Yet, for Hedayat, modernity was not just a question of scientific rationality or a pure imitation of European values. There is no doubt that Hedayat was the most modern of all modern writers in Iran. He is credited with having brought the Persian language and literature into the mainstream of international contemporary writing. His writings also include numerous literary criticisms, studies in Persian folklore, and many translations from Middle Persian and French.

During his short literary life span, Hedayat published a substantial number of short stories and novelettes, two historical dramas, a play, a travelogue, and a collection of satirical parodies and sketches. The works of Rainer Maria Rilke, Edgar Allan Poe, Franz Kafka, Anton Chekhov, and Guy de Maupassant intrigued him the most.

Hedayat subsequently devoted his whole life to studying Western literature and to learning and investigating Iranian history and folklore. In Iran, he held various jobs for short periods. After four years in France, he finally surrendered his scholarship and returned home in the summer of 1930 without receiving a degree. In 1927 Hedayat attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Marne but was rescued by a fishing boat. In this period he became acquainted with Thérèse, a Parisian with whom he had a love affair. There he gave up architecture in turn to pursue dentistry. There, he initially went on to study engineering in Belgium, which he abandoned after a year to study architecture in France. In 1925, he was among a select few students who traveled to Europe to continue their studies. Hedayat was educated at Collège Saint-Louis (French catholic school) and Dar ol-Fonoon (1914–1916). Another one of his sisters was the wife of Abdollah Hedayat who was also an army general. Hedayat's sister married Haj Ali Razmara who was an army general and among the prime ministers of Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

His great-grandfather Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat Tabarestani was a well-respected writer and worked in the government, as did other relatives. Hedayat was born to a northern Iranian aristocratic family in Tehran. Best known for his novel The Blind Owl, he was one of the earliest Iranian writers to adopt literary modernism in their career.Įarly life and education Young Sadegh Hedayat Sadegh Hedayat ( Persian: صادق هدایت Persian pronunciation: listen ⓘ 17 February 1903 – 9 April 1951) was an Iranian writer and translator. Writer of prose fiction and short stories

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