The Plays and Films of Bahram Beyzaie

Saeed Talajooy is a Senior Lecturer in Persian at the University of St Andrews, UK. Talajooy has taught world literature since 1997 and Persian language, literature, drama and cinema since 2008. His research is focused on the changing patterns of the modalities of Iranian identity as reflected in Iranian theatre, cinema and literature. His publications include several articles, chapters, play translations and analysis books, a co-edited volume entitled Resistance in Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies: Literature, Cinema and Music (2012), and a recent monograph entitled Iranian Culture in Bahram Beyzaie’s Cinema and Theatre (I.B.Tauris, 2023).

Chapter 1
Bahram Beyzaie: A Critical Introduction (Saeed Talajooy, University of St Andrews, UK)

Chapter 2
The Genealogy of Arash, A Hero: from Naqqali to Beyzaie’s Recitation Plays and from Arash The Mythical Hero to Beyzaie’s Marginalized Arash (Saeed Talajooy)

Chapter 3
A Pahlevan’s Dreams of Belonging: Reconfiguration of The Ideals of Heroism in Bahram Beyzaie’s So Dies Pahlevan Akbar (Saeed Talajooy)

Chapter 4
The Challenges of Centre and Margin: Beyzaie’s Cooperation with The Institute for The Intellectual Development of Children And Young Adults for Uncle Moustache, Journey, And Bashu, The Little Stranger (Amir-Hosein Siadat, Curator of the Art and Experience of Cinema, Tehran, Iran)

Chapter 5
The Language of Nature and Earth: An Ecocritical Reading of Stranger and The Fog, Ballad of Tara, and Bashu, The Little Stranger (Fatemeh-Mehr Khansalar, Independent Scholar, UK)

Chapter 6
Bashu’s Other Names: A Study of Bashu’s Identity in Bashu, The Little Stranger (Naghmeh Samini, Assistant Professor of Dramatic Arts, University of Tehran, Iran, and Affiliate Assistant Professor, University of Washington, USA)

Chapter 7
The Cinematic Translation of Ta?ziyeh in Beyzaie’s Travellers (Farshad Zaehdi, Senior Lecturer, University Carlos III de Madrid, Spain)

Chapter 8
Crime Thriller Elements in Bahram Beyzaie’s Films (Parviz Jahed, University of St Andrews, UK)

Chapter 9
Multilinguality in Iranian Cinema: A Comparative Analysis (Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad, Lecturer of Media and Film, SOAS, University of London, UK)

Chapter 10
Little Strangers: Representations of Displaced Youth in Iranian New Wave Cinema (Nina Khamsy, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland)