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Titre
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En
Religions and Philosophies in Central Asia
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Fr
Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie centrale
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Type
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Book
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Identifiant
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Tolbiac - Rez de Jardin - Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme - Magasin - 16-O2-1894
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Auteur.e.s
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Gobineau, Arthur de
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Résumé
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En
Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie centrale (1865; edition used: 1957) by Arthur de Gobineau, French diplomat and writer who served as minister plenipotentiary in Tehran, contains the most detailed and influential Western account of ta'zieh written in the nineteenth century. Chapters XIII and XIV, titled "Theater in Persia" and "The Tekyehs," constitute the foundational Western source on the subject and were cited by virtually every subsequent European writer on Persian theater, including Andler, Chesnel, and Pimpaneau.
Gobineau opens by arguing that Persian theater deserves to be ranked alongside Greek tragedy as one of the great theatrical achievements of humanity — not a court entertainment or bourgeois pastime, but a living religious institution with genuine power over an entire people. He traces the origins of ta'zieh to the Muharram cantilenas of the first ten days of Moharram, which gradually evolved from solo lamentations into full dramatic representation. He emphasizes that ta'zieh is not a performance but a religious act: to remain cold before it would be to fail as a human being, as a Muslim, and as a Persian.
The historical content of ta'zieh — the martyrdom of Husayn, Hassan, Abbas, Ali-Akbar, and Qasim at Karbala — is extensively narrated. Gobineau interprets the plays as simultaneously religious, patriotic, and political: Husayn's persecution by Yazid is fused with the Persian nation's subjugation by Arabs, Turks, and Afghans. The drama thus concentrates religious faith, love of country, hatred of oppression, and desire for justice into a single emotional experience.
On the theatrical organization, Gobineau describes troupes led by a director (rouzeh-khan) who never leaves the stage; actors drawn mainly from Isfahan for the quality of their dialect; children taking the key roles of Ali-Akbar, Qasim, Sakina, and Zubaydah; a star system in which celebrated child singers could earn 250–300 tomans during the ten days of Muharram; and the practice of freely interpolating scenes from one play into another. Scripts carry no author's name and are collective, anonymous works continuously revised by accretion and elimination.
Gobineau provides detailed accounts of the confraternities (berbérys) who accompany performances with self-flagellation, chest-beating, and chain dances, which he links directly to the ancient rites of Adonis. He also describes the physical structure of tekyehs — dedicated performance spaces maintained by wealthy patrons, guilds, and neighborhood subscriptions — and notes the emerging genre of prologues on subjects unrelated to Karbala (Tamerlane, Joseph and his brothers), which he predicts will eventually detach from ta'zieh and form an independent secular theater.
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Fr
Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie centrale (1865 ; éd. utilisée : 1957) d'Arthur de Gobineau, diplomate français et ministre plénipotentiaire à Téhéran, contient le récit occidental le plus détaillé et le plus influent du ta'zieh au XIXe siècle. Les chapitres XIII et XIV, intitulés «Théâtre en Perse» et «Les Tekyehs», constituent la source occidentale fondatrice sur le sujet, citée par virtually tous les auteurs européens ultérieurs (Andler, Chesnel, Pimpaneau). Gobineau soutient que le théâtre persan mérite d'être placé aux côtés de la tragédie grecque. Il retrace l'évolution du ta'zieh à partir des cantilènes de Muharram vers une représentation dramatique complète, soulignant que ce n'est pas un spectacle mais un acte religieux. Il interprète les pièces comme simultanément religieuses, patriotiques et politiques : la persécution de Husayn par Yazid se fusionne avec la subjugation de la nation persane par les Arabes, Turcs et Afghans. Il décrit les troupes, le système de vedettariat des enfants chanteurs, les scripts anonymes et collectifs, les confréries flagellantes (berbérys), la structure physique des tekyehs et l'émergence de prologues sur des sujets non karbalaïens (Tamerlan, Joseph et ses frères), qu'il prédit conduire à un théâtre séculier indépendant.
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Edition
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Gallimard
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Paris
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Date
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1957 (1st ed. 1865)
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Langue
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Fr
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Citation bibliographique
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Gobineau, Arthur de. Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie centrale. Paris: Gallimard, 1957 (1st ed. 1865). 482 pp.
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Droits
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Public domain