The travel novel The Travel Diary of Ebrahim Beyg, dating from the late nineteenth century, is regarded as a pioneering account of the first political reform movement in Iran, the Constitutional Movement in 1906&1911. The story=s author, Zeyn al-Abedin Marage=i, not only initiated the development of modern Persian prose literature, but was also able to spread reforming ideas effectively to the masses. In the process, he drew on the ideas and concepts of his intellectual contemporaries, as well as existing traditions. His work thus created the basis for a new Iranian self-image, based on the religious tradition of Shiite Islam, patriotism, and Iranian history. In this study, Katja Föllmer focuses particularly on the author=s concept of the past. She explores the question of how the image of the pre-Islamic period conveyed in the Travel Diary takes account of the idea of progress and implements existing traditions. In addition, the study shows the extent to which the European Enlightenment and transregional contacts in the Near East and Middle East shaped Iran=s contemporary understanding of society and religion.

Autorentext

Katja Föllmer is an Iran scholar, specializing in Iran in the modern era. Her research work, which has been accompanied by numerous research visits to Iran, includes aspects of social transformation processes in Iran from the nineteenth century to the present, literary and media analyses, and discourse studies. With responsibiility for the regional focus on Iran, she is currently carrying out research on the social implications of religiosity or non-religiosity, particularly among Iranian women in the urban setting of Tehran.