The Kant-Hegel Confrontation in Theory and Criticism of Fiction and the Novel in Iran (1933-1969)

The majority of magazines and reviews published between the early 1940s and the late 1960s in Iran were, in one way or another, linked to the Tudeh Party of Iran and, thus, left-leaning. Therefore, the ideas of the writers in these magazines were connected to Hegelian aesthetics, via Marxist aesthetics. Hegelian aesthetics subordinates artistic form to philosophical thought and concepts, and holds that the ultimate goal of art is to move towards philosophy and the production of thought. In Iran, critics such as Fatemeh Sayyah, Ehsan Tabari and others approved of the novel only within the framework of committed realism. But in the early 60s, critics like Abolhassan Najafi and Houshang Golshiri gave priority to artistic form and narrative techniques for the first time. The present study explores these critics’ ideas and arguments with reference to the theories of Kant and Hegel and demonstrates the influence of Western philosophy and theories of literature on Iranian critics. The study argues that in their criticisms, Sayyah and Tabari have more affinity with the ideas of Hegel and Hegelians, while Najafi and Golshiri represent a type of formalism rooted in Kant’s theories