Qajar Iran
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Sadegh Hedayat
Tehran, Qajar Iran
Archival Overview
Iranian author universally recognized as the father of modern Persian prose fiction, whose surrealist psychological masterpiece The Blind Owl is the most translated Iranian literary work in history.
Biographical Record
Born into an aristocratic Persian family, Sadegh Hedayat (1903–1951) studied in Paris and India, where he mastered Pahlavi (Middle Persian) and Buddhist philosophy. He rejected archaic Persian rhetorical ornamentation, introducing colloquial language, psychological realism, and existential dread.
In 1937, while in Bombay, he published fifty mimeographed copies of 'The Blind Owl' ('Boof-e Koor'), a hallucinated, nightmarish confession of a pen-case painter grappling with murder, decay, and shadow. Struggling with deep depression and censorship, he ended his life in Paris in 1951.
Key Life Milestones
Publication of 'The Blind Owl'
Published the surrealist psychological novella that founded modern Persian literary modernism.
Haji Aqa
Published scathing satirical novella mocking clerical hypocrisy and political opportunism in Tehran.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialParis, France