Samad Behrangi

{{Short description|Iranian writer and social critic (1939–1968)}}

{{infobox person

| name = Samad Behrangi

| image = Samad Behrangi.JPG

| caption = Behrangi in 1960s

| native_name = صمد بهرنگی

| native_name_lang = Fa

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|6|24|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Tabriz, Iran

| death_date = {{death date and age|1968|8|31|1939|6|22|mf=y}}

| death_place = Aras River, Iran

| death_cause = Drowning

| alma_mater = Tabriz University

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Short story writer
teacher
social critic
social activist
poet
translator

}}

| years_active = 1957-1968

| organization = Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas

| criminal_charges = Political criticism

}}

Samad Behrangi ({{langx|fa|صمد بهرنگی}}; June 24, 1939 – August 31, 1968){{Cite web|last=Panah|first=Hamid Yazdan|date=2016-08-31|title=Remembering Samad Behrangi, the Writer Who Inspired Countless Iranian Revolutionaries|url=https://globalvoices.org/2016/08/31/remembering-samad-behrangi-the-writer-who-inspired-countless-iranian-revolutionaries/|access-date=2022-01-31|website=Global Voices|language=en}} was a Marxist-Leninist{{Cite book |last=Vahabzadeh |first=Peyman |title=Guerilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy, and the Fadai Period |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=2010 |pages=134 |language=English}} Iranian teacher, social activist and critic, folklorist, translator, and short story writer of Iranian Azerbaijani descent.{{cite web|last=Hillman|first=Michael C.|date=December 15, 1989|title=Behrangī, Ṣamad|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/behrangi-samad-teacher|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica IV|pages=110–111|issn=2330-4804}} He is famous for his children's books, particularly The Little Black Fish.{{Cite journal|last=Karimi-Hakkak|first=Ahmad|date=1977|title=Review of The Little Black Fish and Other Modern Persian Stories|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4310272|journal=Iranian Studies|volume=10|issue=3|pages=216–222|jstor=4310272 |issn=0021-0862}}{{Cite journal|last=Hillman|first=Michael C.|date=1977|title=Review of The Little Black Fish and Other Modern Persian Stories|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40131854|journal=World Literature Today|volume=51|issue=4|pages=673|doi=10.2307/40131854|jstor=40131854 |issn=0196-3570|url-access=subscription}} Influenced by predominantly leftist and communist ideologies that were common among the intelligentsia of his era‌, which made him popular among the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (an Iranian communist organization), his books typically portrayed the lives of the children of the urban poor and encouraged the individual to change his/her circumstances by her own initiatives.

Early life

He was born on June 24, 1939, in the neighborhood of Charandab in the city of Tabriz, Imperial State of Iran.{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa|publisher=Gale|year=2004|chapter=Samad Behrangi}}{{Cite journal|last=Fereshteh|first=M. H.|date=1995|title=Samad Behrangi's Experiences and Thoughts on Rural Teaching and Learning|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42589432|journal=Journal of Thought|volume=30|issue=4|pages=61–74|jstor=42589432 |issn=0022-5231}} He was from a working-class family, his parents were Sara and Ezzat, and he had two brothers and three sisters. His father was a seasonal worker and his income was never sufficient. His father eventually left Iran like millions of other workers on the move for better life conditions for the Caucasus and never returned.

He finished elementary school and three years of secondary school in Tabriz, before enrolling in a rural teacher training school. He spent two years at the Daneshsarayea-Keshavarzi and finished the program in 1957; thus, only receiving few years of education. At the age of 18, he became a teacher, and continued to be so for the rest of his life, in the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran.

Career

In the next eleven years, while teaching Persian in rural schools of Iranian Azerbaijan, he attained a B.A. degree in English from Tabriz University. He started publishing stories in 1960, his first being Adat (English: Habit). He carried on writing stories, along translating from English and Azerbaijani to Farsi, and vice versa. Later, he was dismissed from his high school teaching position, due to a claim that he was impolite, and assigned to an elementary school. Then, as his cultural works increased, he was accused and persecuted, and suspended from teaching. After a while his sentence was called off and he returned to schools. Later, he attended student protests.[https://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Authors/Behrangi.html A Brief Note on Samad Behrangi's Life] by Iraj Bashiri

Publications

Apart from children's stories, he wrote many pedagogical essays and collected and published several samples of oral Azerbaijani literature. His folklore studies have usually been done with the help of his colleague Behrooz Dehghani, who helped publish some of Behrangi's works after his early death. Behrangi also has a few Azerbaijani language translations of Persian poems by Ahmad Shamlou, Forough Farrokhzad, and Mehdi Akhavan-Sales.

