Page 43 - Shahrvand BC No.1253
P. 43
English Section
43 of Iranians who were swept up in the to the powerful Princess Pari. At of Iranian American fiction is truly
domestic front of the war on terror. the other end, an excerpt from Amir boundless. Some of these writers
Working against Iranian nationalist and Khalil’s graphic novel Zahra’s may deliberately choose to write
tendencies to stay separate from other Paradise ushers the reader into the about non-Iranian subjects, while
racialized populations in the US, this immediacy of the 2009 protests and others simply write about the places
story follows an elderly man as he their aftermath, as families gather in and people they have come to know
goes through the terrifying process of front of Evin prison demanding to as they have traveled other routes
“special registrations” and detention. know what happened to their loved besides that between the US and
Punctured by flashbacks of his son’s ones. In between these temporal Iran. For example, Elizabeth Eslami’s
imprisonment in Iran, “Something to bookends, Ari Siletz’s transcendent “Everything Gets Mixed Together
Pray For” juxtaposes different forms story of black magic in the desert at the Pueblo” focuses on settler
1392 رویرهش1 جمعه- 1253 شماره/ سال متسیب of state repression in the US and Iran, and Shideh Etaat’s irreverent telling colonialism in the US by portraying
allowing for a comparative reading of a Jewish-Muslim love affair both an encounter between indigenous tour
of these two contexts. Inside the present us with characters that defy guides and non-indigenous tourists
California holding cell full of Muslim the expectations of those around in the southwest. Eslami enters a
men from all over the world, a space them and move the reader through a different representational morass
“Fixer Karim,” a tale that traces the of solidarity comes into being that series of dynamic and changing social than that which ordinarily concerns
repeated reinvention of one young is rooted not in national identity, but worlds. Iranians: the presumptions about
Iranian man, and the slow decline of rather in a shared sense of loss and a native peoples that work to justify
another. Here the motion of diaspora desperate grasping for hope. Among the benefits of the anthology a history of genocide and ongoing
doubles back on itself; the characters format are the cross-readings it forms of cultural and material
are perpetually displaced, one If the first section of the collection makes possible, as we encounter dispossession.
embracing the opportunistic uses of interrupts simplistic assumptions the work of individual authors in
his Iranian identity and the seemingly about immigrant success and the relation to one another rather than Sharon May’s “The Wizard of Khao-
endless possibilities of assimilation, American Dream, section two, “Iran, in isolation. How fascinating it is to I-Dang” takes us farthest afield, into
and the other precariously teetering Land of Resilience,” brilliantly resists read the excerpts from two novels, a landscape and culture that may not
towards destitution. For anyone who one-dimensional representations Zohreh Gharehmani’s Sky of Red be familiar to many readers. Set in
knows what it is like to find oneself of Iran. Instead, there are so many and Maryam Mortaz’s Balcony of a camp for Cambodian refugees on
caught in between two countries, both different “Irans” depicted in this Desire, as an accidental conversation the Thai border, the story follows a
of which feel unlivable in different section that the reader must be between women from two different Cambodian translator’s subtle efforts
ways, this story offers the delightful willing to journey across a span of generations. Sky of Red Poppies, set to help his compatriots navigate
chance to revel in an extended, at several hundred years to take them at the height of SAVAK’s campaign the Western legal regimes that will
times hilarious, inside joke about the all in. At one end of the timeline, an of terror under the Shah, looks at decide their fate, while nursing his
world as we know it. excerpt from Anita Amirrezvani’s the politicization of teenagers at a own memories of war and a desire
novel, Equal of the Sun, renders girls’ school in Mashad. When the to return home. May’s fiction is
Shifting moods again, Persis Karim’s the palace intrigue of the sixteenth- main character discovers her school riveting because of the deftness of
“Something to Pray For” is the only century Savafi court through the principal cooperating with SAVAK her prose, her years spent living in
In touch with Iranian diversity fictionalized account I’ve come across eyes of a eunuch, the loyal servant to turn in a radical student, her terror Cambodia, and her knowledge of the
and curiosity lead her to seek out the Khmer language. Her portrayal of the
banned books that could endanger translator, the only character who can
her as well. Balcony of Desire, set function fluently in two worlds—that
during the Islamic cultural revolution of western officials and of refugees—
of the early 1980s, also takes place has deep resonances with the themes
in a girls’ high school, in the midst present in the anthology as a whole.
