Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a distinct female voice has emerged in Persian fictional literature which has ventured beyond the established feminine stereotype of male literary tradition, and remarkably valorized female identities through focusing on interests and concerns of Iranian women, from feminist issues to social and political problems to cultural and moral dilemmas. This body of literature that has been gradually developed, tries to reflect realistic depictions of female protagonists with emotional, intellectual, and moral complexity. To study this progressive process, this research has focused on characterization of seven female protagonists that have been created by different generations of Iranian female authors in the genre of novel.

This thesis examines the first collections of modern Persian literature written by Iranian female authors in the context of a process of gender modernization during the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s reign (1941-1979). This thesis argues that women’s literature written during the period of transition from tradition to modernity is clearly influenced by the state’s gender policy and illustrates the changing position of women’s status in private and public life. Indeed, an examination of the collections of short stories and poems that were produced in this period demonstrates that female authors were concerned with the unveiling policy, arranged marriage and polygamy, women’s education, women’s social participation, women’s domestic obligations, women’s political awakening, and female sexuality. Furthermore, central themes covered by female authors changed significantly based on the transformations of gender politics the society experienced from the 1940s and 1950s to the 1960s and 1970s.