Moments of silence : authenticity in the cultural expressions of the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988 / edited by Arta Khakpour, Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami and Shouleh Vatanabadi.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Khakpour, Arta, editor.

Khorrami, Mohammad Mehdi, editor.

Vatanabadi, Shouleh, 1955- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988--Literature and the war.

Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988.

War and literature.

Physical Description:

viii, 290 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press : NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, [2016]

Summary:

The Iran-Iraq War was the longest conventional war of the 20th century. The memory of it may have faded in the wake of more recent wars in the region, but the harrowing facts remain: over one million soldiers and civilians dead, millions more permanently displaced and disabled, and an entire generation marked by prosthetic implants and teenage martyrdom. These same facts have been instrumentalized by agendas both foreign and domestic, but also aestheticized, defamiliarized, readdressed and reconciled by artists, writers, and filmmakers across an array of identities: linguistic (Arabic, Persian, Kurdish), religious (Shiite, Sunni, atheist), and political (Iranian, Iraqi, internationalist). Official discourses have unsurprisingly tried to dominate the process of production and distribution of war narratives. In doing so, they have ignored and silenced other voices. Centering on novels, films, memoirs, and poster art that gave aesthetic expression to the Iran-Iraq War, the essays gathered in this volume present multiple perspectives on the war's most complex and underrepresented narratives. These scholars do not naively claim to represent an authenticity lacking in official discourses of the war, but rather, they call into question the notion of authenticity itself. Finding, deciding upon, and creating a language that can convey any sort of truth at all-collective, national, or private-is the major preoccupation of the texts and critiques in this diverse collection.

Contents:

Part I Transnational Contexts: Interconnected Histories, Geographies, and Languages

1 Narratives of Borders and Beyond / Shouleh Vatanabadi Vatanabadi, Shouleh 11

2 Lost Homelands, Imaginary Returns: The Exilic Literature of Iranian and Iraqi Jews / Ella Shohat Shohat, Ella 20

Part II Theorizing Cultural Expressions of War

3 Treacherous Memory: Bashu the Little Stranger and the Sacred Defense / Kamran Rastegar Rastegar, Kamran 61

4 War Veterans Turned Writers of War Narratives / M. R. Ghanoonparvar Ghanoonparvar, M. R. 61

5 Between Betrayal and Steadfastness: Iraqi Prisoners of War Narrate Their Lives / Dina Rizk Khoury Khoury, Dina Rizk 103

6 Stepping Back from the Front: A Glance at Home Front Narratives of the Iran-Iraq War in Persian and Arabic Fiction / Amir Moosavi Moosavi, Amir 120

7 Not a Manifesto: The Languages of Aggression / Michael Beard Beard, Michael 138

Part III War Through Visual Representations

8 All's Not Quiet on the Western Front: Graphic Arts in the Iranian War Effort / Peter Chelkowski Chelkowski, Peter 163

9 Shadows of War: An Overview of Iranian War Films from 1980 to 1988 / Marjan Riahi Riahi, Marjan, Aria Khakpour Khakpour, Aria 176

Part IV Literary Narratives of War

10 Representation of the Iran-Iraq War in Kurdish Fiction / Mardin Aminpour Aminpour, Mardin 193

11 Editing (Virayesh) as a Movement of Resistance during the Iran-Iraq War / Farzaneh Farahzad Farahzad, Farzaneh 206

12 Narratives of Silence: Persian Fiction of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War / Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami Khorrami, Mohammad Mehdi 217.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781479805099

9781479841585

1479841587

1479805092

OCLC:

922572325

Publisher Number:

99972104611