Representing Post-Revolutionary Iran

Rezensionen / Stimmen

A fruitful introductory guide for the reading and discussing of diaspora literature. * The Journal of Iranian Studies * A thoughtful and detailed analysis of the social, political, and historical context of three popular Iranian-American memoirs. * Contemporary Women's Writing * Hossein Nazari's critical account of three Iranian-American women's memoirs is an important study of neo-Orientalism and its negative consequences for geopolitics, feminism, and comparative religions. Until we stop using Islamic cultures for our own Western purposes, there will be little mutual understanding. More than an astute work of literary criticism, this book is also a lesson in political wisdom. * John Carlos Rowe, USC Associates' Professor of the Humanities, University of Southern California, USA * Representing Post-Revolutionary Iran is a critical study of Iranian-American memoirs, highlighting the importance of paying attention to representation, and to the enduring nature of Orientalist stereotypes. Thorough, nuanced, and timely, Nazari's work directs our gaze to the interwoven nature of memory and culture and reminds us of the work memoirs do in constructing our understandings of place. * Coeli Fitzpatrick, Grand Valley State University, USA * Iranian-American women who write memoirs are doing much more than writing self-narratives, argues Hossein Nazari in his illuminating analyses that take up some of the most urgent questions about the fraught relations between Iran and the United States. As his astute and timely study indicates, these women are (un)wittingly engaging in political work that is co-opted for promoting Western interventionist agendas.
His exploration of three paradigmatic memoirs penned by Iranian-American women unveils their political implications and the mechanism behind keeping conscious the collective Western memory that renders Iran the greatest threat to democracy and Islam the root of all evil. Deployed in the post-9/11 milieu, neo-Orientalist discourse has perpetuated misrepresentations of this Middle-Eastern country. Nazari addresses how Not Without My Daughter and Reading Lolita in Tehran owe their popularity to their alignment with the grand narratives promoted by Western governments and expected by mass markets. Bringing a new reading to Jasmine and Stars, Nazari argues that its attention to cultural complexities offers an alternative, resistant narrative.
Nazari's work is important for not just literary studies but for all who care about the troubled history of Iran and the US. It points the way to future studies on this exigent topic. * Christine Grogan, University of Delaware, USA *