Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Sir John Malcolm is famous for being the first English-language historian of Iran. He was a diplomat in the 19th century. In this book he writes an account of his mission in Iran littered with interviews, little case-study examples of how Iranian society and politics works. And it is full of wonderful gems of information about Iran, its people, its literature, its language, its place in the world and the way in which the Europeans encountered it.
Tell me about your next book, the classic Sketches of Persia by Sir John Malcolm.
This book I like a great deal. These days it is quite difficult to get hold of but it is out there! It is the memoirs of Sir John Malcolm, a British officer who was among the first diplomats in Iran in the early 19th century to sign a treaty of alliance between the then king and George III. And Sir John Malcolm is famous for being the first English-language historian of Iran. He produced a monumental study of the history of Persia, published in 1815. It has largely been dismissed now because people think it is very out of date, although I still think it bears reading. But this book is his memoirs, which came later, and I think is probably more interesting.
He puts in an account of his mission in Iran littered with interviews, little case-study examples of how Iranian society and politics work. And it is full of wonderful gems of information about Iran, its people, its literature, its language, its place in the world and the way in which the Europeans encountered it. And it is quite refreshing because Malcolm was writing at a time before the period of European colonialism was at its height so he doesn’t have many of the condescensions of the others. He looks at the Iranians and takes them at face value. He disagrees with them about many things and takes them on in these debates about the role of women in Iranian society – a debate which would be very pertinent today, which shows how little really attitudes have changed. So he highlights a number of issues that Europeans would have with Iranians and Iranians would have with Europeans but he is also a very astute and keen observer of the Iranian mentality and for that alone he is invaluable.
Read full interview
Ali Ansari is the Professor of Iranian History and Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews, as well as Associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme, Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House). He has just finished a study of the recent presidential elections, to be published this month. He is currently working on a book for Cambridge University Press entitled The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran, and has recently been appointed Editor of the Cambridge History of Iran Vol 8 (The Islamic Republic). It is difficult for Iranian people within the country to freely express their views, although the internet makes it easier, he says. But what has been published in the last decade before the current crackdown reflects the fact there is a literate readership that hungers for history.
