Memories of an Impossible Future: Mehdi Akhavān Sāles and the Poetics of Time PDF
Preview Memories of an Impossible Future: Mehdi Akhavān Sāles and the Poetics of Time
Memories of an Impossible Future Iran Studies Editorial Board Ali Gheissari (University of San Diego, CA) Yann Richard (Sorbonne Nouvelle) Christoph Werner (University of Marburg) Volume 14 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/is Memories of an Impossible Future Mehdi Akhavān Sāles and the Poetics of Time By Marie Huber LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Mehdi Akhavān Sāles in 1990, portrait by Ebrahim Golestan. By courtesy of Ebrahim Golestan. This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1569-7401 isbn 978-90-04-32378-0 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-32379-7 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. In memory of my mother, Ingeborg Huber ∵ Contents Acknowledgements IX Introduction 1 1 An Emancipation of Rhythm 13 Isochronies of Night 14 The Immanence of Perception 21 Metrical Spaces 25 Embodied Rhythm 31 Measures of Seeing 35 Time and Song 38 2 Images of the New 45 The Screen of Nature 47 Porous Images 50 Objective and Subjective Realities 57 The Two Mirrors 66 3 Time-Spaces of Poetic Narration 70 The Most Intimate Relation 72 Dream Time 80 Syncopations of Desire 84 The Immobilised Now 91 Embedded in Time 97 Unmappable Spaces and Spaces of Myth 102 4 The Depth of Time: Voices 108 The Broken Cogito 111 La parole scindée 118 The End of the Book of Kings 132 Bibliography 151 Index 162 Acknowledgements My profoundest gratitude goes out to Mohsen Ashtiany, , for ناوخا رابت زا یدنر his lucid humanity. This book would not exist without the grace and percep- tiveness he has shown to my writing. A number of scholars and friends have marked my thought and accompa- nied me on parts of my journey. Mortezā Kākhi committed me to the necessity of modern poetry in Iran. Masʿud Jaʿfari Jazi has never withheld his kindness and generosity, from the moment I began to discover Persian literature. Safiyeh Khoddāmi-Fahādān took me to Tus and made the words that time had frozen come to life again. Mohammad Saʿid Shād has been on many a walk هدیروش that was led on by verses. Fereshteh, Rouzbeh, Reza and the late Mohammad Ghahreman embodied a space of writing and being that is all but lost: a space in which Akhavān could give voice to a poetry that remains new and impera- tive. Ardalan Zargham has shared his impeccable intuition for the sounds and rhythms of Persian in conversations beyond count over many years of friend- ship. Rezā Afzali and Zardosht Akhavān Sāles offered answers to questions that would otherwise have remained without closure. My gratitude is theirs. I would also like to thank Ahmet Soysal for showing me that the ethics of thought can be lived; Judith Ryan for her unwavering support along a road that took many turns; John Gurney for the first spark, the first tasnif, and for never losing faith; Jann Matlock for opening up exhilarating new worlds of intellectual discovery to me; Luis Manuel Girón-Negrón and Steven Caton for introducing me to ideas that ended up shaping my approach to literature; and Peter Gamper for encouraging the other path at a time when I did not yet know where that path would lead. My final thanks go to Rosanna Lewis for the care she took in preparing the manuscript. I am indebted to her thoroughness and discernment.
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