Editing Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh (section)

==Literary works==

=== Once Upon a Time ''(Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud)'' ===
Jamalzadeh's major work ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud''<ref>The literal translation of the phrase ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud'' is ''One Was There And One Was Not There,'' or ''There Was One And There Wasn't One,'' alluding to an indefinite time and place. Opening a story by ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud'' prepares the hearers (especially those of very young age) or readers that what they are about to hear or read is not necessarily true. Many may agree with the writer of this footnote, that hearing the words ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud'' immediately creates a very warm and intimate feeling in children; this feeling is often invoked even in those of advanced age upon hearing this phrase.</ref> (یکی بود یکی نبود - Once Upon a Time), published in 1921 in Berlin, did not reach Iran until a year later, and when it did, it was not received favourably. The public, especially the clergy, loathed Jamalzadeh's portrayal of their country to the degree that copies of the book were burned in public squares. A collection of six short stories, ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud'' deals with the social and political conditions in Iran around the start of the 20th century, a subject that up to then had been outside the purview of writers and poets in general. Moreover, interwoven with this is a considerable amount of militancy against Western interference in Iran and an open mockery of religious fanaticism.
Jamalzadeh's simple and colloquial style, combined with a measured humour, enhanced the impact of his writings, making his stories such as ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud'' and ''Farsi Shekar Ast'' (Persian is Sugar) even more poignant than otherwise would be the case. This hostile public reaction affected Jamalzadeh to the degree that for the next twenty years he refrained from engaging in any literary activities.

==== What's Sauce for the Goose... ''(Bil-e Dig, Bil-e Choqondar)'' ====
One of the most well known short stories from Jamalzadeh's "Once Upon A Time" is Bil-e Dig, Bil-e Choqondar (بیله دیگ بیله چغندر) known in English as "What's Sauce for the Goose."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Stories From Iran|last=Moayyad|first=Heshmat|publisher=Mage|year=1991|isbn=0934211337|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/storiesfromiranc0000moay/page/33 33–42]|url=https://archive.org/details/storiesfromiranc0000moay/page/33}}</ref> This first person narrative follows the story of an Iranian man in Europe who, in his reminiscence of Iranian bathhouses, meets a masseur with whom he engages in deep conversation.

The story begins with the unnamed narrator absorbed in an internal monologue on habits and their tendency to return, even after a person tries to break them. The narrator then, almost as if returning to habit, expresses his sudden urge to attend a hammam (bathhouse) in order to satisfy his previously expressed feelings of nostalgia. Upon arrival to the bathhouse, the narrator was disappointed to find that the Turkish-style bathhouses of Europe were no match for their Iranian counterparts that he knew and loved; however, he was pleasantly surprised to be massaged by an Iranian-trained masseur. By engaging in conversation with the masseur, the narrator underestimates the servant's background and realizes some of the flaws of the Iranian society and culture. After learning that masseur was an advisor to several Iranian ministries, the narrator is immediately overcome with skepticism and disbelief. The masseur continued to tell his story of being placed into the role of an advisor, the respect and high position that he gained by chance, and his less-than-positive judgment of Iranians from an outsider's perspective. One of the negative aspects he alludes is the dishonesty of Iranians, illustrated in his story of being robbed by thieves and given empty promises. After listening to the masseur, the narrator slyly retorts with a Persian proverb "Bil-e dig, bil-e choqondar." After unsuccessfully attempting to explain the proverb, the narrator's time at the bathhouse is done. Disappointed that their time is up, the masseur hands the man his diary in which he details his encounters in Iran.

Upon his return home, the narrator begins to read the diary. He quickly realizes that the stories in the diary are written by an uneducated man, who views Iran with the prejudice that the whole world should be like Europe. In one observation, the masseur comments on the absence of women from public life. Obviously, women are not actually absent from the society but appear in public fully covered in body-length black veils. Due to not being introduced to the specifics of local culture, the European masseur took them for "strange types of priests".

The masseur also comments on the social stratification in Iranian society. He writes that the men in Iran are distinguished by the color of their hats and that there are three groups: The Yellow Hats, the White Hats, and the Black Hats. As the narrator keeps reading the descriptions for each group, he learns that they represent the peasants, the clerics, and the government, respectively. The European observer cannot understand why the Yellow Hats, who sacrifice all their belongings to the other two classes hold so much respect for them at the same time. He says: "They are so insistent upon this that often both they themselves and their families starve to death or die from the cold and are buried without so much as a shroud, while the Black Hats and the White Hats have profited so much from the Yellow Hats' suffering that they have no idea how to spend their money." Once the narrator read through the whole diary, he mails it back to the masseur with a little note. In it, he includes the translation of the proverb he previously failed to explain.

