The Absent Sinbad

Mohammad Ali Sepanlou was perhaps a fortunate poet in that the beginning of his youth and his career coincided with the golden years of literature, cultural production, and modern art in Iran. Born on November 20, 1940, in Tehran's Rey Street, he spent his last years of high school at Dar ul-Funun School, where he was classmates with figures like Bahram Beyzai, Dariush Ashouri, and Ahmad Reza Ahmadi. He studied law at the University of Tehran and participated in some student movement activities in the 1960s. In 1964, he founded the literary circle Torfeh with Ismail Noori Ala, Bahram Beyzai, Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, Nader Ebrahimi, Akbar Radi, and others, and in 1968, he was alongside the founders of the Iranian Writers' Association, including Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Ahmad Shamlou, Simin Daneshvar, Gholam Hossein Saedi, Be'azin, Simin Behbahani, and Ismail Khoei. Ismail Noori Ala, a poet and literary critic residing in the U.S. and a long-time friend of Sepanlou, describes this period of Sepanlou's life: "When I met Sepanlou and our friendship blossomed, I was twenty years old, and he was two years older. We became friends at the University of Tehran; he was a passionate person, politically active, and involved in struggles. During those tumultuous years at the university, he always participated in protests. Later, when the issue of the Writers' Association arose, he was one of the active members in its establishment, a fan of Jalal Al-e Ahmad, and moved alongside him. However, after Jalal's death and the near shutdown of the Writers' Association, Sepanlou was arrested by the SAVAK in 1970. When he was released from prison, I felt he had changed significantly. He felt he was being pursued, and life was hard for him. He became a banned writer, and his life was difficult. Gradually, I noticed he tried to adapt to the situation and not cause too much trouble. But when the revolution happened, I felt a new life had emerged in him. He started giving speeches during the revolution." Faraj Sarkuhi, a writer and literary critic, describes Sepanlou's life as follows: "Although Sepanlou did not have a tumultuous life, he had a rich and fruitful life, which is rare. He authored and translated about 50 to 60 books. His first poetry collection, 'Ah, Desert,' was published in 1963. Sepanlou was part of a circle from the third generation. If we consider Nima as the first generation of contemporary Iranian poets, then Shamlou and Akhavan or, for example, Nasrat Rahmani and Shahroudi as the brilliant figures of the second generation, Sepanlou and Forough were the brightest figures of the third generation. Of course, during the Islamic Republic, most of his works were censored, yet he was such a prominent poet that he could not be denied. Sepanlou received the Legion of Honor medal and the Max Jacob Poetry Prize from France." However, Sepanlou's poetry was also influenced by his life. Ismail Noori Ala states that Sepanlou's poetry became more personal after the revolution: "In my opinion, if you follow Sepanlou's poetry from the beginning, it was historically epic poetry, often with a political flavor, even during the time when Abdel Nasser was fighting Israel, and he actively expressed his views. But especially after the revolution, I saw his poetry shift towards a kind of escape from social life and become a personal narrative and reflections on his private life and the events around him. This was a profound change in Sepanlou's work." Nevertheless, Sepanlou's poetry was both independent and had a unique tone, especially his efforts in creating epic poetry in post-Nima poetry. Faraj Sarkuhi comments on this: "If we look at collections like 'Ah, Desert,' 'The Absent Sinbad,' 'Rainfalls,' 'Sidewalks,' 'The Pulse of My Homeland,' 'Ms. Zaman,' 'Turquoise in the Dust,' 'Boating in Tehran,' 'Exile in Homeland,' and epics like 'The Legend of the Unknown Poet,' we can see that Sepanlou was someone who managed to create new horizons in Persian poetry. When we talk about new horizons, we are discussing Persian poetry, which is very rich and challenging to create new perspectives within. Sepanlou had his own independent language, his own poetic world, and his own independent poetic forms. His poetry has a rhetorical aspect in some of his poems, not just in his epics. We know that Sepanlou was someone who revived epic poetry. If we pay attention, epic poetry, which means storytelling in poetic form, had a very rich tradition in Persian poetry. For example, we have the poems of Nezami and his stories. However, this new form of epic poetry can