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The Unstable People of a Tumultuous Land: Persia Through the Eyes and Feet of Hajji Baba of Isfahan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Amir Ahmadi Arian
Amir Ahmadi Arian*
Affiliation:
School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, Australia
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Abstract

For the English interested in Persia in the nineteenth century, James Morier's Adventures of Hajji Baba of Isfahan was a crucial text, as it also was for Iranians who read its groundbreaking Persian translation almost half a century later. The text provided a persuasive understanding of Persia that has endured in the western imagination. This paper begins with the framing narrative and shows how the frame story sets the stage for a convincing literary portrait of Persia and Persians. Then it analyzes the image of Persia constructed in this book through the characterization of Hajji Baba as representative of Persians, and the geopolitical portrayal of the country that emerges from the account of his travels.

Keywords

James MorierHajji Baba of IsfahanPicaresqueInstabilityNarrative TheoryPersiaIran
Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 57 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2014

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Footnotes

This work was supported by the University of Queensland through the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and UQ Centennial Scholarship schemes for Higher Degree Research. I would like to thank my advisors, Dr. Juliana De Nooy and Dr. Joe Hardwick, for their suggestions and support.

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