Iran Memories And Other Poems An Iranian American Woman S Journey
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Iran Memories and Other Poems: an Iranian-American Woman's Journey by Zahra Karimipour Pdf
Zahra Karimipours poetry paints a nostalgic picture of life in 1950s Boroujerd, a small town in the west of Iran. The realities of life in Boroujerd reveal a picture of a preindustrialized society, where life had not been touched by advanced machinery; life was simple, but vibrant. Karimipours memories of other places in Iran such as Tehran and the Caspian Sea are emotional accounts of her reflections on endearing memories. Her poem Oh, Caspian, shows her longing for the times she visited the Caspian Sea; her poem Ah, Tehran, reveals her regret of losing a city to population explosion and urbanization.
Mother Earth and We by Zahra Karimipour Siavashi Pdf
The poetry in Mother Earth and We portrays nature as the source for our survival, contemplation, contentment, and peaceful living. Natures grandeur and abundance make it our duty to care for our earth now and for the next generations.
Combining reminiscence, travelogue, history, and interviews with Iranians from all walks of life, a journey through modern-day Iran reveals a nation shrouded by misunderstanding, cultural stereotypes, and hostility.
Persian Language, Literature and Culture by Kamran Talattof Pdf
Critical approaches to the study of topics related to Persian literature and Iranian culture have evolved in recent decades. The essays included in this volume collectively demonstrate the most recent creative approaches to the study of the Persian language, literature, and culture, and the way these methodologies have progressed academic debate. Topics covered include; culture, cognition, history, the social context of literary criticism, the problematics of literary modernity, and the issues of writing literary history. More specifically, authors explore the nuances of these topics; literature and life, poetry and nature, culture and literature, women and literature, freedom of literature, Persian language, power, and censorship, and issues related to translation and translating Persian literature in particular. In dealing with these seminal subjects, contributors acknowledge and contemplate the works of Ahmad Karimi Hakkak and other pioneering critics, analysing how these works have influenced the field of literary and cultural studies. Contributing a variety of theoretical and inter-disciplinary approaches to this field of study, this book is a valuable addition to the study of Persian poetry and prose, and to literary criticism more broadly.
Familiar and Foreign by Manijeh Mannani,Veronica Thompson Pdf
he current political climate of confrontation between Islamist regimes and Western governments has resulted in the proliferation of essentialist perceptions of Iran and Iranians in the West. Such perceptions do not reflect the complex evolution of Iranian identity that occurred in the years following the Constitutional Revolution (1906–11) and the anti-imperialist Islamic Revolution of 1979. Despite the Iranian government’s determined pursuance of anti-Western policies and strict conformity to religious principles, the film and literature of Iran reflect the clash between a nostalgic pride in Persian tradition and an apparent infatuation with a more Eurocentric modernity. In Familiar and Foreign, Mannani and Thompson set out to explore the tensions surrounding the ongoing formulation of Iranian identity by bringing together essays on poetry, novels, memoir, and films. These include both canonical and less widely theorized texts, as well as works of literature written in English by authors living in diaspora. Challenging neocolonialist stereotypes, these critical excursions into Iranian literature and film reveal the limitations of collective identity as it has been configured within and outside of Iran. Through the examination of works by, among others, the iconic female poet Forugh Farrokhzad, the expatriate author Goli Taraqqi, the controversial memoirist Azar Nafisi, and the graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, this volume engages with the complex and contested discourses of religion, patriarchy, and politics that are the contemporary product of Iran’s long and revolutionary history.
