The Shipwrecked
Authors: Fereshteh Nouraie-Simone
Published in 2014 by the Feminist Press
at the City University of New York
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406
New York, NY 10016
Compilation and introduction copyright © 2014 by Fereshteh Nouraie-Simone
“The Shipwrecked” and “Dogs and Humans” translation copyright © 2014 by Sara Khalili
“Mermaid Café,” “Unsettled, Unbound,” “The Burnt Sound,” “Intercession,” “A Bloody Day of Ashura,” “The Bathhouse,” “The Wandering Cumulus Cloud,” “Grammar,” “The Queue,” and “Tehran” translation copyright © 2014 by Faridoun Farrokh
“The Maid” is reprinted with permission from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced, used, or stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First printing December 2014
Cover design by Drew Stevens
Text design by Suki Boynton
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The shipwrecked : contemporary stories by women from Iran / edited by Fereshteh Nouraie-Simone ; translated from Farsi by Sara Khalili and Faridoun Farrokh.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-55861-869-5 (ebook)
1.
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Persian fictionâWomen authorsâTranslations into English. 2.
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Short stories, PersianâTranslations into English. 3.
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Persian fictionâ21st centuryâTranslations into English. 4.
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WomenâIranâFiction. I. Nouraie-Simone, Fereshteh, editor. II. Khalili, Sara, translator. III. Farrokh, Faridoun, translator.
PK6449.E7S55 2015
891'.5530108âdc23
2014032352
CONTENTS
Also Available from Feminist Press
THE SHIPWRECKED
IS
a collection of short stories written by a generation of Iranian women writers whose works mostly emerged after the 1979 revolution. Thematically, the collection deals with gender and sociopolitical issues in contemporary Iran. The centrality of politics in everyday life, and changes wrought by revolution, war, and religiously imposed segregation are reflected in these stories. Politics play out on women's bodies, the personal becomes political, and the public sphere invades private space to silence dissent. The unifying thread linking the stories is the struggle for freedom, self-assertion, and subjectivity in a confined social environment.
The protagonists in the stories are not actively engaged in politics, nor are they protesting in public, but they are angry and disillusioned. They address the realities of their society with their voice to deconstruct the dominant power and to challenge notions about gender politics. They want individual freedom and a less intrusive political
space. They have become skillful in the art of survival and in subverting the controlled public space. And they have carved out a place of their own in which they are free to think and dream.
To understand
The Shipwrecked
, it is necessary to understand the complicated history of the 1979 revolution, which was a turning point in Iranian history. Hoping for a better future, a wide range of political groups representing different classes and ideologies took part in the revolution to overthrow the Pahlavi monarchy. The secular groups had little in common with religious factions except the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, the charismatic religious figure with mass appeal, who provided a common purpose for a disparate coalition: to overthrow the monarchy. One salient feature of the revolution was the widespread participation of women fighting for social justice, human rights, and political freedom.
Soon after the revolution, secular and Islamist forces clashed over the direction of the country. The secular opposition was outmaneuvered and marginalized, and a hardline Islamist camp ascended. Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic, promoted a policy of rapid Islamization as the key to social change and political control.
The cultural policy of the regime was aimed at creating an Islamic identity by reshaping public space through gender segregation, the enforcement of strict Islamic dress code (including mandatory veiling), and monitoring
of proper moral conduct. Most aspects of women's lives became subject to state intervention.
Ironically, the Islamization process and the gendered policy of the regime gave women, especially those from traditional families or low-income groups, the opportunity for social participation, higher education, and employment. In the process they gained gender awareness, political consciousness, and agency. Some of the writers represented here fall into this group.
The large scale contribution of women to overthrowing the old regime, participating in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, and assuming an active role in civil society laid the groundwork for women to push the gender boundaries of Islamism in favor of women's rights and feminism.
1
The postrevolutionary period also brought the flourishing of literature written by women as a powerful medium of artistic expression, giving them an empowered public voice. Literary production became dominated by women, and a mass readership led to the publication of a record number of novels, short stories, and poetry.
2
A younger generation of women writers, some of whom grew up in the postrevolutionary era, rejected the traditional narrative style in favor of exploring new nonlinear and fragmented literary techniques. The format of
these works range from the narrative/anti narrative style to impressionism, to magic realism, and other experimental forms. The varied literary forms in
The Shipwrecked
, many of which employ allegories or metaphors to explore multiple meanings, work collectively to reveal the stresses and strains of social life, the detriment of censorship, and disillusionment with overtly religious ideology.
The protagonists, who are sometimes the narrators, deal with the everyday experience of women in public and private realms. At the point we find them in the stories, most are restricted in their movements, either literally or physically. Their confinement comes in the form of jail cells, their homes, and even clothing they must wear in public. They mistrust all authority, including parental authority. Some watch passively as events unfold before them, others try to gain control over their lives. Each story presents characters frustrated by daily pressures, harassment, or an uncertain future.
The loss and disillusionment which replaced the hope and exhilaration that followed the revolution is represented in the title story, “The Shipwrecked,” by Moniru Ravanipour. Using allegorical gestures and magical realism, the narrative reveals what is hiddenâthe horror and violence citizens face in speaking up and for resisting authoritarianism. The story is an elegy to the death of freedom, and to the memory of those taken away. In a haunting, dreamlike narrative, a woman in a cold, dark cellar laments what has been lost and feels compelled to
write. The magic grows out of the painful reality, and the flight of fancy lands on an unstable shore that pulls the dead and living into the depth of the sea, where only there are the silenced and drowned free to speak up and cry out for freedom.
In “The Maid,” by Goli Taraghi, a privileged family is frightened and feels betrayed by the social upheaval the revolution brings. Their servants abandon them, demanding a share of the family's wealth. In an attempt to cling to a familiar lifestyle, the family hires a new maid who has a clouded past and who causes more anxiety and mistrust. The overarching theme of the story is the turmoil the revolution brought to a class-bound society and the lack of trust that now pervades it.