MELC5720 - Iran and the West Through the Lens of Fiction

This graduate level course explores key tropes and themes of Iranian modernity through a close reading of Persian novels, short stories, travelogues, and memoirs. Various literary genres from social realism, to surrealism, magic realism, naturalism, and absurd literature will be introduced with specific reference to Iran's literature and in light of literary theory of novel. This course does not require any prior knowledge of Persian language and literature. Throughout the course, we will be particularly concerned with the relationship between Persian fiction and the West. We will investigate this curious relationship through themes of gender, religion, politics, and war.