A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-option under the Islamic Republic

by Fatemeh Shams

Overview

A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-option under the Islamic Republic offers, for the first time, an original, timely examination of the pivotal role poetry plays in policy, power and political legitimacy in modern-day Iran. Through a compelling chronological and thematic framework, Shams presents fresh insights into the emerging lexicon of coercion and unrest in the modern Persian canon. Analysis of the lives and work of ten key poets traces the evolution of the Islamic Republic, from the 1979 Revolution, through to the Iran-Iraq War, the death of a leader and the rise of internal conflicts. Ancient forms jostle against didactic ideologies, exposing the complex relationship between poetry, patronage and literary production in authoritarian regimes, shedding light on a crucial area of discourse that has been hitherto overlooked.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198858829
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/27/2021
Series:	Oxford Oriental Monographs
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Fatemeh Shams, Assistant Professor of Modern Persian Literature, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Fatemeh Shams is Assistant Professor of Modern Persian literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D in Oriental Studies from University of Oxford, Wadham College. Before joining Penn, she taught Persian language and literature at the University of Oxford, University of SOAS, and The Courtauld Institute of Art in United Kingdom. Her fields of interest include the social history of modern Persian literature, classical and modern prose, literary institutions and their role in the literary production under authoritarian states, ideology, censorship, and official literature in modern Iran. As well as publishing numerous articles, she is also an award-winning poet and has published three collections of her poetry.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations xiii

Note on Transliteration and Translation xv

Introduction: "Awakening the Nation": Poetry and Power in Modern Iran 1

1 Rethinking the Islamic Republican Canon 34

2 "Surgery of the Soul": Introducing the Howzeh 88

3 Returning to the Roots: The Dark and Light of the Village 121

4 A War to Remember (1): Decoding the Poetic Violence of War 166

5 A War to Remember (2): The Other Face of War 204

6 Loss and Nostalgia: Official Poetry in Post-War Chaos 241

7 Inventing a Courtly Tradition: Poetry and Power in Khamenei's Islamic Republic 286

Selected Bibliography 333

Index 347

Editorial Reviews

"This book is indispensable ... I strongly recommend" — Farhang Jahanpour, International Journal of Middle East Studies

"Fatemeh Shams has written an account of state-sponsored poetic production in Iran which is both scrupulously scholarly and exciting. It is an important and original contribution to the literature." — Stephanie Cronin, Oxford University

"Dr Shams's Revolution in Rhyme is a ground-breaking work that demonstrates how poets supportive of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and the state that emerged from this Revolution, utilized "an ancient tradition of poetic patronage for poems of praise and mourning" in order to create the "official" poetry of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The book presents a nuanced, detailed, and extremely cogent examination of a complex and important literary phenomenon that has all too often been glibly dismissed in the west as mere state propaganda." — Dick Davis, Ohio State University

"Drawing on a wide variety of literary cultures and traditions, Shams offers a novel analytical framework in this book that helps us understand not only Persian poetry but also modern Iran, the Islamic Revolution, and the government established by it in genuinely new ways." — Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University of California, Los Angeles

"A Revolution in Rhyme is a must read for all students of Persian poetry. Exploring the poetic revival in the aftermath of the 1979 Revolution, Shams provides rare insight into what poetry can do for ideology without sacrificing all poetic merit. Her close readings are careful, imaginative, and heartfelt." — Fatemeh Keshavarz, University of Maryland

From the Publisher