Abstract
A personal account of the first years of the revolution and its attack on culture, by one of Iran's leading writers
Gholam Hoseyn Sa'edi, born in 1935, is one of the best-known contemporary Iranian writers. Trained as a psychiatrist, he later devoted most of his time to writing. His novels, short stories, plays and filmscripts were often censored by the authorities under the Shah. He was arrested and badly beaten up many times by Savak, the Shah's secret police. His latest detention was in 1974 when he was held for over a year and badly tortured (see Index 1/1978).
After the fall of the Shah in 1979, Gholam Hoseyn Sa'edi, like many of his fellow intellectuals, gave enthusiastic support to the revolution. He later became disillusioned with it and went into hiding for nearly a year before he was able to go abroad in May 1982. The following is his personal account of cultural and intellectual life in Tehran during the early days of the ‘Islamic Revolution’ under the Party of God and Ministry of Guidance. The article first appeared in Alef-Bâ, a Persian-language magazine founded by Sa'edi and his friends in Paris.