Introduction

Abstract

This book aims to show what literature can tell us about post-revolutionary Iran and to profile the Iranian literary field in all its complexity, its variations, its disjuncture, by insisting on its polyvocality. It narrates several different aspects of the story of contemporary literature: within Iran and in the diaspora; the independent and the governmental fields; canonical literature (defined as the texts recognised by literary institutions and the texts perceived as worthy of reading and interpretation), as well as popular and children’s literatures; the local, the national and the global levels and all the informal connections in between. All these voices and strands need to be understood in their relations to one another, in order to analyse the state of contemporary Iranian literature. Despite, or maybe because of, censorship, sanctions, strong nationalism and exile, contemporary Iranian literature is complex, as so many factors add layers to its understanding. This book takes a broad scope in order to show its richness. In the introduction, I define the scope and perimeter of the research, explain my methodology, as well as the main theoretical framework used. I also give a detailed synopsis of the chapters.