Representation of Iran and Iranians in Australian Literature
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+ University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2018 Representation of Iran and Iranians in Australian Literature Farzaneh Mayabadi University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1 University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. 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For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Representation of Iran and Iranians in Australian Literature Farzaneh Mayabadi (BA, MA, MPhil) Supervisors: Professor Wenche Ommundsen Associate Professor Anne Collett This thesis is presented for the conferral of the degree Doctor of Philosophy The University of Wollongong School of English August, 2018 Abstract This thesis, entitled “Representation of Iran and Iranians in Australian Literature”, examines the way Iran and Iranians are represented in Australian literature from a postcolonial perspective, with particular attention to Said’s theory of Orientalism. It investigates the impact of cultural shifts in Iran and also the relationship between the two countries in the way knowledge about Iran has been constructed in Australian literature, and how this representation has changed from colonial times to the present. After examining this representation in writing by non Iranian Australians, I analyse Iranian Australian writing to find out whether the themes are similar to or different from the themes in works by non Iranian Australian writers. This research also shows the position of Iranian Australian literature in multicultural Australia, and Australia’s ability to incorporate new literatures and new cultural influences into its national body of writing. ii Acknowledgments This project would have not been possible without the support from many people. In particular, I would like to show my gratitude to my principal supervisor, Professor Wenche Ommundsen, for her insightful and invaluable supervision, patience and encouragement. I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared so much about my work, and propelled me to overcome the obstacles in my way from the initial to the final level of completing this research. I appreciate her contribution of time and ideas. I am so thankful to my co-supervisor, Associate Professor Anne Collett, for her valuable comments and suggestions. I also express my gratitude towards the many new friends I have met in Australia and the opportunity they have provided me to learn more about Australia and the world. I would like to thank my sisters and brother for giving me words of hope and encouragement, and my husband Hamid for his patience and support. I would like to dedicate this work to my parents whose unconditional love and unwavering support will never be forgotten. iii Certification I, Farzaneh Mayabadi, declare that this thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the conferral of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, from the University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. This document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Date: 30/08/2018 iv Contents Abstract Acknowledgments Certification Introduction 1 Chapter One: Historical, Theoretical and Literary Background 11 Chapter Two: Persia and the Persians in the Australian Colonial Imagination: The Australian Journal 58 Chapter Three: The Survival of Orientalism in Recent Australian Texts 95 Chapter Four: Reworking One Thousand and One Nights 128 Chapter Five: Iran and Iranians in Writing by Iranian Australian Writers 172 Conclusion 248 Works Cited 261 v Introduction The writing of literature is a cognitive activity. It is a form of contemplative action that may change our world by affecting our cognition—by changing the way we think about and see ourselves and our society. Michael Mack, How Literature Changes the Way We Think (p. 170) Throughout history Iran/Persia has been at the centre of the West’s fascination and fear. This is also the case in contemporary times: Iran is very much present in news and public discussion, which are mostly based on politics. This research, however, is an examination of the representation of Iran and Iranians in literature which provides a more complex and varied view of nations and the cultural understanding between them. In 2010, when I came to Australia on a student visa to do a Masters by Research focusing on 19th century feminism in Britain, I confronted cultural misunderstanding between Iran and Australia which were mostly reinforced by the media and dominant political discourses. I met people who asked me if I came to Australia by boat or was told how lucky I was to be in safe Australia away from all the dangers, violence and even war in Iran, which was quite different from my experience of living in Iran. I faced an Australian scholar who did not know that the official language in Iran is Farsi/Persian and not Arabic. This experience made me curious to examine library catalogues and websites to find sources on the way Iranians are perceived by Australians. I noticed that 1 there was no systematic research devoted to the representation of Iran and Iranians in Australian literature. Therefore, I decided to work on this topic to fill this academic void. This has provided me with an opportunity to look at the cultural understanding between the two countries. Being familiar with both Iranian and Western culture, I have the privilege of examining issues from the perspective of both an insider and an outsider. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on writing by non Iranian Australian writers from colonial times to the present. This body of work is minimal but nevertheless provides an insight into how dominant political discourses shaped Australia’s understanding of Iran and how this understanding and representation have changed over time. I also included a selection of texts written by non Australian authors but published in Australian journals because they were read by Australians and might have shaped their perception of Iran and Iranians. The second part of the thesis examines texts written in English by the first generation of Iranian Australians who immigrated to Australia, mostly after the 1979 revolution. The texts selected in this section are also taken from a relatively small body of writing. Like other diasporic literature in Australia, we are not dealing with a huge number of works, particularly given that the history of Iranian immigration to Australia is recent. In these texts, I examine if Iranian writers answer back or reproduce the images represented in the writing by non Iranian Australians. At the same time, I illustrate Australia’s ability to incorporate Iranian literature into its national body. In terms of methodology, I use postcolonial theory, especially Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism. Said writes generally about the Orient but I want to use his theory to specifically examine the representation of Persia/Iran and Persians/Iranians in Australian literature. Iran/Persia has long been at the centre of 2 the West’s fear of and fascination with the Orient. One of the very first works about the Orient is The Persians, a play by Aeschylus first performed in 472 BC. It represents the Persian King Xerxes as a cruel enemy. Said considered this play to be the foundation of Orientalist works: as early as Aeschylus’s play The Persians the Orient is transformed from a very far distant and often threatening Otherness into figures that are relatively familiar (in Aeschylus's case, grieving Asiatic women). The dramatic immediacy of representation in The Persians obscures the fact that the audience is watching a highly artificial enactment of what a non-Oriental has made into a symbol for the whole Orient. (Orientalism 21) The Persians encapsulates the elements and sentiments about the Orient that Said highlights. My thesis asks to what extent Australian literature has inherited that perspective. My research has allowed me to examine to what extent the representation of Iran and Iranians in Australian literature dramatises Australians themselves— their fears, dreams and desires—in the process of constructing knowledge about Iranians. I will also illustrate the ideological background behind this knowledge and ask if Iran is merely a passive presence in its construction as the West’s “other”. The fear of and fascination with the Orient is manifested through reworking One Thousand and One Nights, which was appropriated rather than translated for Wester readers. One Thousand and One Nights, considered a masterpiece of world literature, has Persian origins and has influenced many works by Western writers.