Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran: The Life and Legacy of a Popular Female Artist

333 Pages·2011·2.34 MB·English

by  Kamran Talattof

Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran
Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East
Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Series Editor
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Modernity, Sexuality,
and Ideology in Iran
Th e Life and Legacy of a Popular Female Artist
Kamran Talattof
Syracuse University Press
Copyright © 2011 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5290
All Rights Reserved
First Edition 2011
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ISBN: 978-0-8156-3224-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Talattof, Kamran.
Modernity, sexuality, and ideology in Iran : the life and legacy of a popular female artist /
Kamran Talattof. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Modern intellectual and political history of the Middle East)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8156-3224-5
1. Sa’idi, Kubra. 2. Women authors, Iranian—Biography. 3. Women artists—Iran—
Biography. 4. Women dancers—Iran—Biography. 5. Iran—Intellectual life—20th century.
6. Iran—Social conditions—20th century. 7. Women in popular culture—Iran—History—20th
century. 8. Sex—Social aspects—Iran—History—20th century. 9. Social change—Iran—
History—20th century. 10. Ideology—Iran—History—20th century. I. Title.
PK6561.S274Z73 2011
700.82'0955—dc22 2011007694
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Arjang and Hayden Hooshang
Kamran Talattof is professor of Persian literature and Iranian culture at the University
of Arizona and the author, co-author, or co-editor of Th e Politics of Writing in Iran: A
History of Modern Persian Literature; Modern Persian: Spoken and Written, with Don-
ald Stilo and Jerome Clinton; Essays on Nima Yushij: Animating Modernism in Persian
Poetry, with Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak; Th e Poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: Knowledge, Love,
and Rhetoric, with Jerome Clinton; and Contemporary Debates in Islam: An Anthology of
Modernist and Fundamentalist Th ought, with Mansoor Moaddel. He is the co-translator
of Women without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, with Jocelyn Sharlet; and Touba: Th e
Meaning of the Night by Parsipur, with Havva Houshmand. His scholarly articles oft en
focus on such issues as gender, ideology, culture, and language.
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface, Acknowledgments, Translation, and Transliteration xi
1. Academic Writing and Writing about Lives
An Introduction 1
2. Modernity, Sexuality, and Popular Culture
Iran’s Social Agony 21
3. Iranian Women and Public Space in the Seventies
Shahrzad, a Woman of Her Time 46
4. Seduction, Sin, and Salvation
Spurious Sexuality in Dance and Film 95
5. Shahrzad as a Writer
Th e Question of Literary Modernity 134
6. Social Change in Iran and the Transforming Lives of
Women Artists 176
7. Ideology, Sexuality, and Sexual Agency
An Aft erword 205
Notes 237
Bibliography 287
Index 309

Illustrations
1. Shahrzad (Ferdowsi Magazine) 42
2. A movie poster: Paradise Is Not Far, 1969 109
3. A movie poster: Th e Brother-in-Law, 1973 110
4. Shahrzad’s book, Salam, Aqa (Hello, sir) 140
5. Shahrzad’s book, Ba Teshnegi Pir Mishavim (Th irsty, we age) 144
6. Shahrzad’s book, Tuba 159
7. Summoning to court of singers aft er the revolution (Ittelea’at) 191
8. “Injections and Stitching: Specialized Examination of Girls”
(Payk-e Iran) 226
ix