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The stories of rebellious children at the time of the 1979 revolution

2021; Routledge; Volume: 50; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13530194.2021.1978280

1469-3542

Mina Khanlarzadeh,

Islamic Studies and History

In times of social upheaval and revolution, intellectuals’ ideas on societal transformation can seep into children’s literature, creating a subversive literary space in which authors redefine traditional social relations and imagine alternative life-worlds. This essay discusses several texts by Iran’s pioneer author of modern children’s literature, Samad Behrangi. It illustrates how, in his stories for children, Behrangi articulated the revolutionaries’ dreams. It further explores the utopian impulses and magical and alternative possibilities expressed in literature in the years preceding the 1979 Revolution. Behrangi composed narratives in which characters critique their families, social conventions and relations, and socioeconomic structures. Ultimately, he portrays an escape from the familiar as the first step towards the liberation of his young characters and the creation of a biodiverse collective based not on familial relations but on imagining other ways of being in this world.