Download files
Abstract
The 1978/9 revolution was a turning point in Iranian history. It led not only to drastic regime changes in Iran, but it was also the cause for the migration of millions of Iranians. Ever since then, Iranians have continually migrated and have created their own pockets of communities globally. But like any migratory group, they too have experienced difficulties of migration. Ever since the early days of Iranian migration, many began to write about their experiences. While among them, many wrote in Persian, some began to write in English. Gradually, over the last several decades Iranians have authored nearly two hundred books of fiction and memoir in English. Formed at the junctions of Iranian culture and experience and the English language and Western cultures, this body of work has formed a unique literary space. Not only is it a reflection of diasporic Iranian experiences, but it is also a body of work which draws on and adds to elements of English literature and as such deserves special attention in the so-called category of World Literatures in English.
This thesis, Ways of Being, Lines of Becoming, is a study of this body of work. Its aim is two fold. On the one hand it introduces existing and emerging Iranian writing in English into the arena of World Literatures in English. While it situates them alongside other diasporic writing in English and examines them through existing diasporic literary frameworks and theories, such as postcolonialism, it also argues for their distinctiveness. On the other hand, it identifies this body of work as a unique creative discursive space that is reflective of the diasporic Iranian experience. In short, drawing on various psychological theories of the importance of narration and identity, it argues that this literature can be a site through which the Iranian diaspora can reconstruct, maintain and negotiate their individual and communal identities.