Jalal Al-e-Ahmad
| Jalal Al-e-Ahmad جلال آلاحمد |
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| Born |
2 December 1923 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | 9 September 1969 (aged 45) Asalem, Iran |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Occupation | Writer, social and political critic |
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| Spouse(s) | Simin Daneshvar (1950−1969, his death) |
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Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (Persian: جلال آلاحمد; December 2, 1923 – September 9, 1969) was a prominent Iranian writer, thinker, and social and political critic. He popularized the term gharbzadegi - variously translated in English as "westernstruck", "westoxification", and "Occidentosis".
Jalal was born into a religious family in Tehran. He was a cousin of Mahmoud Taleghani. His father was an Islamic cleric originally from the small village of Owrazan in Taleghan mountains. After elementary school Al-e-Ahmad was sent to earn a living in the Tehran bazaar, but also attended Marvi Madreseh for a religious education, and without his father's permission, night classes at the Dar ul-Fonun. He went to Seminary of Najaf in 1944 but returned home very quickly. He became "acquainted with the speech and words of Ahmad Kasravi" and was unable to commit to the clerical career his father and brother had hoped he would take, describing it as "a snare in the shape of a cloak and an aba." He describes his family as a religious family in the autobiographical sketch that published after his death in 1967.
In 1946 he earned an M.A. in Persian literature from Tehran Teachers College and became a teacher, at the same time making a sharp break with his religious family that left him "completely on his own resources." He pursued academic studies further and enrolled in a doctoral program of Persian literature at Tehran University but quit before he had defended his dissertation in 1951. In 1950, he married Simin Daneshvar, a well-known Persian novelist. Jalal and Simin were infertile, a topic that was reflected in some of Jalal's works.
He died in Asalem, a rural region in the north of Iran, inside a cottage which was built almost entirely by himself. He was buried in Firouzabadi mosque in Ray, Iran. Commons and his wife ,Simin, believe he was poisoned by Savak.
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