A Study of Iranology Studies in France (The Forgotten Place of Persian Literary History in French Iranology, 20th Century)

The studies on Iranology in France are very famous among the Iranologists of the world mainly because of the translation of Avesta in the second half of the 18th century and also because of the great development of the field of Iranology in this country in later centuries. However, France has not had any noteworthy achievement regarding Persian literary history. This is the case while a number of good studies on Persian literature have been conducted during the last century. There are several reasons for this negligence. An undeniable fact in this respect is the absence of a well registered, independent, and clear program for teaching the Persian language and literature in Iranology centers of France. In the 20th century, some studies on Persian literary history were carried out in its neighboring countries, which perhaps compensated for this defect in French Iranology. Accordingly, in this paper the writer deals with this unjustified negligence in the Iranology centers of France in the previous century and compares the status of Persian literary history in other countries with that in this country.