“Sunshine” vs. “Age of Night”: A Comparative Analysis of Nonconformity and Individualism in the Works of Henrik Ibsen and Golamhossein Sa'edi

In his book, The Theater of Revolt (1962), Robert Brustein distinguishes modern playwrights such as Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, and Brecht from their predecessors by emphasizing their essentially romantic attitude of revolt. Brustein develops the idea that modern playwright is a rebel, one who dreams and is more concerned with the impossible than the possible. This paper discusses the representation of “social revolt” and the conflict between illusion and reality in the works of Henrik Ibsen and the twentieth-century Iranian playwright, Gholamhossein Sa’edi. For both authors the basic problem is the same: freedom versus necessity. Focusing on Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (1882) and Sa’edi’s The Cattle Fatteners (1969), this presentation analyzes the struggle of the individual against the conventions and morals of society. Through an analysis of their different contexts and literary practices, this study explores the portrayal of the idealists who strive to bring truth/“light” to society and their eventual external defeat. Although the two playwrights address common obstacles and limitations across decades, Ibsen’s play is less tragic as it implies the survival of the protagonist’s inner hopes while Sa’edi’s work, with its depiction of political oppression and its tragic hero, paints a darker picture of the pre-revolutionary Iran.