Iranian women’s Literature

In our community, alike others, what female authors write are a part of the general current of contemporary literary works. All the dos and don’ts which limit the domain of contemporary literature are binding for the women’s writings too. Interestingly, female authors are after finding ways to be innovative in the form and text of writings, like their male counterparts. But in a society like ours, the fact is women are more socially restricted compared to men and have lesser opportunities for developing their literary potential. What distinguishes their works from men’s, is their feminine outlook toward emotional and social issues and their focus on details in shaping the structure of their stories. Especially, in the post-revolutionary era, Iranian women were humans facing historical-cultural upheavals as the result of Islamic Revolution and the imposed war. In order to confront isolation, they wrote narrative-like works, discussing today life with lesser dependence on the outside world’s excitements.

Women’s Literature can be studied in two dimensions:

1- Stories those male authors write about women and men’s special perspective toward female champions.
2- Stories written by women.

I want to discuss the 2nd case. We have to see when our female authors started writing their stories? What stages have they gone through and what is their stance now? Women have created a variety of works. They have written several novels and stories, proving their serious presence in the literary world. The further attraction of these stories is partly due to the fact that women’s world is less known than men’s universe. In our stories, issues are mainly considered from the men’s point of view and women have rarely had an independent presence. In my opinion, the historical roots, legal and family compulsory measures and numerous traditions finally force women to acquiesce to society’s expectations and believe and justify them, such that no opportunity arises for a twist in their pre-determined fate.

Female authors who write stories beyond the accepted boundaries set for feminine tendencies and feelings face numerous problems, because they are forced to present contentious and controversial issues. The refreshing aspect of women’s literature is that the efforts made to discover one’s own identity as a woman, are highly important. This, in turn, results in creation of a new outlook toward the world. With insistence on the social role of women and their inner characteristics, a women’s image different to their image in the works of male authors is depicted. Especially, during the past decade, female writers are paying attention to the troubled identity of women in the current social developments. In order to reach their inner-self, they slam the paternal and masculine society which has imprisoned women in a world of dos and don’ts.

Women’s story writing can be classified in two stages, prior to the victory of Islamic Revolution:

1- Primary Steps:
During the years 1931-1960, there were 15 female authors. Up to 1960, there were 270 active male authors in the field of literary stories. This means there was one female writer for every 18 male authors.

Story writing in Iran was going through its initial stages until 1931. Few men were writing stories. Moreover, the name of no female storywriter was registered in that era. During the years 1931-1941, there were two female story writers: Irandokht Nami wrote the story of the “Unlucky Girl” (1931) and Zahra Khanlari wrote “Parvin and Parviz” (1933) and “Zhaleh or Girls’ Leader” (1936). In this era, Fatemeh Sayyah was active in literary criticism. She was the first female Iranian university professor at Tehran University.

During 1941-1950, which was a politically and socially active decade, one can only refer to the name of Simin Daneshvar (Born in 1921) with her literary work “Extinguished Flame”, which wasn’t one of her blockbusters.

But during 1951-1960, we see the names of eight female writers, such as the following:

Malekeh Baqai Kermani (1914-?): Her father was a lawmaker. She studied in Tehran and Paris. She was one of the activists longing for fulfillment of women’s rights. In fact, she wrote several books on Iranian women’s living conditions, such as “What Do Women Say?” or the “Bitter Kiss” (1957), which has a nervous and tense atmosphere, to it. She spent her late years in the U.S. and published the collection of stories “Broken Wings” in 1983 in Los Angeles. Her works were the initial stories, which had focused on women’s issues of concern from a woman’s outlook.

Behin Dokht Darai (Born in 1921): She had a doctorate in Persian Literature. After publication of the story “Herman” (1956) about mother’s kindness, she started researching on classical literary works such as “Shahnameh”.

Mahin Tavalli (Born in 1930): The spouse of the eminent Poet Fereydoun Tavalli. She published several short stories in “Sokhan” magazine in the form of a collection of stories “Pearly Pin” (1959). After an interval lasting several decades, she published the collection of stories “Broken Fiddle”.

Keyvan-Dokht Keyvani (Born in 1934): English language translator, who published books “The Teenage Years” (1951) and the Novel “Passing over Water Surface”, in addition to wartime memoirs under the name of “Incomplete Notes”. She also translated the History of Arab Literature written by Nicholson.

