ʻAṣr-i tīrīgī-yi farhang-i Īrān: Khvīshtan-i nākhvīsh-āgāh Persiska (Farsi) 2026

“The Age of Cultural Darkness in Iran: The Unconscious Self-Absence” by Nikrouz Azami is a critical study of Iranian cultural and intellectual history, examining the roots of several historical, social, and political crises within Iranian society. Following the author’s previous work, “Reason and Tradition”, this book is organized into three sections that explore the myth of the “Golden Age of Iranian Culture,” the cultural and intellectual origins of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the concepts of revolution and counterrevolution.

In this work, Azami introduces the concept of the “unconscious self-absence” to describe a condition in which a society loses the ability to critically understand its own historical and cultural identity. Through a critical examination of dominant approaches to historiography, religious intellectual thought, and ideological interpretations, the author emphasizes the necessity of an independent and non-ideological reassessment of historical events.

By analyzing three major periods in Iran’s cultural and modern history, including the formation of Islamic traditions in Iran after the Sasanian period, the Constitutional Revolution, and the 1979 Revolution, the book explores the relationship between tradition, modernity, freedom, religion, and political thought. Azami argues that a genuine understanding of the past is essential for social transformation and the development of independent critical thinking.

“The Age of Cultural Darkness in Iran: The Unconscious Self-Absence” is a work in the fields of intellectual history, cultural criticism, and historical sociology. Through questions about historical memory, cultural identity, and the formation of social awareness, the book invites readers to reconsider Iran’s historical trajectory and reflect on the forces that have shaped its collective consciousness.