of a new round of book banning and She invites us to contemplate the
official efforts to control the minds feeling of diaspora, the violent
Lawyers ICBC ﻭﻛﻼ and behaviors of young women. demands of assimilation, and the
Claims ٦٠٤- ٩٨٢- ٤٠٥١ While each story stands out for the psychic state of living in between.
604 - 982 - 4051 ٦٠٤- ٩٨٠ -٨٥٧١ vivid writing and seamless weaving of
604 - 980 - 8571 historical events with the characters’ It may be that the “seismic shift”
thoughts and emotions, taken together underway in Iranian American
Vol. 20 / No. 1253 - Friday, Aug. 23, 2013 they offer something more. A reader literature is only possible now,
unfamiliar with Iranian history and after two decades of publishing and
society may be surprised to see that after 2009, when the whole world
perhaps there is not such a sharp recognized that Iranian society is far
ﺑﺮﺍی ﻣﺸﺎﻭﺭﻩ ﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ ﻟﻄﻔﺎ ﺑﺎ distinction between the dictatorship from static or homogeneous. Viewed
of the Shah (a staunch US ally) and as part of the broader field of ethnic
the current regime after all. Rather American literature, the stories in
ﺁﻗﺎی ﻛﺎﻣﻴﻞ ﻟﻄﻔﻌﻠﻰ than teaching us that censorship is Tremors appear to take the burdens
somehow endemic to Iranian society, of representation as given, as part of
however, these stories reveal it to be a the creative challenge itself. Rather
. ﺗﻤﺎﺱ ﺑﮕﻴﺮﻳﺪ،ﻭﻛﻴﻞ ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻰ ﺯﺑﺎﻥ project that is always incomplete and than a choice between self-censorship
in danger of failure. Ghahremani and and total disregard for the political
Mortaz create characters compelled implications of familiar narratives,
to resist in ways that may be hidden these authors—and editors—engage
Kamil Lotfali, lawyer or open, direct or indirect, but that openlywiththedifficultcircumstances
are beyond the scope of any historical in which we find ourselves. Tremors
record and thus only available to us may announce a new moment in the
ﺳﺎﻝ ﺗﺠﺮﺑﻪ ﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ٣٠ ﻣﺆﺳﺴﻪﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ "ﻧﻮﺭﺕﺷﻮﺭﻻ " ﺑﺎﺑﻴﺶﺍﺯ- through literature. development of Iranian American
fiction, but it is deeply bound up
ﺩﺳﺘﻤﺰﺩیﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖﻧﺨﻮﺍﻫﻴﻢﻛﺮﺩ، ﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖﻧﻨﻤﺎﺋﻴﻢICBC ﺗﺎﺧﺴﺎﺭﺕﺷﻤﺎﺭﺍ ﺍﺯ- The final section of Tremors, with a past that continually intrudes
“OtherLand,” showcases writing into the present, with the many ways
ICBC ﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖ ﻫﺮﮔﻮﻧﻪ ﺧﺴﺎﺭﺕ ﺟﺎﻧﻰ ﻭ ﻣﺎﻟﻰ ﺍﺯ- about geographical, social, and Iranians—and others—inherit, carry,
political worlds not defined by the and interpret our losses.
NORTH SHORE LAW43 LLP US-Iran standoff. Moving out beyond
the borders of a narrowly constructed Source: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/
6th Floor, 171 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, B.C.
