Erinnerungen an eine fremde Heimat. Mahšīd Amīršāhīs Roman Dar Ḥażar und seine Rezeption als kollektiver Text

Abstract

Mahsīd Amīrsāhī is an Iranian writer, who has lived in exile since the Iranian revolution of 1979. She was one of the few people who uttered criticism already during the revolutionary events. The revolution has marked a turning point in her literary works. Her first novel, Dar Ḥazar, which was written after the revolution, is an autobiographic diary novel. From the viewpoint of a female narrator, the events of the revolution are recounted. It will be argued that Dar Ḥazar can be seen as a “trauma-narration” of the storyteller. The extensive discussion of the reception of Dar Ḥazar will show that it is not only seen as a literary text. With its accurate retelling of historical facts, Dar Ḥazar also aims at preserving the memory of the revolution for the collective memory of Iranians in the diaspora. However, the potential for memory-making has not been fully achieved. Reasons for this may lie in problems of distribution, language, and the transformation of the Iranian diaspora.