Iran and the West: Cultural Perceptions from the Sasanian Empire to the Islamic Republic

Description

Since the age of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 AD), Iran and the West have time and again appeared to be at odds. Iran and the West charts this contentious and complex relationship by examining the myriad ways the two have perceived each other, from antiquity to today. Across disciplines, perspectives and periods contributors consider literary, imagined, mythical, visual, filmic, political and historical representations of the 'other' and the ways in which these have been constructed in, and often in spite of, their specific historical contexts. Many of these narratives, for example, have their origin in the ancient world but have since been altered, recycled and manipulated to fit a particular agenda. Ranging from Tacitus, Leonidas and Xerxes via Shahriar Mandanipour and Azar Nafisi to Rosewater, Argo and 300, this inter-disciplinary and wide-ranging volume is essential reading for anyone working on the complex history, present and future of Iranian-Western relations. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Contributors Foreword Introduction Misremembering Thermopylae The East–West Dichotomy Methodology Structure Section 1: Classical Representations 1. Tacitus and the Great Kings 2. Roman and Iranian Perceptions of the Other in Late Antiquity Roman Perceptions of the Iranians Iranian Perceptions of Romans Conclusion 3. Xerxes and Leonidas: Conversations Between Ancient Persia and Seventeenth-Century France in Fe´nelon’s Dialogue of the Dead Use of Classical Sources Dialogues of the Dead Decontextualisation Educating a Future King Educating a Future Man Conclusion Section 2: Literary Representations 4. Saadi’s Perception of the West and German Translators’ Perception of Iran in Saadi’s Gulistan (The Rose Garden) Introduction Paratexts and the Translator’s Visibility The Persian Poet Saadi’s Perception of the West German Translators’ Perception of the Persians Conclusion 5. ‘Parisian or Persian?’: An Introduction on the French Roots of the First Iranian Social Novels Introduction French Connection Reception of The Mysteries of Paris in Iran The Relationship Between The Mysteries of Paris and The Dreadful Tehran The Dreadful Tehran and its Discontents 6. ‘Our White Hands,’ Iran and Germany’s 1968 Nirumand’s Critique Completely Empty and Strangely White Is Farah Happy? 7. Entrapped in a Carved-Up Land: Revisiting Reading Lolita in Tehran The Truth and the Whole Truth The Carved-Up Space: Tehran Through the Window Frame People without Backgrounds The Politics of Resignation: An Avenue Towards Disappearance Conclusion 8. ‘Death to Freedom, Death to Captivity’: Beyond Shahriar Mandanipour’s ‘Islamic’ Love Story 9. Homeland Dramatisations and Native Gaze Demolitions in Nahid Rachlin’s Foreigner and Porochista Khakpour’s Sons and Other Flammable Objects Section 3: Imagining the Other: Fact and Fantasy in Cultural and Political Influences 10. Tbilisi as a Bridge Between Iran and Europe, from the Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries Russo – Persian Wars and Georgia Economic Interactions Europeans Visiting Tbilisi Iranians in Tbilisi 11. Generational Differences: American Medical Missionaries in Iran, 1834 – 1940 12. A Narrative of Historical and Cultural Ties Between Iran and Romania Introduction Documents on the History of Cultural Relations between Iran and Romania Conclusion 13. The Great Satan and the Axis of Evil: The Politics of Demonisation in Iran and the United States Introduction Brief Historical Background of Iran – US Relations Post-Structuralism, Discourse and Identity Construction The Great Satan, Iranian Identity and Legitimisation of the Nuclear Programme The Axis of Evil, American Identity and Legitimisation of the ‘War on Terror’ The Legitimisation of Direct Talks Conclusion Section 4: Visual and Media Representations 14. Zan-I Farangi, a Symbol of Occident: The European Women in Farangi Sazi Paintings (1666 – 94) Introduction The Iranian Occidentalist Paintings Zan-i farangi and its Diverse Persian Interpretations Conclusion 15. Meeting of Anthropology and Racial Ideology in Hollywood: Discovering ‘The Forgotten People’ and Remembering ‘The Lost Tribe’ in Grass (1925) Ethnography as an Imperial Project of Ethno – Racial Classifications The Bakhtiari as True Aryans: Racial Theory and Ethnography The Life of Thousands of Years Ago: Cultural Evolution and Myth of ‘Lost Tribes’ Conclusion 16. ‘Soraya Cried for Three Days’: The Many Faces of Iranian – German Royalty in the German Popular Press in the 1950s and 1960s 17. Persepolis: The Shah’s National Fiction Social Rupture Sites of Memory On the Screens The Double Parade Celebrations as a Site of Memory 18. Vampires, Veils and the Western Gaze: Gender Images and the Notion of Beauty From Qajar to Post-Revolutionary Iran Beauty and Gender Images in Qajar Iran The Veiled Body as a Marker of Backwardness The Veiled Body as a Marker of Anti-Imperialism The Abjection of the Islamic Body Representations of the Veiled Female Body Further Thoughts Afterword: Isfahan 1976 – 8: A Personal Recollection Before: Iran and its Disaffected Elite Orientalism and Modernity The Western Presence The Paykan People Sex and the Gay Scene Orientalism Again Politics Bibliography Index