Edinburgh Research Archive logo

Edinburgh Research Archive

University of Edinburgh homecrest
View Item 
  •   ERA Home
  • Literatures, Languages, and Cultures, School of
  • Literatures, Languages, and Cultures PhD thesis collection
  • View Item
  •   ERA Home
  • Literatures, Languages, and Cultures, School of
  • Literatures, Languages, and Cultures PhD thesis collection
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Retelling Karbala: a literary analysis of key plays of the Iranian Taʿziyeh repertoire

View/Open
DeaconEL_2022.pdf (8.617Mb)
Date
23/05/2022
Item status
Restricted Access
Embargo end date
23/05/2023
Author
Deacon, Eleanor Lucy
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The Iranian taʿziyeh tradition commemorates the martyrdoms of Ḥusain b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb and his supporters at Karbala in 61 AH /680 CE. It includes a largely anonymous cycle of plays, the main episodes portraying the martyrdoms of Ḥusain, his relatives and supporters. This study examines four such episodes, The Martyrdom of ʿAbbās, The Martyrdom of Qāsem, The Martyrdom of Imam Ḥusain and Bāzār-e Shām (The Damascus Market). Comparing versions of their scripts from the Zand period (the earliest extant examples), through the Qajar period, and up to the mid-20th century, I analyse their literary features and how they developed. The majority of my sources are manuscripts drawn from the Vatican Library’s Cerulli Persian Collection. Through tracing the trajectory of these particular episodes, I make an important contribution to the understanding of the development of the taʿziyeh genre as a whole. I show the strong influence of the Iranian storytelling traditions naqqālī and pardeh-dārī, evidenced by narrative content, characterisation of the protagonists as heroes of epic, and by the presence of compositional features such as type-scenes and a composition-scheme (common in oral art forms). I also identify a societal connection between the early taʿziyeh composers and the storytellers of Selseleh-ye ʿAjam (the ʿAjam dervish order). In the dramatists’ embellishments of the Karbala narrative I find stories that assert the breadth of the Shiʿi community by connecting believers of different stripes to Ḥusain. I see the increased treatment of female characters, and find this to be a reflection of the taʿziyeh’s most active audience contingent. I see evidence of the dramatists’ impressions of European visitors to Qajar Iran, and find a hint of satire.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1842/38988

http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/2239
Collections
  • Literatures, Languages, and Cultures PhD thesis collection

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page

 

 

All of ERACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisorsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisors
LoginRegister

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page