Chlebnikov e l'Iran

This article deals with Khlebnikov’s interest in Persian history and literature and his short stay in Iran, from April to the end of July 1921 during the Bolshevik intervention in support of the short-lived Socialist Republic of the Gilan. The Iranian poet and theologian Qurrat al-‘Ayn, a female activist and follower of the religious reformer Sayyid ‘Ali Muhammad, founder of the Bābi faith, is one of the recurrent figures that characterize Khlebnikov’s conception of Asia as a continental entity closely connected with his utopian visions. In these Iran represents a bridge between revolutionary Russia and a future liberated Asia. Three lyrics written during the poet’s stay in Iran are analysed here against this background and a first translation into Italian is offered to the reader. In particular, “The Nowruz of Labour” and “The Blacksmith Kave” link Persian literary tradition with the revolutionary events of the early 1920s in Gilan.