Synopses & Reviews
“Parsipur should be admired both as a courageous woman who endured jail and torture…and as a writer and innovator.”—Aznar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran
This complex epic captures the changing fortunes of Iranian women in the twentieth century from the eras of colonialism to the rule of two shahs to the Islamic revolution of 1980. Touba’s long life intersects with many memorable characters and refutes Western stereotypes of Iranian women.
The best-selling author of eleven books of fiction and memoir, including Women Without Men, Sharnush Parsipur now lives in exile in the United States.
Synopsis
Touba and the Meaning of Night introduces English-speaking readers to the masterpiece of a great contemporary Persian writer, renowned in her native Iran and much of Western Europe. This remarkable epic novel, begun during one of the author's several imprisonments, was published in Iran in 1989 to great critical acclaim and instant bestseller status--until Shahrnush Parsipur was again arrested a year later, and all her works banned by the Islamic Republic.
After her father's death, fourteen-year-old Touba proposes to a fifty-two-year-old relative in order to ensure her family's financial security. Intimidated by her outspoken nature, Touba's husband soon divorces her. She marries again, this time to a prince with whom she experiences tenderness and physical passion and has four children--but he proves unfaithful and unreliable. Touba is granted a divorce from him, and lives out the rest of her long life as matriarch to a changing household of family members and refugees.
From a distinctly Iranian viewpoint, Tuba and the Meaning of Night explores the ongoing tensions between rationalism and mysticism, tradition and modernity, male dominance and female will. Throughout, it defies Western stereotypes of Iranian women and Western expectations of literary form, speaking in an idiom that reflects both the unique creative voice of its author and an important tradition in Persian women's writing.
Synopsis
An Iranian woman forges her own path through life in this "stylishly original contribution to modern feminist literature" (Publishers Weekly).
After her father's death, fourteen-year-old Touba takes her family's financial security into her own hands by proposing to a fifty-two-year-old relative. But, intimidated by her outspoken nature, Touba's husband soon divorces her. When she marries again, it is to a prince with whom she experiences tenderness and physical passion and bears four children--but their relationship sours when he proves unfaithful. Touba is granted a divorce, and as her unconventional life continues, she becomes the matriarch of an ever-changing household of family members and refugees . . .
Hailed as "one of the unsurpassed masterpieces of modern Persian literature" (Iranian.com), Touba and the Meaning of Night explores the ongoing tensions between rationalism and mysticism, tradition and modernity, male dominance and female will--all from a distinctly Iranian viewpoint. Defying both Western stereotypes of Iranian women and expectations of literary form, this beautiful novel reflects the unique voice of its author as well as an important tradition in Persian women's writing.
Born in Iran in 1946,
Shahrnush Parsipur began her career as a fiction writer and producer at Iranian National Television and Radio. She was imprisoned for nearly five years by the Islamist government without being formally charged. Shortly after her release, she published
Women Without Men and was arrested and jailed again, this time for her frank and defiant portrayal of women's sexuality. While still banned in Iran, the novel became an underground bestseller there, and has been translated into many languages around the world. She now lives in exile in Northern California.
Synopsis
Banned in Iran, this epic masterpiece of dissident Iranian woman writer finally arrives in the U.S.
About the Author
Shahrnush Parsipur was born in Iran in 1946. While incarcerated by the Islamic Republic in the 1970s she wrote the first part of her masterpiece Touba and the Meaning of Night. Parsipur now lives and writes in exile in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1994 she was recognized by the Fund for Free Expression of Human Rights Watch--Lillian