Iranian ethnic or national identity, index/13579/shaking-up-expectations_the-
klotfali@northshorelaw.com the scope and potential of this subset boundless-new-horizons
43 of Iranians who were swept up in the to the powerful Princess Pari. At of Iranian American fiction is truly
domestic front of the war on terror. the other end, an excerpt from Amir boundless. Some of these writers
Working against Iranian nationalist and Khalil’s graphic novel Zahra’s may deliberately choose to write
tendencies to stay separate from other Paradise ushers the reader into the about non-Iranian subjects, while
racialized populations in the US, this immediacy of the 2009 protests and others simply write about the places
story follows an elderly man as he their aftermath, as families gather in and people they have come to know
goes through the terrifying process of front of Evin prison demanding to as they have traveled other routes
“special registrations” and detention. know what happened to their loved besides that between the US and
Punctured by flashbacks of his son’s ones. In between these temporal Iran. For example, Elizabeth Eslami’s
imprisonment in Iran, “Something to bookends, Ari Siletz’s transcendent “Everything Gets Mixed Together
Pray For” juxtaposes different forms story of black magic in the desert at the Pueblo” focuses on settler
1392 رویرهش1 جمعه- 1253 شماره/ سال متسیب of state repression in the US and Iran, and Shideh Etaat’s irreverent telling colonialism in the US by portraying
allowing for a comparative reading of a Jewish-Muslim love affair both an encounter between indigenous tour
of these two contexts. Inside the present us with characters that defy guides and non-indigenous tourists
California holding cell full of Muslim the expectations of those around in the southwest. Eslami enters a
men from all over the world, a space them and move the reader through a different representational morass
“Fixer Karim,” a tale that traces the of solidarity comes into being that series of dynamic and changing social than that which ordinarily concerns
repeated reinvention of one young is rooted not in national identity, but worlds. Iranians: the presumptions about
Iranian man, and the slow decline of rather in a shared sense of loss and a native peoples that work to justify
another. Here the motion of diaspora desperate grasping for hope. Among the benefits of the anthology a history of genocide and ongoing
doubles back on itself; the characters format are the cross-readings it forms of cultural and material
are perpetually displaced, one If the first section of the collection makes possible, as we encounter dispossession.
embracing the opportunistic uses of interrupts simplistic assumptions the work of individual authors in
his Iranian identity and the seemingly about immigrant success and the relation to one another rather than Sharon May’s “The Wizard of Khao-
endless possibilities of assimilation, American Dream, section two, “Iran, in isolation. How fascinating it is to I-Dang” takes us farthest afield, into
and the other precariously teetering Land of Resilience,” brilliantly resists read the excerpts from two novels, a landscape and culture that may not
towards destitution. For anyone who one-dimensional representations Zohreh Gharehmani’s Sky of Red be familiar to many readers. Set in
knows what it is like to find oneself of Iran. Instead, there are so many and Maryam Mortaz’s Balcony of a camp for Cambodian refugees on
caught in between two countries, both different “Irans” depicted in this Desire, as an accidental conversation the Thai border, the story follows a
of which feel unlivable in different section that the reader must be between women from two different Cambodian translator’s subtle efforts
ways, this story offers the delightful willing to journey across a span of generations. Sky of Red Poppies, set to help his compatriots navigate
chance to revel in an extended, at several hundred years to take them at the height of SAVAK’s campaign the Western legal regimes that will
times hilarious, inside joke about the all in. At one end of the timeline, an of terror under the Shah, looks at decide their fate, while nursing his
world as we know it. excerpt from Anita Amirrezvani’s the politicization of teenagers at a own memories of war and a desire
novel, Equal of the Sun, renders girls’ school in Mashad. When the to return home. May’s fiction is
Shifting moods again, Persis Karim’s the palace intrigue of the sixteenth- main character discovers her school riveting because of the deftness of
“Something to Pray For” is the only century Savafi court through the principal cooperating with SAVAK her prose, her years spent living in
In touch with Iranian diversity fictionalized account I’ve come across eyes of a eunuch, the loyal servant to turn in a radical student, her terror Cambodia, and her knowledge of the
and curiosity lead her to seek out the Khmer language. Her portrayal of the
banned books that could endanger translator, the only character who can
her as well. Balcony of Desire, set function fluently in two worlds—that
during the Islamic cultural revolution of western officials and of refugees—
of the early 1980s, also takes place has deep resonances with the themes
in a girls’ high school, in the midst present in the anthology as a whole.
