Modern American Literature and Contemporary Iranian Cinema

Morteza Yazdanjoo is a postdoctoral researcher in English literature and Cultural Studies at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM) and university lecturer. He teaches a variety of courses on English literature and Cultural Studies and is interested in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on how cinematic appropriations of world literature by Iranian cinema contribute to reflect sociocultural outlooks, values, and challenges in contemporary Iran.

• PrefaceAcknowledgements1. Introduction2. Adaptation Studies, Cultural Materialism, and Cultural Studies: An Intertextual Dialogue3.Narrative Trajectories of National Identity in Iranian Cinema: A Historical Long Shot 4.Performing the Poetics of the Iranian Dream on the Silver Screen: Dariush Mehrjui’s Appropriation of Saul Bellow’s Herzog and J. D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey5. Watching Tennessee Williams in Iran: The Sanctity of Family Reconstituted6. Birth of a Salesman: Revisiting Willy Loman in Tehran7. ConclusionIndex

"Iranian film has become a major force in world cinema, and its sophisticated interactions with American literature have received far too little scholarly attention until now. Morteza Yazdanjoo opens up important new territory in his wide-ranging interdisciplinary study, providing fresh insights into discourses of gender, religion, identity, appropriation, narrativity, and politics as they pertain to cinema, literature, and other key areas of contemporary global culture. Scholars in many fields will welcome his work.– David Sterritt, editor in chief, Quarterly Review of Film and Video"