Maryam Savoji (1919-?): She wrote legal texts and was an attorney. She was the first woman that brought up the topic of Women’s Rights in 1956 on air at Iran Radio Station. She was a poet and wrote the story “The Girl and the Angel”.

Another writer named “Mahsima” wrote the book “Destiny’s Chains” (1957) on the family and social status of aristocrat women.

My research on the history of Contemporary Literature shows women have had a lesser role in story writing during 1931-1960.

In fact, the social, family, educational and vocational limitations had prevented women’s creative talents from flourishing. For instance, one can name Fakhr-Afaq Parsaay (1896-?) who secretly went to school. When her father discovered this secret, he didn’t allow her to sit at the final examinations. However, she studied Persian, Arabic and French at home. She later published “Jahan-e-Zanan” (Women’s World) magazine and taught French in Mashhad. She was threatened several times for the articles she wrote and was finally deported to Qom. But she didn’t sit idle and continued her activities for fulfillment of the women’s rights.

During this period, women were either so busy doing house chores that they didn’t find time to develop their sublime talents, or, they still hadn’t realized the notion of story writing. Even the ones who wrote stories in this era used nicknames such as Irandokht, Mahsima or Shahrzad. In such an atmosphere, women were not encouraged to publish their works, because no facilities were available. In this period, women were struggling to gain their initial rights. They didn’t find the opportunity to gain access to literary centers and circles, because women’s participation in the Literary Movement depended on the status they gained within the society.

The pioneering women faced numerous threats and oppositions if they gained access to minimum facilities and opportunities. They established girls’ schools and women’s associations in big cities and published magazines just for women. For instance, Zandokht Shirazi published “Iranian Girls” magazine, hoping to awaken Iranian women. She also published articles in the “Women’s Universe” magazine, which were important for Iranian women. They were several female poets too. In the field of story writing, one can refer to Fakhroddoleh, Nasereddin Shah’s daughter. When Nasereddin Shah’s story teller, Naqibolmamalek, narrated Amir Arsalan’s story to the king, Fakhroddoleh hid behind the curtain and wrote whatever she heard. In fact, although this story was rooted in the story teller’s imagination, however, it was considered as the work of Fakhroddoleh, too.

During the years we are referring to, women attached to distinguished families found opportunities to write. For instance one can mention Fatemeh Sayyah in literary criticism, Zahra Khanlari and Simin Daneshvar. These women were from the first generation of women who found the opportunity to go on further education. Even some of them studied in European countries. They had an income. They were relieved from doing the house chores and were brought up in culturally-rich families. All these factors provided them with the opportunity to develop the needed literary skills. However, with the exception of Simin Daneshvar, the rest didn’t take story writing seriously. Some of them like Khanlari wrote stories for fun, and later lectured at the university and researched in classical literature.

The works written in this era aren’t valuable literary books. These works are more important historical-wise and because they mark the appearance of several female story writers. Otherwise the female writers haven’t created masterpieces and were mainly following the viewpoints and methods of male writers. Meanwhile, Fatemeh Sayyah wrote articles on women’s status in European art and literature in several magazines. She was looking for the reasons behind the spiritual weakness and absence of literary creativity in female writers. For this purpose, she also paid attention to social conditions, biological factors, and traditional and religious obstacles, too.

Despite the naïve and inexperienced nature of female writers’ first stories, these works are somehow important because they show women’s writing traditions. In fact, knowing these traditions can boost the ego of contemporary writers.

2- Paving the Way:
During the years 1961-1970, we witness the flourishing of contemporary literature and arts. Over 25 female writers started writing their books in this period. There are almost 130 male writers throughout this period. So, there is one female writer for every 5 male writers. The statistical gap between male and female authors drop and women gradually find their special literary stance. An increase in the number of female writers can be the sign of changing laws, customs and traditions. In this era, women go on further education, house chores are less troubling, and women have jobs they can rely on for providing their financial needs. All these elements, led to women’s ease of mind for writing. Moreover, they gained the right to choose their husbands, which had a profound impact on their potentials as creative writers.

In this period, female writers registered the suffering and oppression women felt and provided an insight into the inner senses of women. For the first time, women are not described in the opinion of men, but from a new angle. Story writing forges ahead from a casual work into a disciplined art. In fact, better stories were written in this decade. The writers of this era pave the way for the future storywriters.

