Book Talk: The Rebellion of Forms in Modern Persian Poetry

Join us for a lecture by Dr. Farshad Sonboldel, drawn from his recent book The Rebellion of Forms in Modern Persian Poetry (Bloomsbury, 2024). During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, shifts in poetic styles and themes emerged, diverging from the ideals of the Literary Return Movement. Some poets of this era sought to engage with contemporary issues, notably the socio-political turmoil of the Qajar period, marking an early inclination towards poetry advocating for societal change. While these poems may not encapsulate modern notions of societal progression and freedom, they serve as precursors to the groundbreaking poetry of the 1905–1911 Iranian Constitutional Revolution. The socio-political poetry preceding the revolution, regardless of its stance on prevailing crises, laid the groundwork for subsequent generations' commitment to social issues. However, the primary concern of this talk is to show how these committed poems contributed to a trend of modernization and reformulation of poetic forms in Persian poetry.

The Rebellion of Forms in Modern Persian Poetry focuses on selected poems chosen for their ability to exemplify significant experimental tendencies within pioneering movements and from individual poets across various periods. By analyzing both the formal and thematic dimensions of these poems, the book offers a fresh perspective on the narrative of modern Persian poetry, elucidating the interplay between radical aesthetic innovations in poetic practice and resistance against political and cultural hegemony within society.

Farshad Sonboldel is the World History and Cultures Librarian at the University of California, San Diego. He earned his Ph.D. in Modern Languages from the University of St. Andrews in the UK, following a Master’s in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Tehran, Iran. In addition to his academic research background and publications in English, he is an award-winning poet, literary critic, and researcher in Persian literature.

He has published four books in Persian, including two collections of poems titled Metropolis (2015) and She'r-e Boland-e Sharayet (2019), a research monograph titled Gozaresh-e Nahib-e Jonbesh-e Adabi-e Shahin: Tondar Kia (2016) discussing the works of an avant-garde Persian poet from the first half of the twentieth century, and an edited volume on current trends in literary criticism in Persian literature titled Naqd-e Irad. His recently published book, The Rebellion of Forms in Modern Persian Poetry: Politics of Poetic Experimentation (Bloomsbury Academic), explores the evolution of poetic forms in modern Persian poetry. Sonboldel is also the editor of MELA Notes, the journal of the Middle East Librarians' Association and the Deputy Editor for Iranian Studies Journal.

If you need a disability-related accommodation for this event, please contact us at iranianstudies [at] stanford.edu (iranianstudies[at]stanford[dot]edu).  Requests should be made by October 30, 2024.