Spring Preoccupations

The work at hand is a collection of investigations by Nassereddin Parvin about the poet, political activist, and journalist in the history of Iran, Mohammad-Taqi Bahar (Malek o-Sho’ara Bahar). Bahar’s political and social articles constitute the largest portion of his written legacy. These articles, in addition to illuminating aspects of contemporary Iranian history, reveal the progression of political thought and the evolution of prose and even the poetry of Malek o-Sho’ara. The social and cultural life, as well as the lesser-known but extensive and turbulent period of Malek o-Sho’ara’s journalism, are discussed. Malek o-Sho’ara Bahar wrote about the beginning of his “writing in national newspapers” after the opening of Tehran to the constitutionalists on July 15, 1909. However, five months prior to that, from March 19, 1909, when the Minor Tyranny was still ruling in Tehran, he was involved in the publication of the semi-public Khurasan newspaper, and this date should be considered the beginning of his journalism career.