Marcello Di Cintio prepares for his “journey into the heart of Iran” with the utmost diligence. He takes lessons in Farsi, researches Persian poetry and sharpens his wrestling skills by returning to the mat after a gap of some years. Knowing that there is a special relationship between heroic poetry and the various styles of traditional Persian wrestling, he sets out to discover how Iranians “reconcile creativity with combat.” From the moment of his arrival in Tehran, the author is overwhelmed by hospitality. He immerses himself in male company in tea houses, conversing while smoking the qalyun or water pipe. Iranian men are only too willing to talk, especially about politics. Confusingly, he is told conflicting statements–that all Iranians love George Bush, that all Iranians hate George Bush; that life was infinitely better under the Shah, that the mullahs swept away the corruption of the Shah’s regime and made life better for all. Once out of Tehran, he learns where the traditional forms of wrestling are practised. His path through the country is directed by a search for the variant disciplines and local techniques of wrestling and a need to visit sites and shrines associated with the great Persian poets: Hafez, Ferdosi, Omar Khayyám, Attar, Shahriyar and many others. Everywhere his quest leads him, he discovers that poetry is loved and quoted by everyone from taxi-drivers to students. His engagement with Iranian culture is intimate: he wrestles (sometimes reluctantly) when invited, samples illegal home-brew alcohol, attends a wedding, joins mourners, learns a new way to drink tea and attempts to observe the Ramazan fast, though not a Muslim himself. Though he has inevitable brushes with officialdom, he never feels in danger, even when he hears that a Canadian photo-journalist has apparently been beaten to death in a police cell during the author’s visit. The outraged and horrified reaction of those around him to this violent act tightens the already close bond he has formed with the Persians. His greatest frustration is that he is unable to converse freely with Iranian women aware that an important part of his picture of Iran is thus absent. Yet the mosaic of incidents, encounters, vistas, conversations, atmospheres and acutely observed sights, smells and moments creates a detailed impression of a country and society that will challenge most, if not all, preconceptions.
Bejan Baran is an Iranian-American poet and critic. He has published 4 books of poetry and literary criticism in English and Persian; with 2 more readied for publication: Four Seasons and The Rain's Journey. Western Diwan is a collection of 52 poems spanning 50 years of his living in the US with childhood nostalgia for Iran. The central theme in these poems is love for arts, people, women, nature, and passage of time. He has used various forms- verse libre, sketch, haiku, epigram, and long narrative long poems.He thinks: Poetry is the capture of the transient moment in an eternal expression for education, pleasure, and history. As Hafez of 14th century said, poetry is the "recording in the World's chronicle;" a moment that repeats itself whenever a reader looks at the poem. Baran's poetry is a bridge between the present and the past. The past includes his childhood, his three millennial Iranian culture, and his youth studying in the West. He is a lyrical poet, whose work has been frequently published in the literary sites in Iran, North America, and Europe. His poetry is based on love imagery, full of memories of the bygone days in the motherland. The rhythm in his poetry reverts to the syllabic meters of oral, folkloric and ancient poetry, in contrast to the Near Eastern quantitative and qualitative metrics, adapted by the medieval Persian poets. This is also different from English rhythm of accented and unaccented syllables organized into feet, aka patterns. His language is rich with alliteration, rhyme, and visual description. His poetry evokes all 5 senses. He has a special affinity for the environment. Currently he is researching the relationship between the brain and the poetic creativity; sections are being published in various Iranian, Afghan, and Western Web sites. His poems and articles on poetic processes are published in World Literature Today and Iranian Web sites.
ROAD & RIVER is a collection of 80 poems of the poet's youth on Tehran of 1960's and the memory of the birth-place. There are 23 etudes on the poet's experimentation with forms, literary tropes, and contents. He borrowed the Trojan Horse as a symbol of the Summer Coup in 1953. The narrator is a young boy who describes the experience with childish objects such as games, meals tablecloth, and birds. There are 6 qazals, a popular form of lyrical poetry. Bejan Baran is an Iranian-American poet and critic. He has published 6 books of poetry and literary criticism in English and Persian: Road & River, Western Diwan, Eastern Diwan, Four Seasons Poetry Town, and Rain's Journey. His poems and articles on poetic processes are published in World Literature Today and Iranian Web sites. He has translated into English, Iranian New poems by Nima Yushij (1895-1958), Ahmad Shamlu (1925-2000), Mehdi Akhavan (1928-1990), Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967). In literary criticism, he discards the traditional periodization of Iranian literature on the basis of monarchical dynasties; opts for literary styles to anchor poets or poems in history. He thinks: Poetry is the capture of the transient moment in an eternal expression for education, pleasure, and history. As Hafez of 14th century said, poetry is the "recording in the World's chronicle;" a moment that repeats itself whenever a reader looks at the poem. Baran's poetry is a bridge between the present and the past. The past includes his childhood, his long Iranian culture, and his youth studying in the West. He is a lyrical poet, whose work has been frequently published in the literary sites in Iran, North America, and Europe. His poetry is based on love imagery, full of memories of the bygone days in the motherland. The rhythm in his poetry reverts to the syllabic meters of oral, folkloric and ancient poetry, in contrast to the Near Eastern quantitative and qualitative metrics, adapted by the medieval Persian poets. This is also different from English rhythm of accented and unaccented syllables organized into feet, aka patterns. His language is rich with alliteration, rhyme, and visual description. His poetry evokes all 5 senses. He has a special affinity for the environment. Currently he is researching the relationship between the brain and the poetic creativity; sections are being published in various Iranian, Afghan, and Western Web sites.
