Bijan Najdi Information

BIJAN NAJDI (1941-1997) was an Iranian writer and poet known for his collection of short stories, The Cheetahs That Have Run with Me. Najdi’s poetry and prose rich with elements of surrealism are considered some of the early experimental postmodern literature in Iran. They reflected the green and generous landscape of his hometown by the Caspian Sea and the Elburz mountains, as well as Iran’s struggle with revolution, war and modernity.

Bijan Najdi was born in Khash, a county in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. His parents were from Gilan. When he was four, he lost his father in a murder incident.^[2] He got his basic education in Rasht. He got his M.A in Mathematics and was one of the first writers to go to the front in Iran-Iraq war. He started writing when he was young, and published his notable book “The leopards who have run with me” in 1994, three years before his death. This book received a Gardoun award as one of the best short story collections ever written in Iran.

Najdi uses Persian literature’s figures of speech to make his style unique. Considering Najdi’s works through linguistic point of view, in some of his stories what we have is actually poetry. Language is a base for Praise and poetry and it is the language that forms a poem for its poet and a story for its writer.

Language in Najdi’s work is more poetic rather than a social reality. Each language consists of linguistic elements which are regularly put together. Combination of phonemes forms words and words make sentences or phrases. But this is not the only feature of linguistic elements; they can replace each other. Combination and replacement of linguistic elements, forms metonymy. Metaphor is one of these functions which is extensively used in literary works.