A Comparative Study of Satire in English Neo-classical Age and Persian Constitutionalist Era through Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal and Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā’s Dorūs Al-Ashyā

Both English and Persian satires have proved their enormous potentials in reflecting historical events and voicing social criticism. Despite differences in their origins, the nature and the ends of the satires have been the same, aiming at reformation of human societies. Drawing on analytical-qualitative methods and adopting Russian and American approaches to comparative literature and interdisciplinary studies, the present research attempts to examine the similarities and differences of satires in the two languages. At times, literatures have had impact on each other in different parts of the world; however, the similarities have quite often been due to the common human spirit informing different literary works. Satire is the main focus of the present study in two golden eras of satirical writing both in Iran and England. The findings of the research reveal that Neo-classical satire in England during the 17th and 18th centuries is the continuation of the Classical age especially the Roman satire, resurging as a result of the popularity of journalism and prose writing during the Age of Enlightenment. On the other hand, satire grew in popularity during the Constitutionalist era in Iran due to social awakening and popularity of the press. It seems that English satire enjoys greater content and structure integrity as compared to its Persian counterpart. Perhaps because of the socio-political changes leading to great literary and cultural rebirth after the Renaissance in European nations, satire achieved greater distinction and independence. In the closing section of this research, two examples of English and Persian prose satire will be examined: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) and “Dorūs Al-Ashyā” [Lessons to be Learned from Things] by Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā (1879-1956).