An emotional, evocative coming-of-age story about one deeply intelligent and perceptive girl’s attempt to find her own voice in prerevolutionary Iran “An immensely moving, extraordinarily eloquent, and passionate memoir.”—Harold Bloom Roya Hakakian was twelve years old in 1979 when the revolution swept through Tehran. The daughter of an esteemed poet, she grew up in a household that hummed with intellectual life. Family gatherings were punctuated by witty, satirical exchanges and spontaneous recitations of poetry. But the Hakakians were also part of the very small Jewish population in Iran who witnessed the iron fist of the Islamic fundamentalists increasingly tightening its grip. It is with the innocent confusion of youth that Roya describes her discovery of a swastika—“a plus sign gone awry, a dark reptile with four hungry claws”—painted on the wall near her home. As a schoolgirl she watched as friends accused of reading blasphemous books were escorted from class by Islamic Society guards, never to return. Only much later did Roya learn that she was spared a similar fate because her teacher admired her writing. Hakakian relates in the most poignant, and at times painful, ways what life was like for women after the country fell into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who had declared an insidious war against them, but we see it all through the eyes of a strong, youthful optimist who somehow came up in the world believing that she was different, knowing she was special. A wonderfully evocative story, Journey from the Land of No reveals an Iran most readers have not encountered and re-creates a time and place dominated by religious fanaticism, violence, and fear with an open heart.
The Literature of the Iranian Diaspora by Sanaz Fotouhi Pdf
The 1979 Revolution in Iran caused the migration of millions of Iranians, many of whom wrote, and are still writing, of their experiences. Formed at the junctions of Iranian culture, English language and Western cultures, this body of work has not only formed a unique literary space, offering an insightful reflection of Iranian diasporic experiences and its shifting nature, but it has also been making a unique and understudied contribution to World Literatures in English as significant as Indian, African and Asian writing in English. Sanaz Fotouhi here traces the origins of the emerging body of diasporic Iranian literature in English, and uses these origins to examine the socio-political position and historical context from which they have emerged. Fotouhi brings together, introduces and analyses, for the first time, a significant range of diasporic Iranian writers alongside each other and alongside other diasporic literatures in English. While situating this body of work through existing theories such as postcolonialism, Fotouhi sheds new light on the role of Iranian literature and culture in Western literature by showing that these writings distinctively reflect experiences unique to the Iranian diaspora. Analysing the relationship between Iranians and their new surroundings, by drawing on theories of migration, narration and identity, Fotouhi examines how the literature borne out of the Iranian diaspora reconstructs, maintains and negotiates their Individual and communal identities and reflects today's socio-political realities. This book will be vital for researchers of Middle Eastern literature and its relationship with writings from the West, as well as those interested in the cultural history of the Middle East.
Daughter of Persia by Sattareh Farman-Farmaian Pdf
The Remarkable story of the daughter of a once powerful and wealthy shazdeh, or prince, Farmaian tells a fascinating tale of growing up in the 1930s in a Persian harem compound in Tehran. Breaking with Muslim tradition, she became an independent woman and found herself arrested as a counterrevolutionary. A dramtic window on Iran's journey through the twentieth century.
Shivya Nath quit her corporate job at age twenty-three to travel the world. She gave up her home and the need for a permanent address, sold most of her possessions and embarked on a nomadic journey that has taken her everywhere from remote Himalayan villages to the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador. Along the way, she lived with an indigenous Mayan community in Guatemala, hiked alone in the Ecuadorian Andes, got mugged in Costa Rica, swam across the border from Costa Rica to Panama, slept under a meteor shower in the cracked salt desert of Gujarat and learnt to conquer her deepest fears. With its vivid descriptions, cinematic landscapes, moving encounters and uplifting adventures, The Shooting Star is a travel memoir that maps not just the world but the human spirit.
