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Literature inIran encompasses a variety of literary traditions in the variouslanguages used in Iran. Modern literatures of Iran includePersian literature (inPersian, the country's primary language),Azerbaijani literature (inAzerbaijani, the country's second largely spoken language), andKurdish literature (inKurdish, the country's third largely spoken language), among others.
Iran's earliest surviving literary traditions are that ofAvestan, theIranicsacred language of theAvesta whose earliest literature is attested from the 6th century BC and is still preserved by the country'sZoroastrian communities in the observation of their religious rituals,[1] and that ofPersian, the Iranic language that originates from the Old Iranian dialect of the region ofPersis (better known asPersia) in southwestern Iran and hasan earlier attested literature from between the 3rd to the 10th century AD, apart fromits oldest attested form that is carved on ancient inscriptions from between the 6th to the 4th century BC.
Persian is Iran's official language and the language of the country's ethnic majority (i.e., thePersians), andPersian literature has been the country's most influential literary tradition.[2] Apart from Iran, Persian literature was used and developed further through several medievalPersianate societies inAsia Minor,Central Asia, andSouth Asia, and the language is still used widely in Central Asia (Tajikistan andUzbekistan) andAfghanistan.
Arabic literature began to develop in Iran following theMuslim conquest. TheSemiticArabic language, from which many words were borrowed into the languages of Iran and whose script replaced Iran's earlier writing systems, was used largely by Iranian authors in the medieval era, as it functioned as an international language throughout the Muslim dominance. Medieval Iranian authors used Arabic especially for scholarly literature in various fields, flourishing first throughKhorasan. They wrote some of the most remarkable Arabic-language history accounts on both Iranian and universal history, notably that of the well-known scholarTabari.[3]
TheTurkicAzerbaijani language, which developed as a branch of theOghuz Turkic languages through the 5th to the 11th and the 6th to the 12th century in and aroundAzerbaijan and is today the native language of Iran's second-largest ethnic group (i.e., theAzerbaijanis), has a literary tradition originating from the time of the 13th-centuryMongol conquest of Iran, incorporating both Turkic and Iranian influences.Azerbaijani literature was developed highly after Iran's reunification under theSafavid Empire, whose rulers themselves wrote poetry, as well as under the reign of theQajar dynasty.Chagatai, the prestigious and influential Turkic language that was itself influenced remarkably by Iranian languages (Sogdian and Persian), was also used, apart from its predominant location in Central Asia'sTransoxiana, by writers inShiraz,Isfahan, andQazvin.[4] Many poets from Azerbaijan wrote both in Azerbaijani and in Persian, although printing in Azerbaijani and other native languages of Iran except Persian was banned for a period under the reign of thePahlavi rulerReza Shah.[5] OfOld Azeri, the Iranic language that was used in Azerbaijan prior to the development of Turkic, a few literary works also remain.[6]
Kurdish, the Iranic language that is spoken by the country's 3rd largest ethnic group (i.e., theKurds), has a literary tradition incorporating the various Kurdish dialects that are spoken throughoutKurdistan.[7]Kurdish literature, whose earliest works are those of the 16th-century poetMalaye Jaziri ofwestern Kurdistan and at least one writer before him, was produced also throughouteastern Kurdistan in western Iran, notably with works from the time of the short-livedSoviet-backed autonomousRepublic of Mahabad.[8][9]Gurani, the Iranic language of theGuran Kurds inHawraman that was once used as a court language by the Qajar-era Kurdish vassaldom ofArdalan,[8][9] also produced a literary tradition originating from the 16th century that includes works notably of 19th-century poet and historianMastura Ardalan ofSenna and those of the religious texts ofYarsanism.[7]
Iran's firstprinting press was founded in 1633 or 1636 byKhachatur Kesaratsi, a Safavid-era Armenian archbishop from Isfahan's Armenian neighborhood ofNew Julfa.[10][11]Iranian Armenians, notably the 19th-century novelistRaffi, were among the contributors toArmenian literature, which originates from the earliest literary works inArmenian developed inSasanian Armenia by the 5th century.[12] Schools dedicated especially to the Armenian communities were established since the 19th century in Azerbaijan, Isfahan, and Tehran, encouraging Armenian writing throughout modern Iran, although they were closed for a period under the reign of Reza Shah.[13]
TheKartvelianGeorgian language, still spoken by theIranian Georgians inFereydan and other regions, also has an old literary history in Iran. Georgian writers of the Safavid era produced epics and laments on their life under the Safavid Empire, making considerable contributions toGeorgian literature.[14] Documents in both Georgian and Persian were produced by theBagrationi dynasty, who were subject to the Iranian rulership.[15] The earliest Georgian manuscript discovered in Iran isSamecniero ("Scientific"), a poem that describes biblical stories in an Islamic perspective and contains one of the first Georgian–Persian dictionaries, written byIase Tushi, who settled in Isfahan in the early 17th century. Among other Georgian writers of the time wasTeimuraz I, who ruled theKingdom of Kakheti between 1605 and 1648 under Iranian hegemony and wrote a number of stories and historical narrations with significant Persian literary influences.Parsadan Gorgijanidze, a politician and historian in the Safavid Empire, was the author of a number of remarkable Georgian literary works in Iran, including a Georgian version of the Iranian epic poemŠāhnāme ("Book of the Kings") by the name ofRostomiani ("Stories of Rostom") and an account of the history of Georgia that was produced in Isfahan in the 1690s.[14][16]
Among other languages used in Iran,Lurish,[17]Balochi,[18][19]Turkmen,[20]Gilaki,[21] andTabari[22] have also developed literature to some extent.
