About the Book
The pioneering Iranian poet and filmmaker Forugh Farrokhzad was an iconic figure in her own day and has come to represent the spirit of revolt against patriarchal and cultural norms in 1960s Iran. Four decades after her tragic death at the age of 32, "Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran" brings her ground-breaking work into new focus. During her lifetime Farrokhzad embodied the vexed predicament of the contemporary Iranian woman, at once subjected to long-held traditional practices and influenced by newly introduced modern social sensibilities. Highlighting her literary and cinematic innovation, this volume examines the unique place Farrokhzad occupies in Iran, both among modern Persian poets in general and as an Iranian woman writer in particular. The authors also explore Farrokhzad's appeal outside Iran in the Iranian diasporic imagination and through the numerous translations of her poetry into English. It is a fitting and authoritative tribute to the work of a remarkable woman which will introduce and explain her legacy for a 21st-century audience.
Table of Contents:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction, Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, University of Manchester and Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California Irvine.
2. “Of the Sins of Forugh Farrokhzad”, Homa Katouzian, Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford.
3. “Men and Women Together: Love, Marriage, and Gender in Forugh Farrokhzad’s Asir”, Marta Simidchieva, York University, Toronto.
4. “Places of Confinement, Liberation, and Decay: The Home and the Garden in the Poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad”, Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, University of Manchester.
5. “Forugh Farrokhzad’s Romance with Her Muse”, Rivanne Sandler, University of Toronto.
6. “Bewildered Mirror: Mirror, Self, and World in the Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad”, Leila Rahimi Bahmany, Freie Universität, Berlin.
7. “Personal Rebellion and Social Revolt in the Works of Forugh Farrokhzad”, Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona.
8. “Garden in Motion”, Michael Beard, University of North Dakota.
9. “Forugh Farrokhzad’s Apocalyptic Visions”, Sirous Shamisa, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran.
10. “Capturing the Abject of the Nation in The House is Black”, Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California Irvine.
11. “The House is Black: A Timeless Visual Essay”, Maryam Ghorbankarimi, University of Edinburgh.
12. “Forugh Farrokhzad as Translator of Modern German Poetry: observations about the anthology, Marg-e man ruzi”, Nima Mina, SOAS, London.
13. “Alien Rebirths of ‘Another Birth’”, M. R. Ghanoonparvar, University of Texas at Austin.
14. “Re-Writing Forugh: Writers, Intellectuals, Artists, and Forugh Farrokhzad’s Legacy in the Iranian Diaspora”, Persis M. Karim, San Jose State University.
About the Author :
Dominic Parviz Brookshaw is a Lecturer in Persian Studies and Iranian Literature at the University of Manchester. He has also held positions at McGill University, Canada, and the University of Oxford. His other publications include 'Hafiz and his Contemporaries: A Study of Fourteenth-century Persian Love Poetry' (Tauris Academic Studies) and, with Seena B. Fazel, he edited 'The Baha'is of Iran: Socio-historical Studies'. Nasrin Rahimieh is Maseeh Chair and Director of the Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture and Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.
Review :
'The epitome of what the Islamic Republic wanted to eradicate, Farrokhzad is now the Iranian equivalent of a rock star.' - Washington Post; 'Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran sets in every way a new milestone in the study and understanding of this extraordinary poet. This volume is now clearly the single most important critical study of Farrokhzad in English, and can be warmly recommended to anyone with an interest in Persian poetry, intellectual history of Iran, and Iranian women.' - Franklin Lewis, Associate Professor of Persian, University of Chicago; 'Nearly half a century after her death, neither a biography nor a critical study of her poems has appeared. In the light of this situation, everyone who has read Farrokhzad or read about her will welcome the proposed volume.' - Michael Craig Hillman, Professor of Persian, University of Texas, Austin