Scholarship has traditionally characterized elegy as a Eurocentric tradition – a genealogy spanning from ancient Greek pastoral poems via the “English elegy” to English and Anglo-American Modernist contemporary poets. Perry examines how these genealogical constructions operate as a means of framing which guides interpretation. This book argues that they reflect a necropoetics – a system of principles, precepts and techniques which serve to establish and maintain ideas about whose lives are worthy of being mourned publicly and whose losses matter. Examining elegies that challenge questions of whose deaths may be grieved; elegies which articulate the various ways in which certain lives are made precarious and disposable; and elegies which interrogate colonial violence, structures of white power, militarized forms of policing, prison-industrial and military-industrial complexes, Perry explores possibilities for radical new ways of understanding elegy beyond established genealogical frames. This study retheorizes some basic terms of analysis of contemporary US poetry and poetics, critical race and ethnic studies, racial capitalism and contemporary theories of comparative and relational racialization.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • The moving, inspiring memoir of one of the great women of our times, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, whose spirit has remained strong in the face of political persecution and despite the challenges she has faced raising a family while pursuing her work. Best known in this country as the lawyer working tirelessly on behalf of Canadian photojournalist, Zara Kazemi—raped, tortured and murdered in Iran—Dr. Ebadi offers us a vivid picture of the struggles of one woman against the system. The book movingly chronicles her childhood in a loving, untraditional family, her upbringing before the Revolution in 1979 that toppled the Shah, her marriage and her religious faith, as well as her life as a mother and lawyer battling an oppressive regime in the courts while bringing up her girls at home. Outspoken, controversial, Shirin Ebadi is one of the most fascinating women today. She rose quickly to become the first female judge in the country; but when the religious authorities declared women unfit to serve as judges she was demoted to clerk in the courtroom she had once presided over. She eventually fought her way back as a human rights lawyer, defending women and children in politically charged cases that most lawyers were afraid to represent. She has been arrested and been the target of assassination, but through it all has spoken out with quiet bravery on behalf of the victims of injustice and discrimination and become a powerful voice for change, almost universally embraced as a hero. Her memoir is a gripping story—a must-read for anyone interested in Zara Kazemi’s case, in the life of a remarkable woman, or in understanding the political and religious upheaval in our world. Praise for Shirin Ebadi and Iran Awakening “This is the riveting story of an amazing and very brave woman living through some quite turbulent times. And she emerges with head unbowed.”—Archbishop Desmond Tutu “The safety and freedom of citizens in democracies is irretrievably bound with the safety and freedom of people like Shirin Ebadi who are fighting to reassert the best achievements of mankind: universal human rights. One of the staunchest advocates for human rights in her country and beyond, Ms. Ebadi, herself a devout Muslim, represents hope for many in Muslim societies that Islam and democracy are indeed compatible.”—Azar Nafisi “A moving portrait of a life lived in truth.”—The New York Times Book Review “A riveting account of a brave, lonely struggle . . . [Iran Awakening] reads like a police thriller, its drama heightened by Ebadi’s determination to keep up the quotidian aspects of her family life.”—The Washington Post Book World “A must read . . . may be the most important book you could read this year.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"I feel I am the wandering Jew who has no place to which she belongs. I thought I could settle down, but can't imagine staying. Whenever I bought a bar of soap and two came in the package, I thought there would be no need to buy a package of two because I would never last through the second. Why? Because I knew I was returning to Iran -- tomorrow. So too, I would buy the smallest size of toothpastes and jars of oil. Putting down roots here is an impossibility." These are the words of one Iranian emigre, driven from Tehran by the revolution of 1979. They are echoed time and again in this powerful portrayal of loss and survival. Impelled by these word and her own concerns about nationality and identity, Zohreh Sullivan has gathered together here the voices of sixty exiles and emigres. The speakers come from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and range in age from thirteen to eighty-eight. Although most are from the middle class, they work in a variety of occupations in the United States. But whatever their differences, here they engage in remembering the past, producing a discourse about their lives, and negotiating the troubled transitions from one culture to another. Unlike man other Iranian oral history projects, Exiled Memories looks at the reconstruction of memory and identity through diasporic narratives, through a focus on the Americas rather than on Iran. The narratives included here reveal the complex ways in which events and places transform identities, how overnight radical s become conservatives, friends become enemies, the strong become weak. Indeed, the narratives themselves serve this function -- serving to transfer or transform power and establish credibility. They reveal a diverse group of people in the process of knitting the story of themselves with the story of the collective after it has been torn apart.