of a new round of book banning and She invites us to contemplate the
official efforts to control the minds feeling of diaspora, the violent
Lawyers ICBC ﻭﻛﻼ and behaviors of young women. demands of assimilation, and the
Claims ٦٠٤- ٩٨٢- ٤٠٥١ While each story stands out for the psychic state of living in between.
604 - 982 - 4051 ٦٠٤- ٩٨٠ -٨٥٧١ vivid writing and seamless weaving of
604 - 980 - 8571 historical events with the characters’ It may be that the “seismic shift”
thoughts and emotions, taken together underway in Iranian American
Vol. 20 / No. 1253 - Friday, Aug. 23, 2013 they offer something more. A reader literature is only possible now,
unfamiliar with Iranian history and after two decades of publishing and
society may be surprised to see that after 2009, when the whole world
perhaps there is not such a sharp recognized that Iranian society is far
ﺑﺮﺍی ﻣﺸﺎﻭﺭﻩ ﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ ﻟﻄﻔﺎ ﺑﺎ distinction between the dictatorship from static or homogeneous. Viewed
of the Shah (a staunch US ally) and as part of the broader field of ethnic
the current regime after all. Rather American literature, the stories in
ﺁﻗﺎی ﻛﺎﻣﻴﻞ ﻟﻄﻔﻌﻠﻰ than teaching us that censorship is Tremors appear to take the burdens
somehow endemic to Iranian society, of representation as given, as part of
however, these stories reveal it to be a the creative challenge itself. Rather
. ﺗﻤﺎﺱ ﺑﮕﻴﺮﻳﺪ،ﻭﻛﻴﻞ ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻰ ﺯﺑﺎﻥ project that is always incomplete and than a choice between self-censorship
in danger of failure. Ghahremani and and total disregard for the political
Mortaz create characters compelled implications of familiar narratives,
to resist in ways that may be hidden these authors—and editors—engage
Kamil Lotfali, lawyer or open, direct or indirect, but that openlywiththedifficultcircumstances
are beyond the scope of any historical in which we find ourselves. Tremors
record and thus only available to us may announce a new moment in the
ﺳﺎﻝ ﺗﺠﺮﺑﻪ ﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ٣٠ ﻣﺆﺳﺴﻪﺣﻘﻮﻗﻰ "ﻧﻮﺭﺕﺷﻮﺭﻻ " ﺑﺎﺑﻴﺶﺍﺯ- through literature. development of Iranian American
fiction, but it is deeply bound up
ﺩﺳﺘﻤﺰﺩیﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖﻧﺨﻮﺍﻫﻴﻢﻛﺮﺩ، ﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖﻧﻨﻤﺎﺋﻴﻢICBC ﺗﺎﺧﺴﺎﺭﺕﺷﻤﺎﺭﺍ ﺍﺯ- The final section of Tremors, with a past that continually intrudes
“OtherLand,” showcases writing into the present, with the many ways
ICBC ﺩﺭﻳﺎﻓﺖ ﻫﺮﮔﻮﻧﻪ ﺧﺴﺎﺭﺕ ﺟﺎﻧﻰ ﻭ ﻣﺎﻟﻰ ﺍﺯ- about geographical, social, and Iranians—and others—inherit, carry,
political worlds not defined by the and interpret our losses.
NORTH SHORE LAW43 LLP US-Iran standoff. Moving out beyond
the borders of a narrowly constructed Source: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/
6th Floor, 171 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, B.C.
Iranian ethnic or national identity, index/13579/shaking-up-expectations_the-
klotfali@northshorelaw.com the scope and potential of this subset boundless-new-horizons
