Imagine a Nation

A critical and theoretical interpretation of six major modern Persian poets and the idea of a homeland, by Hamid Dabashi

Hamid Dabashi’s Imagine a Nation: Six Persian Poets in Search of a Homeland is a much-needed tour de force, which breathes life into the greatest poets of twentieth-century Iran with a vision that is both authentic and compelling. It offers the best of both worlds of analysis and translation. One hopes that Dabashi’s rare combination of theoretical sophistication and exquisite translation skills, which are demonstrated in this study of a poetic movement that has been underestimated for too long, will inspire a new generation of scholars to unshackle themselves from Orientalist lenses on their own poetic heritage.

A deeply personal book that introduces readers to Six seminal Persian poets from the 20th century while putting in question our literary critical assumptions about periodization, genre, and aesthetics. It touches on the meaning of poetry and imagination by tracing the emergence of a sublime political—and poetical—consciousness that shaped an entire generation of scholars and artists in Iran and beyond. A tour de force!

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, USA. He is the author of over 25 books and focuses on the social and intellectual history of Iran and Islam, both classical and contemporary. Among his most recent books are Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad (2019), The Last Muslim Intellectual: The Life and Legacy of Jalal Al-e Ahmad (2021), and An Iranian Childhood: Rethinking History and Memory (2023). He is a prominent commentator on global affairs, writing regularly for Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye , and other news outlets.