Daily Notes of Jalal Al-e Ahmad (Volume II)

Jalal Al-e Ahmad (2 Azar 1302 / November 23, 1923—according to some accounts, 11 Azar 1302 / December 2, 1923, Tehran – 18 Shahrivar 1348 / September 9, 1969, Asalem, Gilan) was an Iranian intellectual, writer, literary critic, and translator, and the husband of Simin Daneshvar. Al-e Ahmad rose to prominence in the 1960s and exerted a profound influence on Iran’s intellectual and literary movements. Writers such as Nader Ebrahimi and Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi were among those influenced by him.

Jalal Al-e Ahmad was born on December 2, 1923, into a religious family in the Seyyed Nasreddin neighborhood of Tehran. He was a cousin of Ayatollah Taleghani. His family originally came from Taleqan County and the village of Ourazan. Jalal’s childhood and adolescence were spent in a form of clerical aristocratic comfort.

After completing elementary school, his father, Seyyed Ahmad Taleghani, did not allow him to attend high school, but Jalal refused to submit to his father’s wishes. In 1943, he entered the Higher Teachers’ Training College in Tehran and graduated with a degree in Persian Language and Literature. He continued his studies at the doctoral level in Persian literature but abandoned the program toward the end. During this period, he published his first collection of short stories, Did o Bazdid (Visits and Reunions).

In addition to fiction writing, Al-e Ahmad—who had a wide-ranging impact on the intellectual currents of his time—wrote social essays, conducted ethnographic research, authored travelogues, and produced numerous translations. Since his knowledge of French was not extensive, he often relied on the assistance of friends such as Ali Asghar Khabarzadeh, Parviz Dariush, and Manouchehr Hezarkhani in his translation work.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of Al-e Ahmad’s literary style was his prose: compact, concise, and at the same time tense and confrontational. Fine examples of this style can be found in his travelogue Khesi dar Miqat (A Straw in the Pilgrimage) and his autobiographical narrative Sangi bar Goori (A Stone on a Grave).

In 1947, he published his second book, Az Ranji ke Mibarim (Of the Pain We Endure), coinciding with his withdrawal from the Tudeh Party. The stories in this book reflect the failures of his political struggles within the party. After leaving the party, he entered a period he himself described as enforced silence—though this silence did not mean disengagement from politics, but rather a deeper commitment to writing.

Jalal Al-e Ahmad died on September 9, 1969, at the age of forty-five, in Asalem, Gilan. Following his sudden death, his body was buried quickly, giving rise to rumors that he had been eliminated by SAVAK (the Shah’s secret police). His wife, Simin Daneshvar, denied these claims, while his brother, Shams Al-e Ahmad, firmly believed that SAVAK was responsible and provided a detailed account in his book From a Brother’s Point of View.

Al-e Ahmad had willed that his body be donated to the first anatomy hall for medical students. However, since this request was considered contrary to religious law, his body was temporarily laid to rest in Firouzabadi Mosque, next to Firouzabadi Hospital in the city of Rey, with the intention of later constructing a mausoleum worthy of him—an intention that was never fulfilled.