be said to have reached its peak with Sepanlou. Of course, Nima and Eshghi also have epics. But in Sepanlou's epics, we see several characteristics. One is that the epic is polyphonic, meaning it aligns with the modern world. It is not monophonic. The epic is multilingual. The characters participating in the epic speak in their own language. A notable example of this is in the epic '1399,' where Sepanlou summons history to the present, and in the epic 'Ms. Zaman,' Sepanlou's personal memories of Tehran turn into our collective memory, encompassing all the nostalgia and longing one might feel for this city." In the years following the revolution, Sepanlou preferred to stay in Tehran and continuously produced poetry and authored research works in translation, literary criticism, and poetry. His poems were heavily influenced by the city of Tehran, its history, and its physical life. Collections like 'Ms. Zaman,' 'Dark Figure,' and 'Boating in Tehran' are among them. Sepanlou acted in several films, including 'Calmness in the Presence of Others' by Nasser Taghavi, 'Sattar Khan' by Ali Hatami, and 'Rokhsareh' directed by Amir Ghoidell. This poet, critic, and writer passed away on May 10 due to lung cancer in Tehran. However, the funeral ceremony for this prominent figure in contemporary literature was accompanied by various controversies. The ceremony, as some eyewitnesses report, was held away from the poet's stature. Soroush Memar, who attended both his funeral and memorial service in Tehran, states: "On the day of Sepanlou's funeral, the reality is that neither the number of people who came for the funeral nor the events that occurred were expected by the attendees. About 200 people gathered for Sepanlou's funeral in front of the House of Artists. Some of these people were the security personnel of the House of Artists, and I personally heard that their role was precisely to block the coffin of Mohammad Ali Sepanlou from the approach of the 200 people who had come for this ceremony. There were two notable points in this. One or two people were specifically involved in the media circles in Tehran, and another person responsible for giving specific slogans during the ceremony managed the program, preventing intellectuals from speaking or approaching Sepanlou's coffin or participating in the funeral. The result of this planning was that of the three buses arranged to take attendees to Sepanlou's burial site, only one bus filled, and that too with the shouts of those present requesting repeatedly from the program's organizers. Many people, I can say, remained in shock for half an hour to forty minutes after the bus left and did not leave in front of the House of Artists, which was naturally unexpected for someone like Sepanlou, who had been closely connected with various artistic and intellectual circles in Iran for fifty years and had many friends." Reza Khandan Mahabadi, a member of the board of directors of the Iranian Writers' Association residing in Tehran, explains why a prominent member of the Writers' Association is buried under such conditions: "The Association is interested in holding ceremonies related to the deaths of its members. Unfortunately, however, there is usually a governmental will that prevents the Association from being involved in these matters. Since the passing of Ahmad Mahmoud about ten to twelve years ago, whenever the Association has wanted to take actions regarding its members, especially its older and prominent members, this current has come and taken control of the situation. Families are somehow encouraged that if the Association comes forward, it will become political, and so on. We have even received messages from people recently that the Association should not come forward, as it will become political, they will not allow it, and they will cause trouble. Each time one of these individuals passes away, this current comes forward and surrounds the situation, so to speak, taking control of the narrative. The Association is interested in introducing these individuals as they were in their lives, not creating different images of them. For example, these individuals thought differently, acted differently, and then at the time of their death, different images are created of them. However, they do not allow it, they surround the situation, and do not let the work be done. The same was true for Mr. Sepanlou." The body of Mohammad Ali Sepanlou, the contemporary poet, was finally transferred to the section of the notable figures in Behesht Zahra cemetery after being prayed over by Mahmoud Da'i, the head of the Information Institute, with the presence of about fifty people.