Kissing the sword : a prison memoir / Shahrnush Parsipur ; translated by Sara Khalili ; foreword by Robert Coover ; cover design by Faith Hutchinson ; text design by Drew Stevens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parsipur, Shahrnush, author.

Coover, Robert, author of introduction, etc.

Contributor:

Khalili, Sara, translator.

Hutchinson, Faith, cover designer.

Stevens, Drew, designer.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parsipur, Shahrnush.

Authors, Iranian--20th century--Biography.

Authors, Iranian.

Political prisoners--Iran--Biography.

Political prisoners.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : The Feminist Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Shahrnush Parsipur was an important writer and television producer in her native Iran until 1979 when the Islamic Republic began imprisoning its citizens. Kissing the Sword captures the surreal experiences of serving time without being charged with a crime, and witnessing the systematic destruction of any and all opposition to fundamentalist power. It is a memoir filled with both horror and humor: nights blasted by the sounds of machine gun fire as hundreds of prisoners are summarily executed, and days spent debating prison officials on whether the Quran demands that women be covered. Parsipur, one of the great novelists of modern Iran, known for magic realism, tells a story here that is all too real. She mines her own painful memories to create an urgent call for one of the most basic of human rights: freedom of expression. Born in Iran in 1946, Shahrnush Parsipur began her career as a fiction writer and producer at Iranian National Television and Radio. She was imprisoned for nearly five years by the religious government without being formally charged. Shortly after her release, she published Women Without Men and was arrested and jailed again, this time for her frank and defiant portrayal of women's sexuality. While still banned in Iran, the novel became an underground bestseller there, and has been translated into many languages around the world. Parsipur is also the author of Touba and the Meaning of Night, among many other books, and now lives in exile in northern California. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

""Front Cover""; ""Title Page""; ""Copyright Page""; ""Table of Contents""; ""Foreword""; ""Preface ""; ""Chapter 1 ""; ""Chapter 2 ""; ""Chapter 3""; ""Chapter 4 ""; ""Chapter 5 ""; ""Chapter 6""; ""Chapter 7""; ""Chapter 8""; ""Chapter 9""; ""Chapter 10""; ""Chapter 11""; ""Chapter 12""; ""Chapter 13""; ""Chapter 14""; ""Chapter 15""; ""Chapter 16""; ""Chapter 17""; ""Chapter 18""; ""Chapter 19""; ""Chapter 20""; ""Chapter 21""; ""Chapter 22""; ""Chapter 23""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""About the Author""; ""Also Available From the Feminist Press""; ""About the Feminist Press""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781558618176

1558618171