iranian intellectuals and class conflict in akbar radi’s melody of a rainy city

in the plays of akbar radi, a prominent contemporary iranian playwright, the concept of intellectual is of particular importance. several of his dramas stage the intellectuals facing their internal and external problems, and the way in which they are understood in public. in his major play melody of a rainy city (2013), radi represents gramscian types of intellectuals, that is, traditional and organic, to re-consider them in iranian context. his play staging the 1940s iran under the occupation of anglo-soviet military forces deals with class warfare in iranian society which finally resulted in the disappearance of feudalism and the development of bourgeois culture. therefore, this study, by using social history of iran and close reading of the text, explores intellectual discourse in radi’s melody of a rainy city. the most important research finding is that radi by uniting gramscian intellectuals along with considering iranian traditional background, aims to develop a new definition of domestic intellectuals seeking for effective participation in facilitating the development process, truly essential for implementation of modernization programs, in iranian society.