Page 44 - Shahrvand BC No.1253
P. 44
English Section 44
Shaking Up Expectations:
The Boundless New Horizons of
Iranian American Literature
1392 رویرهش1 جمعه- 1253 شماره/ سال متسیب
In touch with Iranian diversity
[Cover of “Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers”]
Aug 15 2013 The latest anthology of Iranian American literature subjectivity? Or is it a quivering that accompanies Vol. 20 / No. 1253 - Friday, Aug. 23, 2013
by Manijeh Nasrabadi shakes off the burden of expectations—those of the crescendo of voices unleashed from the pages
trade presses and readers—much as its title suggests. of this book? 44
Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers. Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers,
Edited by Anita Amirrezvani and Persis Karim. published by an academic press, was not intended The diasporic tenor of this literature is reflected
Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2013. to be a profit-making endeavor. It is neither saddled in the way the anthology is structured, with a
with a mandate to create positive images of Iranians first section devoted to stories set in the US, a
Iranian American literature has been caught in a for the West nor does it rehash familiar narratives middle section set in Iran, and a third section
representational bind, one that is overdetermined of repression and escape. Instead, we find an array that is not necessarily about Iran or Iranians at
by the fraught relationship between Iran and the of aesthetic styles, storytelling strategies, and all. The organization of the book makes the bold
United States. Is it the writer’s job to challenge memorable characters, a collection concerned as proclamation that Iranian American writers have
stereotypes about Iran and Iranians, to educate much with the craft of writing as with the desire a lot to say about a wide range of people and
American readers about Iran as an act of literary to say something, many things in fact, about Iran. places, and many different kinds of stories to tell.
diplomacy? Or are we to write unconstrained by According to editors Anita Amirrezvani and Persis In the first section, “American Homeland,” the
the geopolitical context, making representational Karim, in their introduction to the collection, the experience of diaspora is rendered with the pain
choices regardless of how they align with dominant publication of Tremors marks a “seismic moment and dark humor that accompanies disorientation.
messages about Iran, Islam, and Muslim women of change,” or rather, “the moment before a larger- The selections reckon with what Karim has
and men? And what to do about the tastes of the scale happening.” The title is taken from a story called “historic disappointments,” as well as with
US publishing industry, which seems partial by Erika Abrahamian about the impact of the 2009 those emanating from the strange and, at times,
to women’s memoirs about misogyny in Iran, “green” movement on different generations of treacherous, immigrant experience. Highlights
followed by a flight to freedom in the US? Under Iranians in the US. Tremors, the editors tell us, refers from this section include “Other Mothers, Other
these difficult conditions, some very good writing to something “quivering, slight but noticeable, yet Sons” by Mehdi Tavana Okasi, which offers a
has nonetheless been produced and published, not fully emerged” that is palpable throughout the young boy’s perspective on poverty and exile,
but the industry’s narrow, profit-driven definition twenty-six stories and one graphic novel included confronting not only the hostility of US society but
of what is marketable (for example, jacket blurbs here. Is this the tremor before the next big uprising also betrayal from within the Iranian community.
promising some version of the proverbial peek in Iran, or before a new moment of recognition of The quiet anxiety of “Other Mothers, Other Sons,”
behind the veil) has also been stifling. the diversity of Iranian American experience and is ruptured by the ironic wit of Salar Abdoh’s
Shaking Up Expectations:
The Boundless New Horizons of
Iranian American Literature
1392 رویرهش1 جمعه- 1253 شماره/ سال متسیب
In touch with Iranian diversity
[Cover of “Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers”]
Aug 15 2013 The latest anthology of Iranian American literature subjectivity? Or is it a quivering that accompanies Vol. 20 / No. 1253 - Friday, Aug. 23, 2013
by Manijeh Nasrabadi shakes off the burden of expectations—those of the crescendo of voices unleashed from the pages
trade presses and readers—much as its title suggests. of this book? 44
Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers. Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers,
Edited by Anita Amirrezvani and Persis Karim. published by an academic press, was not intended The diasporic tenor of this literature is reflected
Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2013. to be a profit-making endeavor. It is neither saddled in the way the anthology is structured, with a
with a mandate to create positive images of Iranians first section devoted to stories set in the US, a
Iranian American literature has been caught in a for the West nor does it rehash familiar narratives middle section set in Iran, and a third section
representational bind, one that is overdetermined of repression and escape. Instead, we find an array that is not necessarily about Iran or Iranians at
by the fraught relationship between Iran and the of aesthetic styles, storytelling strategies, and all. The organization of the book makes the bold
United States. Is it the writer’s job to challenge memorable characters, a collection concerned as proclamation that Iranian American writers have
stereotypes about Iran and Iranians, to educate much with the craft of writing as with the desire a lot to say about a wide range of people and
American readers about Iran as an act of literary to say something, many things in fact, about Iran. places, and many different kinds of stories to tell.
diplomacy? Or are we to write unconstrained by According to editors Anita Amirrezvani and Persis In the first section, “American Homeland,” the
the geopolitical context, making representational Karim, in their introduction to the collection, the experience of diaspora is rendered with the pain
choices regardless of how they align with dominant publication of Tremors marks a “seismic moment and dark humor that accompanies disorientation.
messages about Iran, Islam, and Muslim women of change,” or rather, “the moment before a larger- The selections reckon with what Karim has
and men? And what to do about the tastes of the scale happening.” The title is taken from a story called “historic disappointments,” as well as with
US publishing industry, which seems partial by Erika Abrahamian about the impact of the 2009 those emanating from the strange and, at times,
to women’s memoirs about misogyny in Iran, “green” movement on different generations of treacherous, immigrant experience. Highlights
followed by a flight to freedom in the US? Under Iranians in the US. Tremors, the editors tell us, refers from this section include “Other Mothers, Other
these difficult conditions, some very good writing to something “quivering, slight but noticeable, yet Sons” by Mehdi Tavana Okasi, which offers a
has nonetheless been produced and published, not fully emerged” that is palpable throughout the young boy’s perspective on poverty and exile,
but the industry’s narrow, profit-driven definition twenty-six stories and one graphic novel included confronting not only the hostility of US society but
of what is marketable (for example, jacket blurbs here. Is this the tremor before the next big uprising also betrayal from within the Iranian community.
promising some version of the proverbial peek in Iran, or before a new moment of recognition of The quiet anxiety of “Other Mothers, Other Sons,”
behind the veil) has also been stifling. the diversity of Iranian American experience and is ruptured by the ironic wit of Salar Abdoh’s
