Parviz Pouyan, one of the leaders of the Fadaian Guerrilla Organization. Amir Parviz Pouyan (1946-1971): Political activist, communist theorist, and one of the founders of the Fadaian Guerrilla Organization. Works: 'The Necessity of Armed Struggle and Rejection of the Theory of Survival', 'Angry at Imperialism and Afraid of Revolution'. Reason for invitation: After the thinkers of the Constitutional Revolution, he is one of the few who created new concepts and theoretical perspectives. Leaving aside the thinkers of the Constitutional Revolution, Pouyan and Khalil Maleki are among the few, and perhaps the only ones, who created new concepts and theoretical perspectives in the history of political philosophy in Iran. A giant like Ehsan Tabari is more of an expounder of others' ideas and has not created any new concepts. However, Khalil Maleki, in that era, even reached the formulation of concepts like state capitalism by critiquing Russian leftism. Maleki's ideas did not have much impact on society, but Pouyan's critiques and theoretical innovations transformed society and at least the left in Iran. Pouyan critiqued the political and cultural concepts of that era and created new concepts from his critique, thus responding to the needs of society at that time. For this reason, armed struggle emerged influenced by his ideas and attracted the left of that time. The dispersion of leftist circles and groups and their inactivity were among the most important characteristics of the left at that time, and Pouyan transcended this situation by critiquing it and creating appropriate theoretical concepts. The traditional leftist perspective dominated the left of that time. Pouyan, by critiquing the traditional leftist perspective, paved the way for some new leftist concepts. On the basis of his critique and perspective, the scattered leftist circles practically united. The main part of the left movement in Iran at that time, in all its manifestations, from secret groups to intellectual, artistic, and literary creativity, from intellectuals like Shamlou to the prevailing literary, artistic, and political space, oriented around Pouyan's critique and his concepts. The issue of dispersion was resolved, and the left became influential. Pouyan grasped the crux of the issue. He understood his era's questions and answered them. Now it can be argued that his answer was right or wrong; that is another discussion, but his answer was effective on society. Personally, there was a special charm in Pouyan. It was not personal charisma or sanctity. But when you saw Pouyan, you could see the laser intelligence and clarity of understanding and quick transfer shining from his eyes. Every word he spoke, he believed in. We saw that he gave his life for it. Pouyan always quickly discovered the most hidden layers of a concept even before the smart kids around him touched the surface of the subject. He was very intelligent and a modern thinker and very understandable to be one of your guests, at least because of the political aspect of your work. Your fourth guest is Ahmad Shamlou. Ahmad Shamlou (1925-2000): Iranian poet, writer, and journalist. Famous works: 'The Book of Alley', 'The Humble Discoverers', 'Fresh Air', 'Unconnected Praises'. Reason for invitation: For my generation, he was the symbol of all ideals, aspirations, and the poet of our emotions and feelings. Ahmad Shamlou was the symbol of all ideals, aspirations, and the poet of our emotions and feelings for my generation. He was innovative. He even surpassed Nima and placed the internal music of words instead of classical and Nima music. He was also influential. After August 19, a sense of defeat prevailed over Persian poetry. Ekhtiar, with his tragic view, elevated the tragedy of August 19 to a general philosophical tragedy in his poems... 'Winter' and other poems... These are no longer just the tragedy of August 19. It is a general tragedy. Shamlou accompanied this wave for a short time. But he freed himself from the poetry of defeat. Shamlou is an epic poet. In those years, that is, until before 1949, there was no epic occurring in society; there was no movement, and Shamlou constructed his love for humanity in the form of love for Aida to create the epic of love, distancing himself from the poetry of defeat. Then, before the explosion of the armed struggle movement and on the brink of this movement, it seemed he sensed the epic that was on its way. He knew that an epic was coming, and his poetry took on a different color. Shamlou's epic poetry reached its peak thereafter. Shamlou was not much into theoretical discussions, but he had a strong antenna that captured the atmosphere, society, and transformations and internalized them in himself and in his poetry. In a non-poetic state, he was a humorous person. When he sat with close friends, like when he sat with Ali-Reza Esfahbod, who was like his son, or with his school friends, Shamlou would tell more jokes. He could imitate anyone's voice very well. He would look at you, you would say a word, and then he would imitate your voice so well that one would think it was the original. But Shamlou had an antenna that sensed transformation before the event occurred. He absorbed his perceptions and internalized them in himself and in his poetry. Before 1949, a sense of defeat prevailed over poetry. Shamlou, who had sensed the transformation, sang: 'The sea sits cold / A branch of the darkness of the forest cries out towards the light.' The sea symbolized the people. They sit and do nothing, but someone from the forest will cry out towards the light. In rejecting Pouyan's theory of survival, you read this in a theoretical framework. A branch means the vanguard that cries out from the darkness of the forest towards the light. His poetry is a prophecy of armed struggle. When the poem was published, Pouyan had grabbed Monouchehr Hezar Khani's collar, saying that you told Shamlou about our ideological political discussions. Hezar Khani said no... but Shamlou did not need information. He sensed it. In the revolution, he had a poem perhaps called 'Warm Morning'... 'Deadlock'... no, before that. In those early days or before the victory of the revolution. 'Warm', 'the greasy kasedanehs'. Now I don't remember, it gives a very ugly image of the revolution. In those early days. 'Professional orators are on their way.' 'Martyrs change their backs.' It was published in the Friday book. Shamlou had an antenna that captured. His power was that he internalized these signals. This is important for an artist. Many see many things. But if you internalize what you see, digest it, and elevate it to art, you have transcended. Shamlou did this.