By 1949, Parviz Khatibi made his newspaper in the genre of political satire called: ‘Hajji Baba’. Ironically, the story ‘Hajji Baba of Ispahan’, by James Justinian Morier, was one of the most famous Oriental novels written in English. The story was ‘highly influential’ in its ‘stereotype of the so-called “Persian national character” in modern times’ with a ‘hostile and satirical overtone’ to it, reflective of British cultural and moral superiority at a ‘critical junction during diplomatic entanglements with European powers’. Khatibi’s ‘Hajji Baba’ was a direct response through caricature to power struggles between Iran and its Western counterparts. 

EXCERPT FROM Political satire: the work of dissident Iranian artist Parviz Khatibi BY Sara Makari-Aghdam
TRANSLATION BY Abbas Makari-Aghdam AND Sara Makari-Aghdam

BELOW ARE A SELECTION OF ‘HAJI BABA’ COVERS SPANNING FROM ITS INCEPTION IN 1949 TO ITS FINAL EDITIONS IN THE 1980’S.

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