The European masseur's observations come off as naïve and limited due to his ignorance, but they serve as a social satire that Jamalzadeh uses as a literary strategy to exemplify a humorous but eye-opening perspective on Iranian society.

A scholarly analysis that has been done by Clause V. Pederson regards the modernist views that Jamalzadeh's shows in his literature.<ref>Pederson, Claus V. "Pre-Modern and Early Modern Persian Literature: Written While Traveling?" Persian Literary Studies Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2012, pp. 75–86.</ref> There is no doubt Western influences in modern Persian literature, including Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh's works, but many of the cultural and political influences in these stories are often overlooked along with its message that reflects on a new worldview. Jamalzadeh's literary works express a modernist view of the world where there is no fixed world order and the individual is the center of the universe that has the freedom to use his rational and intellectual capabilities to understand, interpret, and create their own surrounding reality subjectively and relatively. Examples of these ideas are shown in Jamalzadeh's short story "Bile dig, Bile Choghondar" ("What's Sauce for the Goose") which demonstrates these views on individuality, rational faculties, interpretation, the relativity of truth, and reality. An example that the author uses to recount this point across is in the Moayyed and Sprachman translation: "Habit truly is like a beggar from Samaria or a pet cat or a Jew owed money or an Isfahani jakesraker: no matter how many times you throw it out one door, it'll always return through another". Here he does not refer to regular ordinary habit but is referring to the habits that blind people and doesn't allow people to see the world as it truly is. In the story, the narrator meets a French masseur who has been to Iran with his former master. From the story that the masseur tells about Iran, a ridiculing and exaggerated story, the narrator then realizes that his own understanding of Iran has been clouded by ill memory and habit. He realizes that the European masseur's understanding is limited and partly wrong. Although he feels humiliated at the fact that he did not understand his own culture, he realizes that this new knowledge helps him to understand Western culture and also Iranian culture better than the masseur does because the masseur has not allowed himself to see the world as it really is.

=== Later writings ===
He began writing again in the 1940s, but by that time he had lost the dexterity that imparted conciseness, novelty of form, originality of ideas, a biting sense of humor, and a tight structure to his earlier stories. Tautologism, a tendency toward using sage remarks, making mystical and philosophical speculations, and disregard for order became the hallmark of his later writings. ''Sahra-ye Mahshar'' (Armageddon) (1947), ''Talkh-o Shirin'' (Bitter and Sweet) (1955), ''Kohne va Now'' (Old and New) (1959), ''Qair az Khoda Hichkas Nabud'' (None Existed Except God) (1961), ''Asman-o Risman'' (The Blue Yonder and Rope) (1965), ''Qesse-ha-ye Kutah Bara-ye Bachcheha-ye Rish-dar'' (Short Stories for Bearded Children [i.e. for Adults]) (1974), and ''Qesse-ye Ma be Akhar Rasid''<ref>''Qesse-ye Ma be Akhar Rasid'', or ''Qesse-ye Ma be Sar Rasid'', is also a traditional phrase which often ends Persian stories for children; these stories are often enclosed by ''Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud'' and ''Qesse-ye Ma be Akhar Rasid''.</ref> (Thus Ends Our Story) (1979) were written during this phase of his literary activity. Although Jamalzadeh continued to criticize the court and the clergy, some of his works of this period lack his original unique Persian style, even though he is at times as biting and as veracious as in his earlier writings.<ref>[[Sadegh Hedayat]]'s works, especially his ''Tupp-e Morvarid'' (Pearl Cannon), are devoted to a parody of the twin pillars of the Iranian government of his time, court and clergy.</ref>

In addition to [[Persian language|Persian]], Jamalzadeh was fluent in French, German, and [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. He translated many books from the latter languages into Persian.

Jamalzadeh was nominated for the [[1965 Nobel Prize in Literature|1965]], [[1967 Nobel Prize in Literature|1967]], and [[1969 Nobel Prize in Literature|1969]] [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] by [[Richard N. Frye]], [[Ehsan Yarshater]], and [[Jes Peter Asmussen]] respectively. <ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Nomination Archive - Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh Esfahani |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=14999 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=NobelPrize.org}}</ref>