Analyses contemporary Iranian literature in both Iran and its diaspora, in relation to the social, economic and political fieldsHonourable Mention: Hamid Naficy Book Award of the Association of Iranian Studies 2022Explores the literary relations between Iran and the world, including its large diaspora, with a global frameworkBased on 15 years of fieldwork and travels in Iran, with unique interviews, data collection and participant observation Offers innovative theorisation of post-revolutionary Iranian literature on the margins of the world literary system Watch a presentation by the author about the book (via UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture Youtube)In this critical analysis, Laetitia Nanquette explores how Iranian literature has functioned and circulated from the 1979 revolution to the present. She looks at prose productions in particular, analysing several genres and media. Taking Iran as a starting point, Nanquette explores the forms, structures and functions of Iranian literature within Iranian society. She then turns to the diaspora with a focus on North America, Western Europe and Australia and the world beyond Iranians to examine the current dynamics of literary production and circulation between Iranian diasporic spaces and the homeland."
Laetitia Nanquette is Senior Lecturer in the School of the Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales. Between 2015 and 2019, she was an Australia Research Council DECRA Fellow at UNSW and worked on the project "A Global Comparative Study of Contemporary Iranian Literature".
IntroductionPart I: The Literary Field within Iran1. Forms and Genres in Contemporary Iranian Literature2. Digital Literature: The Importance of the Medium3 The Iranian Literary Field: An Overview4. Book Production within Iran: A Look at the Numbers5. Iranian Children’s Literature: A Success Story Nationally and GloballyPart II: The Literary Field in the Diaspora6. Iran and the Diaspora: Irreconcilable divisions?7. Translation and Reception in the US and France8. Iranian writers in Australia9. Post-Revolutionary Iranian Literature in the World and in the Persian Cultural SystemAfterword
A most welcome, exceptionally valuable and timely contribution to the study of Iranian literature, world literature, comparative literature and diasporic literature. Nanquette's book is grounded in years of fieldwork and travel in Iran, with extensive interviews, data collection and participant observation; there are few more qualified to write on global Iranian literature.