Natel Khanlari (March 20, 1914 – August 23, 1990) was an Iranian literary scholar, linguist, author, researcher, politician, and professor at University of Tehran. He was born in Tehran, but his parents came from Mazandaran Province, northern Iran.
The famous literary man studied linguistics at in Paris in an institute affiliated to Sorbonne Université; then, he founded a new course named history of Persian Language at University of Tehran.
He was founder and editor of Sokhan magazine, a leading literary journal with wide circulation among Iranian intellectuals and scholars from the early 1940s to 1978. Works of many authors and poets such as Jalal Al Ahmad, Mohammad Ali Eslami Nadooshan, and Bahram Sadeghi were published in Sokhan magazine.
Khanlari attached importance to fundamental fields such as the relationships between art and morals, politics, society, and knowledge.
Linguistics and Persian language, Historical Grammar of Persian Language, Unbiased Critique, Eagle, and 70 Words are among his works, which were published in Persian.
He was also the founder of the Iranian Culture Foundation (Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran).
He made efforts to establish the Academy of Arts and Literature of Iran and some other cultural and educational institutions.
He wrote to his son, who died at the age of nine, that he himself just like his father and his grandfather, is committed to invest his life in transferring cultural heritage of Iran to next generations.
Answering a question on his age before his demise, he said, "I'm 2500 years old." He meant that has sees himself unified with 2500 years of cultural heritage of Iran. The great researcher and literary man passed away after suffering a long-term of illness in Tehran.
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