Nasiri Diaries and Victorian Threats Analysis of Diaries of His European Tours through the Discourse of Anglo-Persian Relations

Document Type : علمی - پژوهشی

Authors

Abstract

The communicative role of letters in travel writings, especially
the travel diaries through the cultural-political discourse
of foreign relationship was already used by the historians and
politicians. Back from the Qajars’ political-literary discourses,
we find diary and travel writing as a chief genre. Although writing
of Nasir al-Din shah of Persia (1831-1896) for the first time
seems that the published and translated diaries relating to his
tours in Europe was simultaneously a way to get familiar and
influence power by the foreigners; particularly his diaries of
the two visits of England in the colonial time of Queen Victoria
(1819-1901) and their economic relations to the Persia, but
Nasir al-Din shah wrote nothing about political consequences
and economic aspects of his tours.
In this paper, by a Foucauldian historic scanning through
the Anglo-Persian political, economic and cultural relations,
we want to be aware of the untold facts. We also need some
parallel references such as other diary from shah’s retinues,
histories, documents, and its reflections in the press. So we can
solve the inconsistent problems by using both textual and contextual discourse analysis in order to overcome the contradictionsbetween.
Now, through reading of such a shocked narration,
it is easy to know narrator’s characteristics, interests,
suppositions, attitudes, and worries which is made up from
exercised power in shah’s political behavior and utterance. Totally
the relationships never restricted to the Iranian progressive
living style, but it formed the English identity in time of
civilization and scientific promotion as well.

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