Few female writers in this period published their articles and stories in popular magazines. For instance, Khatereh Parvaneh wrote for “Tehran Mosavvar”. Meymanat Dana and Zhila Sazegar wrote for “Ettelaat Banovan” and Farideh Golbou published her stories in “Zan-e-Rouz” magazine. The sentimental story that Qodsi Nasiri wrote under the name of “Orphans” (1968) was re-published several times. This novel is the story of a kid who runs away from home due to her maltreatment by her step mother. These writers are accustomed to writing love stories and educational narrations.

But for the first time ever, we come across a group of writers who follow up story writing persistently. In other words, they created a new style for female writers. Some of these authors become first-rate Iranian storywriters. Simin Daneshvar is one of these writers, who started her activities two decades ago and published her major novel “Sovashoun” (1969) in this period. We should mention the names of female writers such as Mahshid Amir-Shahi, Goli Taraqi, Mihan Bahrami and Mehri Yalfani, in this decade. Amir-Shahi, Taraqi and Bahrami studied in Europe and the U.S. They later started writing stories and lecturing at the university, after their return to Iran. Amir-Shahi explains satirical personal adventures in her stories such as “Sar Bibi Khanoum” (1968) “After the Last Day” (1969) and “The First Singular Person” (1971). A part of her stories are emotional descriptions of the years of childhood. In some other works, she refers to women’s fears and aspirations.

Taraqi (Born in 1939) wrote the novel I am also Che-Guara (1969) and the novel “Winter Dream” (1973) about humans who are dreaming about getting rid of their degrading life style. But since they can’t make a decision, they lump it. The critical, social and philosophical viewpoints are dominant in her stories. Meanwhile, Amir-Shahi’s stories are more feminine. In her second stage in writing, Taraqi experiences such an atmosphere in her works such as “Scattered Memories” (1993) and “Two Worlds” (2002). These tales are either about the nostalgia rooted in the childhood years or the difficulties of living overseas.

Bahrami’s stories such as “Zanbaq-e-Nachin” (1962) and “Animal” (1985) have a more realistic atmosphere to it. She describes rich women’s life style in old Tehran. Bahrami is less prolific compared to the two above-mentioned writers and doesn’t pay attention to their stylistic experiences.

Unlike Bahrami, Yalfani (Born in 1936) immigrates overseas. She published the tales of “Good Days” (1966) and the novel “Prior to Autumn” (1980) in Iran, but her feminine outlook is further shown in her recent books.

Other than the above-mentioned authors, one can refer to ones who weren’t story writers, as such. For instance, Tahereh Safazadeh, was the poet who wrote “Bitter Bonds” (1961), or Nour-ul-Hoda Manganeh, a feminist who published the well-know “Bibi” magazine. She studied psychology in Beirut and published several poems. She also wrote “A Part of My Memoirs“(1965), which delineated the fate of an Iranian woman. Moreover, we can name Alice Arzoumanian, who describes the anxieties of puberty in the novel “Hameh Az Yek”. The adventure mentions a Christian family, showing the life of a girl from childhood to adulthood.

Meanwhile, the two periods of 1971-1980 and 1981-1990 are similar statistically. This means, in both periods, 28 female authors have started writing. However during 1971-1980, 198 male writers wrote their first books. Therefore there were 7 male authors for every one female writer. But, in the next decade, 140 male authors start their career, while the number of female writers hasn’t changed much. Hence, there were five male authors for every one female writer in 1981-1990.

During this 20-year period, several journalists wrote stories too. But their impact wasn’t that significant. There were Minoo Banakar from Etellaat Haftegi weekly, Azar Midokht Daneshjou and Shohreh Vakili from Sepid va Siah magazine and Shokouh Mirzadegi from Ferdowsi magazine. Mirzadegi published her most important novel “An Alien in Me” (1993) after her immigration to Europe.

There are also other women who write stories for the fun of it. Their works can be recalled as narrations or memoirs, such as the Painter Mansoureh Husseini (Born in 1937), who wrote the novel “Muddy Boots”, with a simple and poetic style.

Persian Language & Literature
The History of Female Storywriters
By: Hassan Mirabedini, 2005
http://www.iranchamber.com