Iran Before and After 1979

Maxim Alontsev's lecture as part of the series of events dedicated to Forugh Farrokhzad's book Second Birth..

The meeting is dedicated to the cultural and social life of Iran in the second half of the 20th century. Together with orientalist Maxim Alontsev, we will discuss how the country changed from the 1960s onwards and after the 1979 revolution, what shifts occurred in everyday and cultural life, and in what reality Forugh Farrokhzad, other poets, and the authors of the new Iranian cinema worked. This meeting will set the context for further discussions on poetry, translation, and cinematography.

Maxim Alontsev — Associate Professor at the HSE Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Faculty of Humanities, HSE University; historian, orientalist, Candidate of Sciences in Philology (PhD), and author of the Telegram channel Pax Iranica.

Moderator: Safiya Yasmin Bajwa.

About the book Second Birth (translated by A. Direkdji, published by Des Esseintes Press):

Forugh Farrokhzad – a brilliant flash on Iran's literary horizon, and the first voice of a free woman in modern Persian poetry. This Russian translation of her iconic collection Second Birth is now available to Russian readers for the first time. With profound sensuality, boldness, and delicate lyricism, the poems open a window into the inner world of one of Iran's most remarkable poets of the 20th century.

REGISTRATION

(8 September 2026 / 19:30)

The events are held with the support of the State Museum of Oriental Art, the Mardjani Foundation, the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies at HSE University, and the HSE Master's Programme "Muslim Worlds in Russia".