True. But anything published in English about Iran (or any other foreign country) that has at all a popular bent to it is going to be filtered by what the publisher feels is interesting for his or her readers and/or marketable. This results in the image of the state of affairs being skewed. A book by for instance an Iranian fundamentalist will never, ever be translated, no matter how well received it is by Iranians, except maybe by Yoshie. :) The same reason why Paul Klebnikov's book on Berezovsky was widely read in the English-speaking world (it was about something of interest to an English-speaking audience and fit in with the dominant narratives in English-speaking countries), while his book on Nukhaev never will be translated, because most English-speakers would look at it and go, "what?"
--- On Fri, 7/10/09, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com> wrote:
> From: shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Roma history
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Friday, July 10, 2009, 5:59 PM
> At 03:19 PM 7/10/2009, Dennis Claxton
> wrote:
> > If you want to know something about women's struggles
> in Iran you can read what women and men involved in those
> struggles have to say about it. A lot of them speak
> English and a lot of things are available in
> translation. There are also scholars and journalists
> who specialize in such things. Many links and excerpts
> from books have been provided here for those who want to
> find out more.
>
>
> speaking of! I finished Reading Lolita in Tehran which
> spent very little time on Lolita, actually, splitting the
> book into four parts: lolita (as exemplifying totalitarian
> state), The Great Gatsby (exemplifying the exultation of
> capitalism and largely covers the revolution), Henry James
> (covers the war), and Jane Austen (covers the post-war
> regrets of those who'd supported the revolution only to find
> they'd ushered in the hard-liners). I have some criticisms
> of the book -- there's some repetition; she indulges in what
> Azadeh Moaveni calls the "not without my daughter"
> sentimentality at times, but you can hardly fault her for
> that. Moaveni never knew an Iran different than what she
> knows now. Nafisi knows an Iran without forced veiling. she
> knows of an Iran where women were not considered worth half
> a man. She knows of an Iran that once treated women
> relatively decently. She knows of an Iran that embraced a
> secular state and yet was "religious". So, it stands to
> reason that she's a little "bitter".
>
> I then read (and laughed my ass off all the way through)
> Sarah Katherine Lewis's Indecent: How I Make It and Fake It
> as a Girl for Hire. Message:
>
> 1. Men who frequent sex workers are filthy disgusting pigs
> who don't feel it's necessary to wipe their ass before they
> visit a jack shack. Het men do a lot of licking and sucking
> of other men's ejaculate, which is the only reason they need
> women: legitimation of the act. :)
>
> Sex work is wonderful (for Lewis), exhibiting a female
> solidarity Lewis finds nowhere else, something she'd never
> choose not to do had she to live here life over. *And* it is
> also Teh Suckage (tm), contributing to the dehumanization of
> human sexuality by turning men into wallets and women into
> body parts, each preying on the other. And yet Lewis
> participates in the industry and perpetuates the problem,
> not because she has to, but because she wants to. Excellent
> book, though I thought she could have stopped 3/4 of the way
> through without losing too much. Though, damn, I don't know
> if I could have done without her tales of The Relaters (tm)
> or the story of dancing in New Orleans. Oh well, toss up.
>
> Also read about 1/5 of the Foucault and Post-Foucauldian
> inspired book, Welfare Refrom and Sexual Regulation by
> Anna Marie Smith. Smith is exploring Foucault's concept of
> biopower and swarming via a study of the contemporary
> "welfare state" under neo-liberalism. She shows the benefits
> and limitations of Foucault's approach and explores
> "post-Foucauldians" which I was finding interesting b/c I
> hadn't read about them. She has a critique of Hardt and
> Negri I've been meaning to post here and ask about.
>
> I put that down to read Lewis and Shirin Ebadi's book, Iran
> Awakening, which arrived in the mail. She's the feminist
> attorney who'd been a judge in the 70s, but was kicked out
> along with all the other women as women in Iran saw their
> rights and status erode under the Islamic Republic's
> constitution. She was the attorney who represented the
> family of the slain reformists, as well as others. In her
> research, uncovering the state murders of dissidents, she
> learns that she'd been on their hit list.
>
> I have an extra copy of Reading Lolita in Tehran for anyone
> who asks! I will even breath heavily on the book before
> shipping! I can leave coffee rings on the cover, too! :)
>
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