ABSTRACT
This short chapter is a meditation on the integral role of the demonic, a category often confined to the halls of tradition, in the formation of a modern reactionary literature that lamented the incredibly daft and decadent stupor of late-Sasanian society. Through a reading of Ṣādiq Hidāyat’s (1903–51/1281–1330 hs.) Parvīn Dukhtar-i Sāsān (Parvīn, the Sasanian Girl) (1930Parv–n1/1309 hs.) and Buzurg ʿAlavī’s (1904–97/1282–1375 hs.) Dīv! … Dīv! (Demon! … Demon!), (1931–2/1310 hs.) Mozafari explores the way the classical literary descent into demonic love unwittingly transformed into a modern existentialist question proposed by the advocates of a rooted provincialism. This was part of an attempt to involve increasingly contemptuous readers into the revivalist strategies of interbellum Iran.
