Mohammad Jafar Mahjoub (; 23 August 1924 – 17 February 1996) was an Iranian scholar of Persian literature, essayist, translator and teacher.

Life

Mahjoub was born in Tehran in 1924 and graduated from the prestigious

Alborz High School Alborz High School () is a college-preparatory gifted high school located in the heart of Tehran, Iran. It is one of the first modern high schools in Asia and the Middle East, named after the Alborz mountain range, north of Tehran. Its place in th ...

in 1944. He obtained his bachelor's degree in political science from

Tehran University The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

in 1947. During this time he was employed as a stenographer at the

Majlis (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...

, where he was recruited into the leftist

Tudeh Party The Tudeh Party of Iran is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in its early years and played an important role during Mohammad Mosaddegh's campaign to nationalize ...

. He continued his affiliation with the Tudeh Party for some ten years, working in the press division and authoring unsigned editorials. He later severed all ties with the party and focused strictly on scholarly pursuits. He obtained a second bachelor's degree in 1954 and his Ph.D. in

Persian literature Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...

from Tehran University in 1963. His dissertation on the

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

i style in Persian poetry was published as a book and is regarded as a standard text on the subject. He taught Persian literature at the Teacher Training College (

Tarbiat Moallem University Kharazmi University (Abbreviation: KHU) (, ''Daneshgah-e Xuarazmi''), formerly Tehran University of Teacher Training (), is a public research university in Iran, KHU named after Khwarizmi (c. 780–850), Persian mathematician, astronomer and ge ...

), becoming full professor in 1968, and at Tehran University. He was a visiting professor at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in the academic year 1971-72, and a guest professor at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

in 1972-73. He was Iran's cultural attaché to Pakistan from 1974 to 1979. After the 1979

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

he was appointed as the head of

Academy of Persian Language and Literature The Academy of Persian Language and Literature (APLL) (, ''Farhangestân-e Zabân-o Adab-e Fârsi'') is the regulatory body for the Persian language, headquartered in Tehran, Iran. Formerly known as the Academy of Iran (, ''Farhangestân-e Iran'' ...

and the National Academy for the Arts, a post he held until 1980.

Life in exile

In 1980 Mahjoub left Iran for Paris, giving weekly lectures on Persian folk literature at the École Pierre Brossolette. He returned to the University of Strasbourg teaching there from 1982 to 1984 and was the president of the Persian Cultural Society in Paris from 1986 to 1993. He later moved to the United States and began teaching at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1991 until his death from prostate cancer in 1996.

Selected works

Mahjoub is known for his works on Iranian folk literature and language, for his scholarly editorship of several classical texts, as a translator and a consummate academic and teacher.

Author

* Dictionary of Folk Expressions (with

Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh Mohammad-Ali Jamālzādeh Esfahani (; 13 January 1892 in Isfahan, Iran – 8 November 1997 in Geneva, Switzerland) was one of the most prominent writers of Iran in the 20th century, best known for his unique style of humour. In view of his vast i ...

) * On Kalila-o Demna, 1960 * Khorasani Style in Persian Poetry, 1966 * Best of

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

, 1993 (essays) * Ashes of Life, 2000 (essays) * Folk literature of Iran, 2003 (essays)

Scholarly editor

* Works of Qa'ani Shirazi, 1957 *

Vis O Ramin Vis, ViS, VIS, and other capitalizations may refer to: Places * Vis (island), a Croatian island in the Adriatic sea ** Vis (town), on the island of Vis * Vis (river), in south-central France * Vis, Bulgaria, a village in Haskovo Province * V ...

, 1958 * Works of Soroush Esfahani, 1960 *

Amir Arsalan ''Amir Arsalan-e Namdar'' () is a popular Persian epic, which was told to Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, the Qajar Shah of Persia in the 19th century (though the Persian legend itself is much older), by a storyteller named Mohammad Ali Naqib ol-Mam ...

, 1961 * Complete Works of

Iraj Mirza Prince Iraj Mirza ( Persian: ایرج میرزا, literally ''Prince Iraj''; October 1874 – 14 March 1926), titled Jalāl-ol-Mamālek ( Persian: جلال‌الممالک), was a prominent Iranian poet. He was the son of Prince Gholam-Hossein ...

, 1962 * Modalities of Truth (Tara-eq al-haqa-eq), 1966 * Royal Book of Chivalry (Fotovat-nama-ye Soltani), 1971 * Complete Works of

Obeid Zakani Khwajeh Nizam al-Din Ubayd Allah al-Zakani (; d. 1370), better known as Ubayd Zakani (), was a Persian poet of the Mongol era, regarded as one of the best satirists in Persian literature. His most famous work is '' Mush-o Gorbeh'' ("Mouse and Cat" ...

, 1999

Translations

* Steinbeck's The Pearl (from French), 1949 * Jack London's South Sea Tales, 1951 * Jack London's

The Iron Heel ''The Iron Heel'' is a dystopian and political novel in the form of science fiction by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908. Plot The main premise of the book is the rise of a socialist mass movement in the United Statesstrong ...

, 1953 (under pseudonym M. Sobhdam) * Dostoyevsky's

The House of the Dead ''The House of the Dead'' is a horror-themed light gun shooter video game franchise created by Sega in 1996. Originally released in arcades, it utilizes a light gun on the platform, but can be played with standard controllers on consoles and a ...

, 1956

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahjoub, Mohammad Jafar Iranian literary scholars Iranian scholars Iranian literary critics Academic staff of Kharazmi University Alborz High School alumni 20th-century Persian-language writers Iranian emigrants to France Iranian emigrants to the United States 1924 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Iranian translators Iranian expatriates in Pakistan Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in the United States Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in France Faculty of Letters and Humanities of the University of Tehran alumni Cultural attachés