A Critique of Iranian Intellectualism: A Deconstructionist Reading of Jalal Âl-e-Ahmad’s Farewell

This article seeks to critique the elitism in the thoughts of Iranian intellectuals of the 1950s and 1960s.To do so, it carries out a deconstructionist reading of Jalal Al-e-Ahmad's story titled Farewell from the collection Sitar (literally: Three String Musical Instrument).The book contains 13 stories of Al-e-Ahmad published in 1948.The current study was conducted from the perspective of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida and employed the eight-step strategy of David Boje as a postmodern critical analysis in dealing with the narrative.Boje's method includes searching for duality, reinterpreting hierarchies, discovering rebel voices, revealing the other side of the narrative, negating the plot, finding exceptions, tracing between the lines, and resituating.The article follows each of these steps to bring about the deconstructionist reading of the story.After using the 8-step strategy of Boje, eight dualities were found: beauty vs. ugliness, core vs. periphery, naked vs. clothed, enlightenment vs. gluttony, rational vs. superstitious, quiet vs. garrulous, boy vs. girl, and activity vs. passivity.Each of these dualities has a hierarchical dominant/subordinate structure, and the narrator narrates the story in a way he is in the dominant position.Then the hierarchy in each duality was reinterpreted so the rebels found their voice and the other side of the story appeared.The romantic plot of the story was replaced with a tragic one, exceptions were found, and between the lines were read.Based on Boje's strategy and adopting Jacques Derrida's deconstructionist approach to read Farewell, a new narrative emerged that made possible the critique of the elitist views of Iranian intellectuals during the 1950s and 1960s.It is necessary to go beyond the person of Al-e-Ahmad and get closer to the subject of Al-e-Ahmad as an Iranian intellectual; a subject that has been made possible in a particular context and has produced works.According to the narrative that emerged from the deconstructionist reading of the story, it is concluded that the intellectual subject reproduces the hierarchical relationships, puts himself in a superior position, relies on modern reason, and without considering and understanding the existential relations of the subaltern, seeks to represent them and aims to accomplish what he calls an intellectual mission.