For his upcoming book, Iranian researcher, writer, poet and journalist Mohammad Hashem Akbariani, 52, has reviewed two parallel lines in poetry, one on mysticism and ideology, and the other without.

The book “is a collection of articles that has undergone technical changes. The publisher, Morvarid Publications in Tehran, has sent it to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for publishing permit,” Akbariani told Mehr News Agency.

The collection is titled ‘Literature and Ideology’ and some of the articles have already been published earlier in the media; the others are being published for the first time. The former have been extensively revised and can be considered “rewritten,” he says.

2 Parallel Lines

All the articles are on literature and ideology. One major discussion is on mysticism and mystic literature.

“On the other side there is the non-mystic and non-ideological Persian poetry that can be traced back to Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) who is followed by later poets among whom Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967) is the most acclaimed,” Akbariani said.

“Mystic Persian poetry started with Rumi (1207-1273) and Hafez (1325-1389) and was followed by ideological poems of Ahmad Shamlou (1925-2000).”

The two have run parallel in Persian poetry, and “I’ve reviewed both in the articles. The work contains 17 articles in 210 pages,” he added.

Akbariani’s earlier works of poetry published were ‘None to None’, ‘Faded Dusts of Joy’ and ‘Like a Secluded Café’.

His poems have been translated into German, English, and French. In 2003, he shifted his focus on fiction writing. So far, he has three collections of short stories ‘Wish I Had Never Reached the Alley’ and ‘Delusion’ by the local Cheshmeh Publications and ‘In Need of Sedatives’ by Afkar publications.

He has also a novel titled ‘Have to Go,’ released by Cheshmeh Publications.