Samed-i Behrengî’s Storytelling and His Place In Persian Children’s Literature

Abstract

Samed-i Behrengi is one of the most important representatives of the twentieth century Persian Children’s Literature, which has a rich cultural heritage and history though its roots cannot be traced back so far in time. Recognized as one of the most important writers of children's literature, Samed-i Behrengi was born in Tabriz in 1939. Throughout his twenty-nine-year life, he worked as a teacher; he was a writer of children's stories and folk tales, and a translator and complier of stories. Following the elementary school, he studied at Tabriz school of teaching, and after completing his studies, he taught children in the Azeri parts of Iran by traveling from village to village for eleven years; that is, until the end of life. While he was working as a teacher, he attended classes at Tabriz Faculty of Letters, the Department of English Language and Literature at night and did not give up being a student even when he was a teacher. Being one of the writers of Mohammad Reza Shah period, Behrengi wrote many story books translated into various languages around the world. With his precious stories and tales such as "Ulduz and Kelâghâ", "Ulduz and Arûsek-i Sohengû ", "Mahi-yi-i Siyah-i Kûçûlû", " Yek Holû Hezâr Holû,” Samed Behrengi-i has had a significant place Children's Literature in Iran . Samed-i Behrengi has articles and translations apart from his stories. Behrengi first addressed people's social, economic, and folkloric structure. He used all of his experience to give a gift that will be inherited by the children that he had been teaching for many years. Based on his collections of folk literature and folklore he wrote perhaps the world's most qualified children's stories. In the meantime, by examining folk literature of Azerbaijan and Iran and collecting folk tales circulating by word of mouth, he rewrote these matarials in Turkish and Persian. In addition to these literary activities which perhaps form the most important part of his literary activities, he focused on Azerbaijani folklore and the education system in Iran. After determining the shortcomings of the education system, he endeavored to produce solutions. In major newspapers and magazines of his time, by using pseudonyms, he wrote articles about the problem of education. His article titled A Study on Educational Problems of Iran can be considered as an example of such studies. Investigation and research topics were often on folklore. In this field, he wrote the works titled Azerbaijani Language and Folklore and Fairy Tales. Behrengi, was competent both in Persian and Azerbaijani Turkish. He preferred writing in his native language to writing Persian. However, he published his books in Persion since it was forbidden to publish books in Azerbaijani Turkish. Despite this ban, he wrote a poetry book that brings together the Azerbaijani folk poems, and he translated the poems of great Persian poets into Azerbaijani Turkish. In this regard, he had significant contributions to Persian Children's literature. Samed-i Behrengi stories are the products of the impressions of a teacher who doesn’t get accustomed to anything and who explains the cruelty of poverty and ignorance with a brave view. In this regard, the Behrengi said, Now is time to emphasize two issues in children's literature... 1 Children's literature should be a bridge between innocent children’s sweet dreams and their world of dreams, and dark and conscious world of adults, which is plagued by suffering and the difficult realities... 2 The child should be given a prompt worldview and a criterion that he/she can use to evaluate various moral and social issues within the ever-changing conditions and situations in society. Based on this belief, all of his stories are shaped by the conflict of two contradictory social forces. Peasants with no properties fight with the cruelty of masters and they win the battle with the help of willpower as it is the case in Kel Güvercinci “The Bald Man Selling Pigeons” and Sevgi Masalı “The Tale of Love”. In Behrengi’s story Bir Şeftali Bin Şeftali “One Peach and a Thousand Peaches,” * Bu makale Gamze Gizem ERTAN tarafından hazırlanan “Samed-i Behrengî’nin Hikâyeciliği ve İran Çocuk Edebiyatındaki Yeri” başlıklı Yüksek Lisans tezinden Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2011 özetlenerek hazırlanmıştır. ** Arş. Gör., Selçuk Üniversitesi villagers’ fight against the Aga is reflected in a peach tree that doesn’t yield any fruits in Aga’s garden. Providing the reader with children's example attitudes and behaviors, to activate their desire to know the real reasons behind natural and social events are realized through developing their power of thinking and imagination. With the help of animals and dolls, children overcome cruelty and ignorance in the world of dreams. The themes and style of the stories of Samed-i Behrengi has made him attractive to readers coming from different cultural backgrounds. Although his works were written for children, they also carry striking meanings for adults. By taking advantage of the art of personification, the writer, who also gives advice for the readers to take a lesson, has helped children to envisage events better in their minds. Samed-i Behrengi, who wrote his works in a way that aroused excitement, wrote about all events that might possibly occur in real life in his stories which he partially adorned with fantasy elements. We understand this in his story titled Pancarcı Çocuk “The Child Who Sold Beet” very well. Here, the story of a child at schooling age, who has to sell beet to look after his family, is told. In the story titled Bir Günlük Düş ve Gerçek “A One-day Dream and Reality”, the writer presents a day in the life of a father and his son who have to leave their town to struggle to earn their living because of the unemployment. In these stories, Samed-i Behrengi reveals how Shah’s reform called White Revolution changed the socio-economic structure. Because leaving their villages million

Özet

Samed-i Behrengî 1939-1968 , XX. yüzyılda yaşamışve genç yaşta hayatınıkaybetmişolan İran Edebiyatının önemli çocuk hikâyesi yazarlarındandır.Yazarın hayatıve eserlerinin incelenmesi, kullanmışolduğu üslubun ve yaşadığıdönemin özelliklerinin ortaya konulması, Behrengî’nin edebi kişiliğinin ve İran çocuk edebiyatındaki yerinin tespit edilmesi açısından büyük önem taşımaktadır. Samed-i Behrengî’nin hikâyeleri ve masallarıbirçok kez Türkçeye çevrilmiştir. “Ulduz ve Kelâghâ”, “Ulduz ve Arûsek-i Sohengû”, “Mâhî-yi Siyâh-i Kûçûlû”, “Yek Holû Hezâr Holû” gibi birbirinden eşsiz değerde kaleme aldığıbu hikâye ve masallarıile İran çocuk edebiyatında adınıölümsüzleştirmiştir. Samed-i Behrengî’nin hayatı, dili, üslubu ve edebi kişiliği hakkında araştırılmaya dayalıbilimsel bir çalışma yapılmamıştır. Samed-i Behrengî’nin hikâyeciliği dışındaki yönlerinin Türk okuyucusuna tanıtılmamasıbüyük bir eksiklik olduğundan bu makalede, okuyucuya bu konu hakkında bilgi verilecektir.

Keywords: Samed-i Behrengî, Samed-i Behrengî’nin Hikâyeciliği, İran Çocuk Edebiyatı