Eskandarnāmeh: bāzsāzī-ye kohanah-tarīn noskheh-ye Eskandarnāmeh-ye naqqālī Persian 2009

Eskandarnāmeh is a reconstruction of the oldest known naqqāli (oral storytelling) version of the Eskandarnāmeh, attributed to Manouchehr Khan Hakim, and prepared by Alireza Zekavati Qaragozlou, published by Sokhan Publications. This work is regarded as one of the significant texts of Iranian popular literature from the eleventh century AH, with mythological and historical roots extending into Iranian, Greek, and more broadly Indo-European cultural traditions.

In this reconstruction, Zekavati Qaragozlou has sought to collect, refine, and organize the fragmented ancient text while preserving the original narrative prose and stylistic features of the naqqāli tradition. He has deliberately avoided modernizing the language or introducing extraneous elements, aiming instead to present a polished and readable text that remains faithful to the spirit of the popular oral narrative.

In addition to its scholarly value for researchers, Eskandarnāmeh is also accessible to general readers due to its engaging, adventurous narrative structure. The work stands as a successful example of the revival of folk literature, demonstrating that classical popular tales can be made intelligible for contemporary audiences through careful explanation or selective omission, without altering their original prose or narrative structure. Any fundamental change in language, the book argues, inevitably results in the loss of the essence and vitality of the traditional story.