Representing the Unpresentable: Historical Images of National Reform from the Qajars to the Islamic Republic of Iran
Syracuse University Press has recently published a new volume of literary and film criticism and analysis of interest to scholars of the Babi and Baha’i religions in the Iranian, especially Qajar context: Representing the Unpresentable: Historical Images of National Reform from the Qajars to the Islamic Republic of Iran . The author, Negar Mottahedeh, is an Assistant Professor of Literature at Duke University. Over the years she has published insightful and analytical studies of a high standard ( including “Resurrection, Return, Reform: Ta’ziyeh as Model for Early Babi Historiography.” Iranian Studies 32.3 (2000): 387-399; “The Mutilated Body of the Modern Nation.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 18.2 (1998): 38-50; “Ruptured Spaces and Effective Histories: The Unveiling of the Babi Poetess Qurrat al-’Ayn-Tahirih in the Gardens of Badasht.” UCLA Historical Journal 17 (1997): 59-81.) Now several of these with thematic continuities have been assembled and extended into a book length treatment based in part on the original doctoral thesis. According to the publisher : “In this pioneering book Negar Mottahedeh explores the central issues of vision and visibility in Iranian culture. She focuses on historical and literary texts to understand the use of visual culture in the production of the contemporary nation. Tracing the historical mediation and dissemination of ideas for national reform in the modern period of Iran, the book examines the various discourses that have constituted the image of the “Babi.” As cinema began to displace other forms of Iranian entertainment, Islamic culture attempted to keep the motion picture industry free from what it perceived to be the taint of foreign values and intervention. With rich insight and compelling detail, Mottahedeh looks at the revealing ways in which Iranian cinema has dealt with representing the unpresentable. In her exploration of gender and Iranian film, the author argues powerfully against contemporary uses of veiling in the representation of Iran as a modern nation. This highly original work, signaling a paradigm shift in Iranian studies and gender studies, will be an invaluable resource for scholars”. If you enjoy thought provoking literary criticism, close readings and textual hermeneutics then you will savour Mottahedeh’s new book. It is also very reasonable obtained in hardback from online stores such as Amazon. Highly recommended.