= List of publications =

{{Cite book|last=Behrangi|first=Samad|title=کندوکاو در مسائل تربیتی ایران|year=1969|language=Fa|trans-title=Investigations into the Educational Problems of Iran}}
{{Cite book|last=Behrangi|first=Samad|title=ماهی سیاه کوچولو|others=Farshid Mesghali (illustrations)|date=August 1968|publisher=Nashr-i Nakhustīn |isbn=9648037396|language=fa|trans-title=The Little Black Fish}}
{{Cite book|last=Behrangi|first=Samad|title=اولدوز و کلاغ‌ها|year=1968|language=Fa|trans-title=Olduz and the Crows}}
{{Cite book|last=Behrangi|first=Samad|title=اولدوز و عروسک سخنگو|year=1967|publisher=جامه‌دران، |isbn=9645858720|language=Fa|trans-title=Olduz and the Talking Doll}}
{{Cite book|last=Behrangi|first=Samad|title=One Peach Thousand Peaches|year=1969}}
{{Cite book|last=Behrangi|first=Samad|title=تلخون: مجموعه قصه|date=April 1, 2014|publisher=(Amirkabir Publications)انتشارات امیرکبیر|language=Fa|trans-title=Talkhoon: A collection of stories}}
The Complete Stories of Behrang, publishers, Persian Culture & Art Institute, Vancouver and Zagros Publications, Montreal, Canada

Death

File:آرامگاه صمد بهرنگی.png

Behrangi drowned on August 31, 1968, in the Aras river and his death was blamed on the Pahlavi government.{{Cite web|title=Persian Language & Literature: Samad Behrangi, the best known Iranian writer of children's stories|url=https://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/samad_behrangi.php|access-date=2022-01-30|website=Iranchamber.com}} It is believed that an army officer, Hamzeh Farahati, was seen with him when he drowned. Farahati in his book{{cite web|last=Behnoud|first=Massoud|date=November 20, 2006|title=خاطرات حمزه فراهتی: از مرگ صمد بهرنگی و سعيد سلطانپور|trans-title=Memoirs of Hamzeh Farahati: From the deaths of Samad Behrangi and Saeed Sultanpour|url=http://www.bbc.com/persian/arts/story/2006/11/061120_mv-mb-samad-hamze.shtml|website=BBCPersian.com|language=Fa}} and in an interview with VOAArchived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/KggJoJ0-Tsw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170210211415/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KggJoJ0-Tsw Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=گشودن راز مرگ صمد بهرنگی|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KggJoJ0-Tsw|website=YouTube| date=17 February 2014 }}{{cbignore}}(video) has unequivocally denied the claims he and SAVAK murdered him. Ironically in his seminal work the Little Black Fish, the fishes drown a snail for not knowing his place.

He was buried in the Imamieh cemetery (or Emamiyyeh cemetery; Farsi:قبرستان امامیه) in the Imamieh neighborhood of Tabriz.

References

External links

{{Wikisourcelang|fa|پدیدآورنده:صمد بهرنگی|Author:Samad Behrangi}}

[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/samad_behrangi.php Samad's Stories in English]
[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/works/the_little_black_fish.php Samad Stories: The Little Black Fish]
[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/works/24_restless_hours.php Samad Stories: 24 Restless Hours]
[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/works/the_little_sugar_beet_vendor.php Samad Stories: The Little Sugar Beet Vendor]
[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/works/the_tale_of_love.php Samad Stories: The Tale of Love]
[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/works/talkhun.php Samad Stories: Talkhun]
[http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehrangi/works/in_search_of_faith.php Samad Stories: In Search of Faith]
{{in lang|de|fa}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070125121536/http://members.chello.at/plejaden/behrangi.html Samad's life and the stories]